Home Gardener: Go Organic...A Winning Choice!

So, you have been inspired by my blog postings and decided to put in a garden. You planned it and then started to create your vision of a lovely growing space. But you see all kinds of fertilzers you are tempted by, which will make your tomatoes big and juicy. This posting is to remind you to please take into consideration that you and that small garden are part of the local environment. The space of your garden may be home to many insects and other critters. Some live in the soil, some flit around in the air and some like the surface.

Therefore, when you reach for that Roundup to get rid of pesky weeds you are endangering a wide range of useful wildlife, including bugs, frogs and toads. Toads eat a lot of bugs and flies and are a part of a healthy garden space. You may be harming insects like bees and ladybugs with some pesticides. Bees pollinate your veggie flowers and ladybugs eat aphids, which chomp on your flowers and veggie plants. Other beneficial insects include parasitic wasps and praying mantis insects. All have a place in the organic garden. And consider that those chemicals you spray can harm pets and small children visiting your yard.

So please look for natural solutions to weed issues that others suggest you combat with chemicals. You can buy a weeding flame thrower and sizzle up those dandelions. There is even a water-powered weeder, which is meant specifically for dandelions. Lee Valley sells these tools as well as a host of other garden tools. Browse their site and see what interesting stuff you can put to use in your yard/garden.

Garden centers carry a wide range of chemicals they want to sell you for killing pests and weeds, but alternate safer methods and products are out there. Check out Gardens Alive—they have catalogs and a helpful website. Many of their products are far safer for your pets and children than the stuff traditionally used by many gardeners and homeowners. There are organic choices as well as some less toxic chemicals that disintegrate rapidly, which are better for the environment than chemicals that hang around for a long time. You can even make your own insecticidal soap; a number of websites supply recipes and application instructions.

Especially if you have children you want to be careful about what you put in the vegetable garden. After all, if a child is going to eat that carrot or tomato any stuff you use will have a stronger effect on that small person of far less pounds than an adult. If you are gardening you should seriously consider being organic. It is safer for you, for your pets and for your kids. And it really doesn’t cost much more to be organic, plus you will not have to figure out how to safely store all those scary chemicals you won’t be needing anymore. 

There are many good websites that can help you go organic and even learn how to make your own stuff to knock back the bugs. Two I like are EarthEasy.com and SaferBrand.com. You can even make your own compost tea. Many recipes can be found on the net (FineGardening.com) is one such website.

So, enrich your beds with well-composted manure. You can feed your plants with fish or seaweed fertilizer, or other organic choices which can be found at Neighbors Garden Center or online at GardensAlive, CleanAirGardening or Espoma. Buy beneficial insects like ladybugs or lacewings. Put natural substances on your lawn to control Japanese beetle larvae like GrubeAway or milky spore. All are ways to be more environmentally careful about what you put on your plants and in your soil.

Once your plants are up and growing you can use foliar feeding solutions that are made of natural substances to help your plants grow faster and stronger. And I am not talking about Miracle Grow. That stuff is not good for your garden—it will cause mineral salts to build up in your soil, and frankly food tastes better when natural fertilizers are used. Here is a little story out of my life.... Once, a long time ago, my dad asked why my tomatoes tasted so much better than his when we were growing the same varieties. I told him that I never use Miracle Grow like he did, and that decision made a giant difference in the taste of the vegetables I grew. Again, there are lots of good organic choices out there to help your plants grow big and your veggies be tasty treats.

So, go and look online or in your local garden center. Go organic this week! I am sure you can find some decent organic choices you can use for dealing with weeds and garden pests rather than chemicals that can kill innocent critters and pollute the water. Just think about how much better things would be if everyone chose to go organic rather than spray chemicals when it came to their yard and garden!