Organic+Gardening+Basics

=Organic Gardening Basics=

What is Organic Gardening?
For the purposes of our garden, organic gardening means we don't use any "chemical" herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizers. However, just because we don't use chemicals, doesn't mean we don't manage our garden at all. On this page we talk about several natural methods we can use to control our plots' weeds, pests, and nutritional needs.

The Organic Philosophy
The key to learning natural methods of control is understanding the underlying philosophy of organic gardening. The organic gardener seeks to work with nature, not against it, which ultimately makes caring for the garden easier. There are three basic rules to follow to achieve this.
 * 1) Be Realistic: Learn about your climate and soil type, and then plant crops which work well with them. Most seed packets give you information about what that plant needs in regard to temperature, water, soil pH,sandy or clayey soil, and hours of sunlight. Make sure you are selecting based on what actually fits your garden, not what you wish would fit your garden.
 * 2) Be Observant: Notice how the natural world exists around you. In //Insects and Gardens// Eric Grissell described gardens as, "a humanly contrived, artificial construct of plants from all over the world that is usually assembled with little regard for ecological or biological principles." By its very definition, a garden is out of balance with nature. Therefore, the more you can model your garden after the natural world, the easier it will be to maintain. The best way to model nature in your garden is to make it diverse by planting a variety of types of crops. Diversity and balance are key to a healthy garden, and to all of nature itself.
 * 3) Don't be "Chemically Dependent": If you have a problem in your garden, consider multiple solutions rather than just grabbing the first herbicide or pesticide you find. Although these might work well in the short term, there are often natural methods of weed and pest control that work better in the long term. Human designed chemicals disrupt the delicate balance that exists in an ecosystem (whether that system is large or small) and are known to have far reaching, long lasting, and ill-understood effects. For that reason, we wish to avoid using them.

(Concepts taken from Insects and Gardens by Eric Grissell. "Grabbing the power sprayer as a first resort is like using a flame-thrower to cook a hamburger: it gets the job done, but who wants to eat the results?")

Weed Control
Instead of using chemically based herbicides, we use other methods to control weeds. One of the best methods is to prevent weeds before they begin.

Prevention:

 * The smothering method: During off-seasons, when we are not gardening, we can prepare an area for gardening by smothering the weeds. This is done with multiple layers of cardboard, leaves, and mulch. This blocks the sunlight so weeds can not grow, but when the layers break down, they provide valuable nutrients that our plants can use while the garden is in season. The cardboard and newspaper have a lot of fiber, which attracts beneficial insect life and earthworms. These insects and earthworms will break down the cardboard, which not only removes the cardboard within a few months, but also makes the soil easy to till when it comes time to plant. The smothering method can also be done with black plastic, but this version of the method will kill not only the weeds, but also any beneficial soil microbes, fungus, and insects in the area.
 * The mulch method: While the garden is in season, it is not practical to lay down the cardboard. Mulch alone can be used while the garden is in season. Or, you can substitute the cardboard with newspaper. Newspaper will also attract beneficial earthworms, but has the added advantage that you can dig straight through it if necessary.

Removal:

 * Weeding: This is the most common method, and something all gardeners have to deal with. However, it is most easily dealt with if done often, and early on. If weeds are removed as soon as they start, they have less chance to spread.
 * Vinegar: Spraying a mixture of vinegar and soap directly on weed leaves will make them shrivel and die. The soap helps the vinegar stick to the leaves, and the vinegar burns the leaves with its high acid content. However, this treatment does not always kill the root, so in some cases repeated spraying may be needed. Some weeds are more resistant than others. Be careful to spray ONLY your weeds, not your flowers or veggies.
 * Boiling Water: While this may not be plausible in our community garden, this method could work well for home gardens! Just pour the boiling water on the plant you'd like to kill. Be careful not to hit the plants you want to keep.

Other:

 * Harmony: This method is not always a good idea, but some "weeds" have little chance of spreading or harming your other plants. In these cases, some gardeners will leave the weeds in their gardens to add diversity and balance to the garden. However, it can be hard to tell which weeds are harmful and which are beneficial, so if in doubt just pull it out.

Pest Control
Rather than using pesticides, we use a variety of different method to discourage pests. It is important to understand that many "pests" may actually be beneficial to your garden. Not every insect is a pest. Many are necessary to help break down rotting material in your soil into helpful nutrients, while others are necessary for pollination. However, some are there that want to eat your crops. For those I recommend the following techniques.

Prevention:

 * Fences: This is the best way to keep out large pests such as rabbits, deer, etc. Of course, determined creatures can sometimes break the most formidable of barriers.

Removal:

 * Soapy Water: This method makes eating the plants less desirable to insects. It can be accomplished with a basic spray bottle filled with soapy water, and spraying it on the affected plant areas. This will not harm your plants, just make sure to give them a good rinse before you eat them.
 * Hand Picking: This is done most easily if you see a badly affected plant. By removing the plant itself, or the parts worst affected, you may be able to stop the spread of whatever damage is being done.

Other:

 * Plant Diversity: The more diverse your crops are, the wider variety of insects will be attracted to them. Having a many different insect species provides a natural check and balance to harmful pests. This is because no one species will be able to take over, because there will be plenty of predatory insects to keep the down harmful insect population. You can increase plant diversity by having many different crops rather than just one, making sure to include plants of different heights, colors, and shapes. Keeping diversity throughout all the seasons is important as well.
 * Habitat Diversity: This will also encourage a range of insects. This can be accomplished by having sunny and shady spots, dry spots as well as water, flat spots as well as mounds, and different types of soil. Keeping a layer of detritus, such as leaves or mulch, around plants is also helpful. This will attract insects that will break down the debris into helpful nutrients for your plants.
 * Companion Planting: This means adding some plants, which may or may not have any nutritional or aesthetic value, but do repel certain insects.

Fertilizers
There are many organic fertilizers we use instead of chemical fertilizers like MiracleGro. We use compost from old food and yard waste to create a nutrient rich soil-like material which plants love! See our fertilizer section for more information.