Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Organic Gardening

Organic Gardening

Organic Gardening in Home Organic Gardens
Home organic gardens have become increasingly popular over the last several years. Whether we know it or not, many of us already practice forms of organic gardening. We just don't give it any thought. We do it for our health, and the health of the environment.
Organic gardening is the practice of growing vegetables, herbs and fruits using only things found in nature. Absolutely no man-made chemicals are used. Although we usually do not think of it, organic gardening concepts also apply to the world of flowers, trees, shrubs, and even your lawn. It is gardening without harmful and artificial chemicals, or other products not naturally found in nature. Commonly today, potentially harmful chemicals and non-natural products are used for fertilizing, and for control of insects, disease, and weeds.
Did you Know? Organic food sales are over $10Billion! It's no small cottage industry.
If you are not completely sold on organic gardening, you can still bring some of it's benefits to yourself, your family, and the environment by applying those organic concepts that work best for you and your crop. Any organic methods that you employ will benefit you and the environment.
Certified Organic- In order to be qualified as "Certified Organic" for the marketplace, produce must be grown under strict USDA guidelines. Everything from the seed to fertilizers and soil must be organic, natural ingredients. You must apply for the certification. Federal inspectors will review your application and perform an inspection. See the path of organic produce takes to reach your dinner table.
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Components of Organic Gardening:
Your organic gardening program consists of the following components:
• Organic garden seeds - the all important starting point
• Organic garden soil and soil amendments
• Organic fertilizers
• Organic insect repellents/insect control
• Organic disease control
• Beneficial Insects
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In the News:
The USDA has standardized rules for Organic food.
The USDA States uniform standards provide:
• A single national standard replacing individual state and private standards
• Consistent and accurate labeling to alleviate consumer confusion
• Define uniform practices, methods and substances for for producing organic crops.
• Prohibits the use of genetic engineering, irradiation and sewage sludge.
• Improve exports through a single standard that is more readily understood in other countries.
For more information, see the USDA's pages on the National Organic Program
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Organic Tips:
** Place fruits like pumpkin and squash on a bed of sand. Snails and slugs do not like sand and will not cross over it. You will not need to use slug and snail poisons.
** Use Companion plants that repel insects. See Companion Plants

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The major benefits of organic gardening are many:
• Less harmful chemicals on the food you and your family may eat. This is reason enough.
• Less harm to the environment
• Cost savings as alternate sources can save you money
• You will feel better knowing you are doing your part.
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Ways we Practice Organic Gardening Today:
Organic Gardening takes many forms. It includes:
• Use compost for mulch and fertilizer.
• Use only plant matter for mulching.....no plastics. Leaves and straw work great.
• Use manures for fertilizer in place of chemical fertilizer.
• Learning and applying proper techniques to grow healthy plants and avoid plant disease.
• Acquiring natural insect enemies, such as Ladybugs for aphids and preying mantis, to control insect problems.
• Using natural insecticides and deterrents such as garlic or soap sprays to deter insects. No insecticides or pesticides.
• Use natural insect predators like Preying Mantis and Ladybugs. If they do not exist in your area, companies sell them.
• Use a little extra muscle power to control weeds versus getting out the weed killer.
• A willingness to give up a little portion of your crop to the bugs in order to produce and consume healthier food for you and your family.
• Conserve and recycle. By using natural materials like manure, composted weeds and kitchen scraps we are using organic materials and reducing what goes into the waste stream.
• Organic Garden Seeds
• In nature, it all begins with a seed. In organic gardening, it all begins with organic garden seeds. It's the all important starting point for home organic gardens and commercial organic farming. While the focus us upon organic vegetable seeds, organic herb seeds are quite popular, too.
• Why use organic seeds? The use of chemicals can alter the genetic makeup of seeds. The resulting plant and vegetables can be affected. The USDA requires it for commercial growers in order to be "certified organic" produce.
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• Organic Vegetable Seeds - There's no shortage of organic garden seeds for your vegetable garden. You can get organic seeds for the most popular vegetables, from tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins, to lettuce and onions. You can also find them for mustard, okra, and much more!

• Buy Certified Organic Vegetable Seeds now
• Make certain the organic vegetable seed you are buying is certified organic. You will be paying a little extra for the seeds, and you want to be sure they are indeed organic.
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• Organic Herb Seeds - There are organic herb seeds for all of your favorite herbs. There's also an organic Lavender seed. Yes, Lavender is edible and many recipes exist.

Organic Garden Soil and Organic Soil Amendments
A healthy, home organic garden starts with healthy, natural, virgin soil. The site you select for your organic garden should not have been previously used for a garden where chemical fertilizers, or pesticides were previously used. It should also not be the site of a treated lawn, where chemicals were previously applied.
We encourage any movement towards organic gardening practices. If you've used chemicals in the past, and would like to practice organic gardening, you certainly can continue to use your existing garden. Chemicals you've used in the past, will slowly breakdown and leach out of the soil. This may take time. But, each year your garden will become healthier.
Important Note: If you use chemicals on your lawn, the garden should not be downhill of the lawn. Harmful chemicals can be carried downhill with ground water and into your garden.
Raised garden beds are a great place for your organic gardens.

The raised bed frame sits atop the ground. You then fill it with virgin soil and soil amendments. You control what goes into it..... natural organic soil and materials. Gardeners with raised bed frames, will often empty the soil each fall and replenish it with fresh, rich, natural ingredients for great gardens every year.
More on Raised Garden Beds
Browse/Buy Raised Garden Bed Frames
Common organic soil amendments include:
• Compost
• Leaves in the fall.
• Peat moss and spaghnum moss
• Grass clippings (from untreated lawns only)
• Manures
• Natural Mulches - don't use plastic or other artificial mulch
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Organic Gardening Fertilizers
A major component of a successful organic garden, is the fertilizers you use. Like everything else in the world of organic gardening, fertilizers must be composed of all natural ingredients. If you are an organic purist, or will be growing produce for the organic marketplace, make certain that the label on any fertilizers you use state "Certified Organic". We will focus upon organic gardening in the home market, where the "Certified Organic" tag is not a requirement.
Many home gardeners do not realize the broad range of organic products available to them. It is likely that you are already using one or more of these products.
Here are some of the most common organic fertilizers:
• Manure -rich in a wide range of plant nutrients, it also adds to soil structure.
• Seaweed & Kelp - provides nutrients and trace minerals, stimulates root growth.
• Fish Emulsion - rich in nutrients. Gardeners have used fish remains for hundreds of years, with great success.
• Compost - a well recognized natural fertilizer and soil amendment.
• Compost Tea - liquid runoff from the composting process. Use it to replace chemical liquid fertilizers for home gardens. Put some on your houseplants, too.
• Cover crops - after your gardening is done for the season, grow annual rye grass and other annual crops. Till plants into the soil in the spring to replenish nitrogen and other minerals to your soil.
• Worm Castings - worms ingest plant matter and excrete a mineral rich soil additive.
• Bat Guano - a rich manure that gardeners covet for great crops.
• Epsom Salts- commonly used to provide magnesium and sulfur to the soil. Promotes bushier growth and more flowers.
• Molasses and Honey - in small amounts to feed microorganisms in the soil.
• Fish Fertilizer - High in nutrients, micro-nutrients and minerals
• Seaweed Fertilizer- packed with major and minor nutrients and amino acids, organic gardeners use this to stimulate plant growth.

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Organic Insect Repellents and Insect Controls
Your organic gardening program will need to address insect control methods. Those nasty, harsh chemicals that effectively kill every insect around is not part of your arsenal. Chemical insecticides can have long term harmful effect on you and the environment.
Fortunately, there is a wide range of organic insect control methods. You may want to experiment with a variety of insect control methods to see which works best for you and your plants.
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Organic Insect Control can take a number of forms:
Insect Repellents
Insect repellents "repel" insects. Most organic repellents do not kill the insects. Organic repellents may contain a variety of agents. The most common repellents are garlic based. Many insects do not like the oil of garlic, and will fly off in search of other foods.
Frequent application of organic repellents is often needed, especially after heavy rains.
Make your own organic insect repellent sprays.
Companion plants
There are two types of companion plants: those that compliment the nutrient needs of other plants, and those that insects do not like. Plants that insects do not like, make great companions to other plants in your organic garden. Planting onions and garlic amid your organic vegetables, will repel a variety of insects. In addition to providing insect protection, you can harvest the onions and garlic, too. Marigolds are another great companion plant.
A companion plant can also be one that insects like. In South America, coffee growers plant banana trees around the coffee crops. Insects like the sweet, banana plants and fruit, much more than coffee plants.
Note: Plants that repel insects often make good components of insect repellent sprays.
More on Companion plants
Beneficial Insects
One way to get harmful insects out of your organic garden is to introduce and promote beneficial insects into your garden. The most well known beneficial insects are lady bugs and praying mantis. If you've got aphids, the lady bugs will thrive. If you have a variety of insects, the praying mantis will find ample hunting.
You can actually purchase these beneficial insects, and introduce them to your yard or garden.
Did you Know? They say Lady bugs bring good luck. However, not if you are an aphid.
Insect Barriers
A fine mesh insect netting will keep even small insects out of your garden. The fine mesh keeps insects out, yet lets sunlight, air and moisture in. The amount of sunlight entering and reaching your plants is dependent upon how fine the mesh is.
There is a wide range of insect an pest netting. A 1/4" to 3'8" mesh may be effective against Cicada and grasshopper invasions. They are very effective against these pests, some larger sized beetles, and a few other very large insects.
Buy/browse pest netting now.
For the vast majority of insects, a finer meshed insect netting is required.
Pest and insect netting can be very effective against flying and crawling (above ground) insects. But, they will not deter insects that live in the soil.

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Organic Gardening - Plant Disease Control
Often, people think there is little they can do to control plant disease in organic gardens. With an organic garden, you can't apply fungicides to eliminate disease problems. However, there's plenty you can do to organically promote and maintain healthy, productive plants.
The old saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is popular in the world of disease control, in both the animal and the plant world. It takes on a real meaning in organic gardening, as many of the disease control methods focus on healthy plants and avoiding diseases.
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Organic Disease Control Methods:
Here are some methods you can use to organically ward off and fight disease problems with your plants:
Promote healthy plants - Healthy plants are less likely to get a disease. If they do, they are better able to fight the disease...and win.
Create the ideal environment - Lots of sunlight, good air circulation, low humidity. Many plant diseases thrive in just the opposite conditions.
Trim bushy plants - Many plant diseases hide and thrive in the dark recesses of bushy plants.
Insect control - Insects pick up tiny disease spores on their feet, and transport them from plant to plant.
Lime/Sulfur/Copper Sulfate sprays - these naturally occurring minerals are effective against a variety of plant diseases.
Crop Rotation - Plants disease can harbor over winter in your soil. Rotating crops will help to eliminate this problem.
Clean Tools - Disease can be picked up on your pruning shears and scissors. As you snip off a branch or twig, the open wound is a great entryway for disease.
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Organic Gardening - Beneficial Insects
As most gardeners know, not all insects are harmful to your garden plants. Some are known as "beneficial insects". They are helpful in some way to your flower and vegetable plants. Having beneficial insects around to reduce harmful insect populations, is a great way to practice organic gardening.
You don't have beneficial insects in your area? There's a market for beneficial insects. Garden stores sell the larva, so you can introduce them into your yard and garden.
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Specific Beneficial Insects:
Lady Bugs- Also called ladybird beetles, this helper bug's favorite meal is aphids. Ladybugs will consume lots of aphids each day. They are also considered lucky. If a Ladybug finds its way into your home, don't kill it (that would be bad luck). Rather, gently capture it, and let it go. Both the larva and the adult ladybug are beneficial insects.
Praying Mantis- Masters of disguise! These six legged, stick-like insects, are colored just right to blend into surrounding foliage. Their diet includes a wide range of insects, including beetles and caterpillars. They grab and capture insects with their "modified" front legs, which are positioned in a "praying" position. Also called, Praying Mantid, and sometimes mis-spelled as "Preying Mantis".
Lacewings- Chrysoperla rufilabris, as Lacewings are formally known, helps to control caterpillars and aphids. Lacewing larva, also known as Aphid Lions, is the predatory stage of this beneficial insect. The adult lacewing diets consists mainly of nectar and pollen.
Ambush Bugs- They get their name from their hunting method. Ambush bugs sit on top of flower heads, and lie in wait for their prey. They grab their prey with their front legs, similar to Praying Mantis. Their diet consists of a variety of insects.
Ground Beetles- Not all beetles are bad. These beetles eat a variety of insects in your lawn.
Robber Fly - Their diet consists of grasshoppers, wasps, other flies.
Wasps- Most people think of wasps as nothing more than a nasty, stinging insect. Some species are a gardener's friend. They attack and kill cabbage loopers, aphids, hornworms.
Ant Lions - Chances are, you don't have Ant Eaters (the mammal) in your area. Ant lions are insects that eat ants and other crawling insects.
Spiders - The world's #1 insect predator. They can be found indoors or out. The more insects you have, the more spiders you will find.
Honey Bee- Truely a gardener's friend. They are the pollinators of the world. Currently, pesticide use, disease, and mites are depleting their numbers at an alarming rate.
Other Insect Killers: While not a "beneficial insect", birds are great resource for controlling insects. We suggest you grow plenty of flowers that will attract birds. They are fun to watch, and many will eat lots of insects. This includes Bats!
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Attracting Beneficial Insects:
The diets of some beneficial insects includes pollen and nectar. To attract and keep beneficial insects, maintain a variety of blooming tress, shrubs and plants. Provide a continuous bloom all season long. This will also provide a home for them.
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Insects as Pollinators:
We all know of the honey bee as a pollinator. But, many otherwise harmful insects, can be pollinators. It makes these insects both good and bad. A prime example is the cucumber beetle. It sucks on plant juices, eating holes in the leaves as it goes. However, during its journey from plant out plant, and flower to flower, it picks up pollen from male flowers, and deposits it on the stamen of female flowers. Without them, many vegetable crops would not produce fruit.....errr vegetables!

2 comments:

zildjian said...

hi, i just want to ask you if you have knowledge on growing different vegetable crawling plants in the Philippines? thanks and nice blog. (jcconcepcion1@yahoo.com)

Usiku said...

Good post. The first time I've seen a summary of the basic components of what "certified organic" entails.