This quote from Deb (CookieCows) made me think about sharing some info on Organic gardening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CookieCows
We have so much to learn from one another and I for one want to learn more on how I can get my darn garden to do better without using pesticides as we've had lousy luck up to this point. My husband and I gave up and started spraying the heck out of our vegetable garden and it has still been touch and go.
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Armed with a little knowledge there should be no excuse for using Pesticides, Herbicides, Synthetic/Chemical plant foods or GMO products in your backyard gardens, unless you just really want to use them. I can tell you that I would much rather have the occasional caterpillar, snail or aphid eating my plants then putting pesticides on my dinner plate. As a matter of fact I'd let the bugs completely eat the garden and go buy food from the farmers market before I'd apply any toxic chemicals on my food, but that's not going happen because I know how to get rid of them naturally! In my years of growing organically I've used killer snails, praying mantis', lady bugs, parasitic wasps, preditor mites, and various forms of organic insect control like submerged half aluminum cans filled with beer for slugs, BT for catapillars, black light hunts at night for horm worms, and some homemade insect killing soap sprays.
Insect control: If your soil and plants are healthy and you're growing seeds that are proven to do well in your area you shouldn't have much trouble with insects, but if you do here are some ways to battle the little critters in an environmentally responsible way.
http://www.extremelygreen.com/pestcontrolguide.cfm
Here is a picture of one of my greatest success stories!
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showp...hp?photo=7384]
Seeds bulbs Etc: Here are couple very good sources for Heirloom and organic seeds.
http://rareseeds.com/
http://www.seedsavers.org/Aboutus.asp
Soil: Composting
http://www.compostguide.com/
Nutrition and food safety: There have been many studies over the last 10 years or so that have shown Organic fruits and vegetables to contain more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants then conventionally grown or GMO products. They also have far less toxic chemicals and heavy metals. The FDA has not conclusively said Organic is better but I think we all know why. Many people also say that Organic just taste better, but I don't eat enough conventionally grown stuff to give an opinion. I do know that food grown at home and ripened on the plant taste far superior then anything bought from the store! Here is some info about that.
http://www.soilassociation.org/web/s..._research.html
Lastly, growing organically is hard work. It takes knowledge, a strong back, some patience and some faith, but the return is very rewarding!
