How We Started An Organic Garden

Text, photo, video and the garden work by Karolina Draxlerova and Cassio Edelstein

The organic garden in Bali at the S Resorts Hidden Valley, is a permacultural garden. It is designed to produce organic vegetables for the resort’s restaurant and for the resort’s staff, but it is also designed to create a lively environment that brings biological diversity to this place. This garden uses traditional and modern techniques of agriculture to produce delicious vegetables only with natural products. By doing this, we not only protect the nature from the harm caused by chemical fertilizers or pesticides, but we also guarantee a healthier food for you and the S Resorts team.

The first thing we made to start this garden was orientating the garden beds according to the inclination of the land, with each bed following the same topographic level. During the heavy rains, the water doesn’t wash out all the soil and its nutrients, and during the driest months the water is kept for longer time in the garden.

The second important element that was added is the ground cover. We use grass cuttings from around the resort to protect the soil from the intense heat and rain, and it keeps the soil moisturized. This is good for the plants and it also reduces the necessary amount of watering. Covering the soil is the same thing that natural forests do, and copying the nature is the best way to make a healthy garden.

Traditional Balinese agriculture is also permacultural, because it combines two or more species of vegetables together in each field. Here at the S Resorts Hidden Valley, we use this same system based on diversity. By mixing different crops on the field and rotating them inside the garden every season, we avoid the attack of pests and we don’t exhaust the soil.

Another key technique for this garden is composting. By making our compost, we close the biological cycle: from the garden to the kitchen, to the kitchen to the garden. We use the organic waste of our resort’s restaurant to produce high-quality nutrients that will feed our plants.

There are so many techniques to describe, but the most important thing is to do it with love. Having an organic garden is a pleasure and a therapy. Being in contact with nature, working and learning with the nature, seeing where the food comes from, it is all so beautiful. We hope this garden gets more and more beautiful and that many people can eat from it.

Thank you Jamie, Ken and Andy, and gardeners Wayan, Made, Nyoman and all the S Resorts Hidden Valley staff for everything, we had an amazing time.

Karolina and Cassio

List of the species in the garden:
Ginger, turmeric, Chinese pumpkin, silver beat, pak choy, calendula, marigold, sunflower, naustirum flower, Italian basil, lemon basil, bayam, cancun, cherry tomato, tomato roma, parsley, green onions, okra, eggplant, radish, cucumber, long chili pepper, small chili pepper, cantaloop melon, corn, sweet pea, long beans, lettuce, rocket salad, patty pan squash, spinash, Russian kale, Toscana kale, lemon grass, passion fruit, papaya, banana, star fruit, mango, tangerine.