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 Step One to Organic Gardening - It's Easier Than You Think!
By Kim Haworth
With the spring gardening season almost upon us, it's time for all of us gardeners to examine and begin to make a few changes in the way we do things in our gardens. We have got to think about putting an end to the old ways of gardening - and by that I mean our chemical arsenal of pesticides and fertilizers. I don't want you to do it all at once, old habits are hard to break, but start small. Do just one thing to make your garden more earth friendly.
The reason we need to take this big step is that we are poisoning the food we eat and the earth we stand on. I saw a lady in the nursery today who was looking for a "cure" for her roses. She was looking at products that commercial growers and professional gardeners can't even use anymore because they are so toxic, but they are still available to the homeowner. Chlordane, which does irreparable nerve damage is still available to kill ants around your home. Diazanon, which kills fish and aquatic life, is a very popular herbicide because it works well in wet weather. Public parks and playgrounds use Sevin as an insecticide because it has no odor, never mind that it is toxic. An estimated 67 million birds die each year of pesticide exposure.
If you only do one thing this season to make your garden more earth friendly, give yourself a pat on the back. Here is an example of how easy it is to make the switch to organic gardening; Try laying down a thick newspaper mulch around your perennial bed, then mulching over the paper with ground leaves. Not only will this save you water, recycle some newspaper that would otherwise wind up in land fills, time spent pulling weeds and money - not spent on herbicides, but it will also keep you from mixing and cleaning your herbicide sprayer over a storm drain that leads directly to creeks, rivers and eventually the sea. Just do this one thing, just to try it, and see if your perennials aren't healthier next season.
Or try this easy, earth friendly method to improve your garden soil; Plant peas. Members of the legume family, including peas, beans, vetch and clovers collect nitrogen on the roots in the form of nodules. These nodules stay in the soil after you harvest the plants. By planting legumes in your garden, you are actually enriching the soil so that you don't have to fertilize when you plant your next crop. So next time you pull up your peas, leave the roots in the ground. If you really want to have super soil, chop up the tops and rototill them into the garden bed to break down slowly and add texture to heavy soils! I call this the double whammy.
If you really want to dive into the organic thing, start a compost pile. Or, even easier, just spread your grass clippings over your garden beds and turn them under slightly. Not only will you not have to use chemical fertilizers which contain salt, ammonia and God knows what else, but you will be improving the texture of your soil at the same time.
If I sound passionate on this subject, I am. I have been a professional gardener for over 25 years, and many of those were spent for hire to large companies who decided that the chemical road was the easiest. I have probably sprayed 10,000 gallons of pesticide in my career, and choose not to do it any more. The damage to my body is done. But for the sake of your children, and grand children, give up just one of your garden chemicals, for good. Whether it's a fungicide, an herbicide or a fertilizer, choose one and take it to the local toxic collection day hosted by your city or county. Then, don't buy any more and try an alternative method.
Here is a story I read recently in Organic Gardening magazine;
Indonesia's rice fields were decimated with a pest that had never been a problem before. The brown plant hopper was reducing the nations rice output by a quantity that would feed 2.5 million people. Beginning in the 1980's, entomologist Peter Kenmore, Ph.D, noticed that the infestation was worst on fields where the most pesticides had been used. The chemicals had killed off the natural enemies of the plant hopper. He cut pesticide use by half, and the rice yield went up. Indonesia subsequently banned 57 pesticides and trained farmers in integrated pest management. The nation's average rice yield increased, and it saved $120 million in pesticide imports. Fish, which had disappeared from the streams near the rice paddies, reappeared to supplement the protein diet of the rural people.
One way you can take a stand is to buy organic when ever possible. It's a way to "Just Say No!" to the big growers who are locked into the high fertilizer, high yield way of farming. Organic vegetables taste better, are comparable in price and are much better for you. You can be assured that they have not been genetically engineered to fit into the can.
Please, help make our planet just a little bit better. It starts with you...
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