Organic Gardening And Farming |
Over thousands of years in traditional agriculture farming coupled with scientific knowledge and modern technology have lead to today's organic gardening and farming methods.
The identifying principle constitutes a turning away from synthetic additives, such as manufactured fertilizers and pesticides and replacing these with natural occurring biological processes.
This organic gardening and farming practice can take longer to achieve than chemical based farming but the advantages of organic farming are longer term and consequently more beneficial to the environment.
Organic farming and gardening diversify the crops grown whereas conventional farming and gardening are geared towards mass producing crops. This is more for economical reasons than anything else. This diversity of crops is known as Poly culture, meaning multiple crops in the same space and forms the basis for some organic gardening and farming. An advantage of Polyculture is the wider range of beneficial insects and soil microorganisms important in the management of rich healthy growing soil but creating a safe balance is something that requires close attention and takes time to be educated on.
Natural breakdown of organic matter is something organic farmers and gardeners rely on so to help them accomplish this they use special ingredients like green manure and organic compost to replace nutrients previous crops have used up. Throughout the growing season the biological breakdown process created by microorganisms produces much needed nutrients that replenish the soil.
Using a variety of methods such as crop rotation, cover cropping, application of compost, and mulching organic farmers and gardeners can improve soil conditions significantly. Bone meal, blood meal and various other mineral powders like rock phosphate and greensand ( which is a natural form of potash) are tried and trusted natural additives available when being involved with Organic Gardening And Farming.
While raising livestock is not something the organic gardener would probably do, it is something organic farmers can compliment their growing practices with. Organic farms are now providing animals with more natural living conditions and feed. Things such as free range eggs have been available in stores and supermarkets for some years now and has become a popular product with health conscious consumers.
Pest control is another area of farming and gardening that differs between organic growing and chemical enhanced growing of crops. Chemical farming uses specific insecticides to destroy insect pest infestations, but this is only short term and in doing so it's inevitable that natural predatory insects as killed off in the process. This leads to an increase in the bad insect population. In nature predatory insects eat pest insects so if you kill off the predators the pests can multiply unhindered. Organic gardening and farming has a tendency to tolerate some pest which proves very effective in the long term.
So as you see organic gardening and farming is not just a passing phase it's becoming more popular and acceptable not only as an economic alternative to the traditional chemical farming methods but as a healthy and long term plan for our future and our children's future. We need to put back into the earth in order to continue to grow crops for future generations to come.
Quick Tip #1
To be a successful Organic gardener you should learn from nature, take a walk in any forest or wooded area and observe how fallen branches leaves and a multitude of plant life forms decompose to create nutrients that are put back into the soil. Insects eat other insects, birds eat insects, and grubs. The whole system survives without any form of chemical intervention. keep this in mind when your planning your organic garden. |
Quick Tip #2
At the start of each organic gardening year take some time to sharpen your tools. You will work much more efficiently with a sharp spade than with a dull one. Check the wheel or wheels on your wheelbarrow make sure they are not going to let you down when it's full of heavy soil or potting plants. |
Quick Tip #3
If your plants are being eaten away by aphids, use a solution of mild washing up liquid and water in a clean plastic spray bottle. Give the bugs a liberal spraying, leave for a few minutes then spray off the dead aphids with clean tepid water. Repeat this every ten day's or so until you are aphid free. |
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