Biointensive - A Sustainable Solution To Growing Food
ECOLOGY ACTION OF THE MIDPENINSULA is a small, non-profit organization dedicated to finding practical solutions to environmentally based urban and rural food, clothing, shelter, and energy issues through research, development, educational, and outreach programs.Since 1972, work with the Biointensive Food-Raising Method has reaped enormous returns: the vegetable yield potential is in the range of 2 to 16+ times U.S. commercial mechanized levels (with an average of four times) and wheat harvests have been as high as five times the national averages. People in over 108 countries worldwide, in a great variety of climates and soils, are using Biointensive to grow their nutrition for their families and communities.
The implications of this approach for home gardeners are impressive: a gardener may be able to grow his or her own 322 pounds of vegetables and soft fruits in a four-to-six month growing season on as little as 100 square feet -- half the area of a small-to-average sized kitchen.
Using Biointensive in a 100 square foot growing area, a home gardener needs to spend an average of less than 20 minutes in the garden each day, watering and weeding one quarter of the area required to raise the same amount of vegetables grown by more conventional gardening methods.
The savings during the growing season can be substantial - as high as $400 per growing bed, and $1,600 for a family of 4 with 400 square feet under Biointensive cultivation. By using mini-greenhouse and shade-netting houses in the garden, the growing season can be lengthened -- with correspondingly higher savings.
Hosted by