I run a farm on a 5-star resort – my sterilization method kills bacteria and helps plants grow to be more flavorful
IF your soil just isn’t cutting it — think bacteria-ridden herbs and sad, flavorless vegetables — it may be time to get sterilizing.
A pro who runs a 35-acre farm at a five-star resort shared his special method with The U.S. Sun, plus his tips for guaranteeing a quick and easy harvest in your garden.
Chef Nicolas Piatti is the culinary director at Four Seasons Resort Tamarindo in Mexico, where he’s in charge of the 14-hectare Rancho Ortega.
There, he grows plenty of local goodies including plantains, pink and yellow guava, feijoa, green cocoa, figs, and pomegranates.
To ensure they’re healthier and more flavorful, he carries out a sterilization of the spaces he’s going to sow.
“This will help the plants grow in a safe place, free of bacteria and in a spongy soil,” he explained.
“It provides the best condition for them to grow and be flavorful!”
First, he instructed, make a hole in the ground that’s no less than one meter in diameter by 80 centimeters deep.
Next: “Fill it with large, dry logs. Light them and cover them with a steel lid, leaving them to burn for 24 hours.”
After that, clear out the hole and make a mixture that’s 30 percent of the soil that was in the hole, 20 percent ash, 30 percent worm compost, and 20 percent coconut fiber.
Coconut fiber can be purchased from Amazon, Home Depot, or even pet stores for as little as $2.75 a brick.
The sterilization method has certainly helped the farm thrive with a variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers.
Piatti said Rancho Ortega has an orchard that grows quelite herbs, cilantro, rosemary, hibiscus, oregano, sunflower, marigold, and mint.
They also have Hass avocados, 10,000 blue agave plants, and a citrus plantation with yuzu, persa, kumquat, clementine mandarin, and criollo.
“We have specifically chosen to grow plants that represent the Mexican gastronomic culture and enhance the dishes in our dining outlets,” he said.
Focusing on products from the surrounding Jalisco and Colima regions “allows us to guarantee a fresh and native product.”
For gardeners looking for an easy place to start, Piatti recommends beginning by planting herbs and flowers in spring and summer, which “guarantees a quick and easy harvest with good soil and water.”
“And a crop in a perennial cycle that adapts to cold winters will produce tasty fruits in summer,” he said.
“Pairing the two is good symbiosis, where the herbs act as an insect repellent and the flowers attract bees that pollinate the citrus.”
For anyone looking to add some Mexican flavor to their homes, he suggests looking to the Mayans.
“Quelite ‘wild herbs’ are plants that grow from the southern United States to Central America,” he said, citing red and green amaranth, purslane, watercress, epazote, quintonil, and plain oregano.
“These herbs add the final touch to a taco, quesadilla, salad, and even a casserole.”
Rancho Ortego also shows gratitude to nature by taking care of it.
“We thank Mother Earth for what she gives us, respecting the cycles and returning nutrients to the earth,” Piatti explained.
“With an extensive program for the reuse of waste, we make compost with food and we give a second use to the cardboard that serves as soil to control weeds, and then completely disintegrates after a six-month cycle.”