Organic Gardening
What makes a garden organic? A garden or yard would be considered organic if no pesticides or fertilizers are used in it. Why is it a good idea to go organic in your garden? Personally I prefer chemical free as I feel it is better for the environment and safer for the native wildlife. All those chemicals have an adverse affect and there are much better ways to help your yard and garden grow and flourish beautifully.
Lets start with weed killers and lawns. Why have a perfect lawn? What is a perfect lawn? First of all I want you to think about all the time, energy, and money that you put into your lawn. Is it really worth it? Then think about how all those chemicals pollute the environment, is t still worth it? Not really. But society says you need to have a perfect lawn and so we send all that time and money trying to acquire it. I say you need to re-adjust your perspective a smidgen. There is something beautiful in a lawn that has different textures and shades of green, and even more those that have a spot of color in the form of a flower or two, even if that color is in the shape of a dandelion.
When you talk about gardens you just have to talk about weeds. Just what is a weed? A weed is ANY plant growing in a place you don’t want it to grow. So by definition, even a rose can be a weed. Here is how using native plants can help you achieve an organic and care free garden: I have these beautiful plants lining all my flower beds. People come over and comment how cute they are. They make a hardy edge to the garden as they keep the grass from encroaching on the flower bed. They have nice heart shaped leaves. They come back every year a little bit bigger and bushier than the previous year, but without choking out the other flowers. They stay a nice manageable height, no more than 12 inches. They require no care on my part at all, and are resistant to bugs. The best part is every spring they get the cutest purplish or white flowers. Everyone wants them that sees them. Guess what they are…ha! They are commonly called “johnny-jump-ups” and are in the viola family. I see my neighbor tugging them out of his lawn and spending so much money on chemicals to rid his yard of them, yet his wife will come over and say, “what cute flowers, what are they?” When given a place to grow, they are beautiful. I have found this to be true of so many “weeds.”
How about dandelions? They same people that spend hundreds trying to kill them in their yards are the same people going to the grocery store and buying them in the produce department. If you didn’t know already, they are very healthy for you, and everyone should have a dandelion salad a couple times a week.
If you have any pets that eat greens, such as rabbits, guinea pigs, sugar gliders, even birds, you should pick those dandelions for them! Stay away from the roots as they are toxic, use only leaves and blossoms! This is another reason why it is nice going organic. You certainly do not want to eat, or feed plants to your pets, that have been sprayed with any chemicals.
So use those native weeds, give them a place to grow and you may be surprised with the results!
Now on to bugs! So you spray to keep the bugs away. But they eventually get resistant to it, and you buy more spray, and more, and more. Then another type of bug shows up and you need a different spray for that bug. And it just continues like that forever, and every year you have to spray. What if you stopped spraying and found other ways to get rid of the problem? Nature has an uncanny way of taking care of itself and staying in balance when left alone. For every bug that is a “pest” there is a solution that nature provides.
My first year in my new house I had such an aphid problem! But I was determined to remain chemical free. So I smashed as many as I could by hand, and then ordered praying mantis egg cases from a gardening catalog. By the end of that summer, we had seen lady bugs take up residence as well. The next summer I had some aphids, but no where near as bad as before, but we saw hundreds of lady bugs and praying mantis! By the third year, no pests at all. The fourth year we would see an occasional pest. In the following years (it has now been 7 years) it has been the same, we hardly ever see any pests in our yard. Nature has found a balance, all without chemicals, and my garden flourishes.
Grubs and slugs are a bit harder to keep under control in an organic garden, but it certainly isn’t impossible. Our first and best weapon to date has been (and still is) my pet duck. If you live in an area that allows it, I definitely recommend it. They are wonderful for pest control. While I have seen him catch and eat the stray fly or mosquito, he has been invaluable as a slug and grub control. The very first year in our house we had such a grub problem, our front lawn looked like swiss cheese, and the slugs! UHG! At night you would go outside and the house foundation was covered in them. We did the beer trap thing which helped. But better was letting the duck out to eat them every day. He would root around in the grass and find grubs, under the leaves and find slugs as well as their eggs. By the following year we could see an improvement, and by the year after that, no slugs and no grubs! Plus he fertilizes as he goes around, and he is actually an affectionate and devoted pet. If you are unable to get a pet duck, I would try the beer traps for slugs. It can be very effective. And don’t try to chase way every mole or vole in your yard as they eat grubs! As for other weapons against grubs…hummmmm…don’t really know how to help you there, and I am not keen on renting out my duck.
Why else did we decide to go organic? I have a small pond we built, and I was concerned that run-off chemicals would be hazardous to the health of my fish. I have read recently that using rainwater that runs from your roof is hazardous to use for watering vegetable gardens, that the chemicals from the shingles can come off in the water and are absorbed by the plants, and in turn, eaten by you. So I was certainly concerned about any run-off from chemicals used in my yard hurting my fish.
I am happy to say that my yard, gardens, and my fish are doing well! And I believe that the organic yard is the way to go! We certainly have a lot of wildlife visiting our yard as well. And I am comforted knowing they will not come into contact with any harmful chemicals in my yard.
Some other ways of adding to the organic experience, as well as saving some money in your gardening venture, is to collect rainwater for watering ornamental gardens (see above…do not use rain water collected from roofs to water edible gardens!) and don’t be afraid to start a compost pile! It is better to compost to fertilize your garden than to use man-made fertilizers and chemicals. The compost can be used to enrich your soil or as a mulch in the fall.
About leaves in the fall…why do people go crazy abut raking them all up? All that free mulch going to waste every fall! I find it is best to rake them into the garden and leave them there. In the spring I remove SOME of them, but most stay as mulch and my garden seems happy with it. Do not use black walnut leaves as mulch, however, as they contain a chemical that inhibits the growth of some plants. I also do not shred them as I feel they become too compacted. I leave them whole. Many sources will tell you not to use leaves as a mulch or top-dressing. That there can be problems with mold, mildew, and disease. This is true. But look at nature. Who rakes up all the leaves in natural surroundings? And the plants do just fine. I have been doing this for years, and my father did before me, and we have never had a problem with it. Besides that, when the leaves start to break down, it really attracts A LOT of earthworms, and they are wonderful for the garden (or the duck….or for fishing).
So take a few hints from nature. Use bugs (or a duck) to combat pesty bugs, and use leaves to enrich your soil and protect your garden in the winter time. Do not totally cover the plants. The idea here is to copy what nature does, and cover the soil loosely.
So use those leaves! Hey! Before you use them in the garden, make a big pile with them and jump in for fun!
