The beauty of working together in a large community garden is that we come to the garden with  a wide range of experience and knowledge. We also come with different positions on our approaches to gardening. All though all the New Eden Gardens follow the garden’s organic gardening guidelines as part of their New Eden Community covenant, there are still many opportunities to use a range of gardening practices. One issue that has risen to a point of controversy is the use of gas powered rototillers in the garden.

As our goal at the New Eden Collaborative is to create an earth friendly, sustainable community, is the use of  petrol, combustion engines compatable with our vision?

There are multiple positions with in our NE garden community:

One position posits that the use of small gasoline powered garden machines like lawn mowers and rototillers should not be allowed as they dump carcogins and other toxic material into the air that settle into the plants and soil and also contribute to global carbon emissions.

Another position is that this effect is negligible, and it is out weighed by the labour it saves thus allowing people with limited time to be able to participate in the garden. While gas powered tilling is allowed at this point, we should strive to raise the funds for an electric tiller.

Yet a third position coming from the perspective of Permaculture, argues that any tilling of the soil is destructive as it destroys  living organisms in the soil like worms and other creatures that are essential for healthy soil and eco-systems.

I am not doing justice  to these positions. Please make comments to this post and bring forth your reasons for your position on tilling.

By creating a community dialouge, we can find a way through education and respect to come to a position that everyone can work with.

Erin