pattysplants's Blog

Why not organic garden?
Dec 29, 2007 | 11:27 AM PST
Tag: Organic gardening

Organic gardening used to be thought of as a way of gardening only hippies did living in communes. Some people may still feel that way. Some people think it’s the only way to save the planet. That could be true. How many of you are already using organic or more natural ways of gardening? And how many would like to begin or cut down on the amounts of chemicals you use?
For those of you already gardening this way, I high five you. For those of you who haven’t started , I’m not going to tell you to give up the way you’ve been gardening completely but I do want to say that there are safer and healthier choices for dealing with pests, diseases and fertilizers. Especially when growing edible plants.
Millions of gardeners all over the world are just beginning to consider the methods of organic gardening, “going green”. I have been gardening this way since 1981. The year I was married. I was using all kinds of chemicals in my job because I had a restricted use pesticide license and chemicals were what my Boss at the time wanted me to use. But at home I could do what I believed in, a safer way to grow my veggies. At that time I was only growing and canning veggies. Now, I’m also the “Herb Lady” and have lots of herbs and a few perennials growing in my gardens. I’m still growing and canning veggies, mostly salsa and tomato sauces now. I’m also not going to say it’s the easiest way to garden. At least not right away. You have to be a little patient. Because after using chemicals for years the natural predators may have packed there bags and left your yard. The birds might not think you have the tastiest worms or bugs in the neighborhood. So at first you might think you have more bugs they you can deal with and be very tempted to get that bottle of spray out because it’s easier. I know we are all busy people and we want results right now. The trouble with that is the good bugs die along with the bad ones. It will take awhile to get the good bugs back to eat that next outbreak of bad bugs.
Organic gardening is just a simple way to work with nature instead of against it. When I started working in the business, the place I worked at had very few organic products (over 20 years ago) now they have quite a few. The biggest part about organic gardening is building the soil. A healthy garden lies in the soil. Good soil promotes healthy plants and healthy plants are less susceptible to pests and diseases. There are quite a lot of safer controls out there now. We just need to use them or try other avenues like companion planting. So why not think about an organic garden this year. Happy, Healthy Gardening To All.