Soil-less Garden Series, Part 1
Introduction to Soil-less Gardens
from the Question Line Duo
An extraordinary approach
to your projects and goals.
Soil-less Gardens are those projects and goals in our daily lives that are not rooted in water or soil — our job, home, family, profession, classroom, education program, writing project, speech presentation, the arts, business, research projects . . . Perelandra soil-less gardens include a vital element that enhances and ensures new levels of mind-bending success — nature. In a Perelandra soil-less garden you work "hand-in-hand" with nature to provide all the matter, means and action that is required to bring your project or goal to fruition.
Welcome to our series on soil-less gardening!
Anyone can work in partnership with nature to establish, sustain and achieve goals with a soil-less garden project. Many who began their nature partnership with co-creative gardens now want to apply what they're learning to other aspects of life. Some folks may not see the appeal of gardening, even with nature as your partner. Maybe you don't have a green thumb or you live in the city, so you think all of this "gardening" stuff doesn't apply to you. It actually does. And some of you may be well along with your soil-less gardens, wanting to expand your understanding and effectiveness. This series is for you as well.
Machaelle Wright began her research with nature through a simple vegetable garden. She quickly learned that nature's definition of a garden is broader than we humans would imagine. It does not have to be growing in soil. Cooking, a restaurant, artwork, a museum or a memorial, design, construction, racing, an event, mechanics, business management, cleaning, governing, repairing, recycling, manufacturing, engineering . . . each of these things and more is a garden — a "soil-less" garden (or "SLG" for short).
It doesn't have to be difficult or complex. If you have watched the DVD, Working with Nature in Soil-less Gardens or read the Perelandra Soil-less Garden Companion book, but you feel a little intimidated, you can relax and breathe a sigh of relief. We'll help you move right through your road blocks.
In the SLG Companion, Machaelle lets you know right up front that working with nature in this way is not your usual experience:
To start a soil-less garden is to open yourself up to quite an adventure. Don't forget that your coning [team] members include nature and the White Brotherhood. There's not going to be anything "average" about your soil-less garden with team members like this. So if you're not up for an adventure, if you don't want to experience anything new or different, if you want to maintain complete control over your project, don't open a soil-less garden. If you do open one, remember to expect the unexpected. This will be your new "average."
Are you ready for a new "average"?!
Want to get started right now?
Fantastic! Your first assignment is simple and easy. You may want popcorn for #2.
1. Locate your Perelandra Soil-less Garden Companion. If you don't have it yet, you can buy the softcover or ebook edition here.
2. Watch the DVD of Machaelle's workshop, Working with Nature in Soil-less Gardens. If you lent it out to a friend, call them up and invite them to join you! Or you can order a new DVD set here.
Want to learn a little more first?
You're in luck!
You can read an excerpt from the SLG Companion, the introduction and first chapter, free here.
You can watch a ten minute clip from Machaelle's Working with Nature in Soil-less Gardens workshop DVD here.
And if you'd like to read about some SLG experiences from others, check out these Perelandra Voices articles here.
If you've followed this series before, you'll be happy to learn that we will be updating each article as we go along to include answers to questions we've gotten since first posting them. We will also be adding new information and tips.
We're going to take it slow, with one step at a time over the next several weeks. You may jump ahead if you like. But remember, slow and steady wins the race.
Still not sure what we're talking about?
Read Machaelle's short article, A Garden as Defined by Nature, here.
If you feel overwhelmed, get stuck or have questions about these instructions, call our Question Hot Line. We enjoy helping you through blocks, and keeping the steps manageable and simple.
Question Hot Line
1-540-937-3679
Wednesdays, 10-8 ET
The Soil-less Garden Series