Episode 5 – The Basics of Organic Gardening

Before we get into the meat of this podcast I need to apologize for not getting out the podcast on Wednesday as I had planned. My family and I are currently trying to relocate from northern Kentucky to an, as of yet not purchased, home in the western suburbs of Chicago. I’m doing my best to release a weekly podcast on Wednesday so you have plenty of time to schedule some reading or work activities for the coming weekend.

So you want to be an organic gardener. Good for you. There’s nothing stopping you except some basic education and a little extra work. The book definition of organic gardening is a form of gardening that uses substantial diversity in pest control to reduce the use of pesticides and tries to provide as much fertility with local sources of nutrients rather than purchased fertilizers. That seems a little wordy to me but before we go any further, a few gardening facts.

In the United States, the practice of gardening organically was greatly popularized by J.I. Rodale during the 1940s and 1950s, with his magazine, "Organic Farming and Gardening". Now titled simply "Organic Gardening", it is currently the most widely read gardening magazine worldwide. And it just so happens that I’m a subscriber.

The average person throws out 1,500 pounds of trash per year. The average amount of trash thrown out by person who composts? 375 pounds.

Americans spend $6 billion annually on lawn care

It’s estimated that less than one percent of insects are actually pests

Organic gardening is an environmentally friendly, people-friendly style of gardening. Using the organic method gives you the opportunity to create the garden you want while feeling confident that you are doing your part to protect the wider environment in which we all share. Even if you could not care less about the environment, there is simply no reason why should not be gardening organically. It’s been proven over and over again that the chemicals and fertilizers in which the vast majority of gardeners utilize are simply not needed. What they need is a bit of education, so they can break the shackles of using unnatural methods. Only recently have I been converted to the organic method. I simply didn’t know such a method existed.

The organic method really gathered steam in the middle of the 20th century when a few forward-thinking individuals began to question the direction and current techniques of the farming and food production industries.  Because of this focused view on food production, gardening of produce is where the organic methods are most advanced. Most people first get their taste of organic gardening in their vegetables gardens, but it can be used for everything from lawn care to flower beds and planters.  Recently there has even been interest from managers of public parks, playgrounds and even some parking lot operators. In the past year Who hasn’t seen the word organic nearly every day of their life? Be it in commercials or on grocery store packaging. The organic movement has exploded on the scene in the last few years. 

Now a bit of history…

Surprisingly chemical fertilizers have been around for nearly 150 years and many were the direct off shoot of the chemical warfare programs of world war 2. The use of chemical fertilizers did not reach acceptance in the farming communities until the 1950s.  To their credit the farming communities didn’t believe these artificial manures were what was really need to replenish the land. However, in the post war years there was a huge drive by governments to increase production and harvests. Most farmers, lured by the quick results and the claims of increased harvests, jumped onto the chemical bandwagon.  Production and harvests did rise sharply as promised and the program was considered a success. Yet a few people voiced concerns, but they could not be heard. It was not until farmers started to see the damage that was being done to their soil did more voices start to join the activists in those early years.

Around this time J.I. Rodale founded the Organic Farming and Gardening magazine. But not until the 1960′s, in the aftermath of the publication of new research on pesticides, did the organic movement make it’s way out of the fringes of society. The movement grew through the 1970s and 1980s as the larger environmental organizations started to gather members.  Around this time the first organic produce started to show up in specialty stores. Then a rash of food based scares such as Mad Cow Disease and the issue of genetically modified foods finally pushed the organic movement into the for front in the late 20th century.

So who decides what is called "organic"? 

In many countries there are rules and regulations that make it illegal to label something organic unless the producer follows a strict organic standard. One of those standards is the H.D.R.A or the Henry Doubleday Research Association. The standard covers every aspect of growing, storing, and processing food, including soil management, animal welfare, and pest and weed control. The HDRA also covers a few aspects not related to food such as lawns and patios and more are under consideration. Here in the United States the word "organic" is quickly becoming a marketing term more than something you can actually rely on for your purchasing decisions. Unfortunately the large commercial companies have moved quicker than the government and have adopted the term organic.  They are lobbying hard to keep the term watered down so more of their products can be given that label. Thus they can capitalize on the current appetite for anything organic, regardless if it should be called organic, in the true sense of the word, or not.

What does exist for federal organic legislation is a definition of three levels of organics. Products made entirely with certified organic ingredients and methods can be labeled "100% organic". This is the only label you should have even the slightest bit of trust in.  Secondly, products with 95% organic ingredients can also use the word "organic". Both may also display the USDA organic seal. Which is just stupid if you ask me. Something is organic or it’s not.  It’s like saying you are 95% pregnant. Well…which is it!? Remember, to use the word "organic" all they needed to do was to make 95% of the ingredients "organic". You can do a surprising amount of modification and refinement and still be able to quality as "organic".  But I guess it’s better than nothing. The third level isn’t even worth discussing, as it only requires the producer to have 70% of their ingredients be organic to use the words "made with organic ingredients" on their packaging.

But enough of the discouraging news….we want to work in our own garden.

So what are the HDRA "Best practices" of organic gardening? I’ve been able to boil down the HDRA standard into what I believe are the 10 basic tenants. Let’s go thru them now.

1. Keep the soil covered with some type of green manure or mulch

Baron soil looses its vitality quicker than one that is covered.  Even better would be to plant crops such as legumes and grains that put nutrients back into the soil when they grow.

2. Apply only the appropriate amount of manure or mulch

You can actually burn your plants by providing too much manure.  And too much mulch can actual reduce the productivity of your soil.  There’s a happy medium you need to find.

3. Utilize a crop rotation system

Crop rotation was briefly touched on in podcast #3 on the wide row growing method. There was an example garden plot plan included with the show notes that showed a basic crop rotation. Rotation is simply the method of organizing succession planting in such a way as to give the best growing conditions for any particular plant.  Most plants give or take something from the soil.  You can usually find another plant that gives or takes the exact opposite. By rotating those plants you naturally balance the soil without the use of artificial compounds. Growing the same plant in the same location year after year will actually suck the life right out of the ground.
You’ll soon find that you can’t grow that plant anymore, which is where artificial fertilizers usually comes into play.

4. Utilize locally generated compost

Obviously the best compost is the compost you make at home. But if you are like me, and don’t have a compost pile…I know..I know..shame on me. I will in the future, just trust me. Try and find a local supplier. Remember that it’s best to not use a single supplier of your compost. Find several different suppliers, brands or types and mix them together so you have a variety of types of nutrients from a variety of organic ingredients.

5. Store and compost manures under a waterproof cover

There is some recent research that rain can leach the critical nutrients out of a compost pile if it’s not covered. Any quality book on the topic of composting will cover this.

6. Grow only what is appropriate for your area and soil

This should be common sense, but don’t try and grow desert plants in the tropics.  You can trick nature a bit by utilizing green houses, and nobody said to not have fun, but be practical. You never know, I might try and grow a pineapple during the coldest winter in Chicago. How’s that for practical!

7. Provide habitats to encourage natural predators and parasites

Things like bird or bat houses, wild flowers, fishponds, marsh areas and other natural habitats are critical to attracting and retaining the beneficial insects and animals. Besides, a garden is boring if you don’t mix it up a little.

8. Utilize appropriate and balanced watering

consider using drip irrigation systems or other methods where water can be directed exactly where it is most needed. Also, it’s really very simple to collect rainwater.
You should use as much rainwater as you can as part of your watering regime. Not only will it save you a few dollars on your water bill, it’s natural.
I’ve built and constructed several rainwater collection systems and will be covering rainwater collection in future episodes. It’s surprising just how much water you can collect off your roof.  I’ve never been able to build or afford to build a collection system that wouldn’t overflow within 10 minutes during a good rain.  And were talking hundreds of gallons of containment area. 

9. No treated lumber in the garden

It’s simply not needed.  There are so many other choices that using treated lumber is just not worth doing.  You may think you are saving yourself some time by not having to replace rotted lumber every couple years.  But why not address the rotting in the first place.  Use stone or concrete where rotting is going to be an issue. 
Or simply replace the rotted wood when needed. Rotting is a part of nature, don’t fight it. It’s really not that big of an issue in most gardens anyway.

And lastly, Only use organically grown seeds and other planting material

This is sort of a no brainer, but you can’t really consider yourself organic if the most basic item in the garden, the seed, isn’t organic itself.  There are plenty of seed companies that sell certified organic seeds or you can try one of the seed swapping organizations you can find online.  Practically any variety of plant can be found in an organic form, except maybe some of the new hybrids.  But just don’t consider only the seed. Make sure you look into your planting material like peat and soil amendments or store purchased compost. Those should be organic too if you can swing it.

If you follow those 10 rules you should be well on your way to an organic garden.  Each of the 10 items could be covered in a book, and in fact has been covered in a book probably multiple books. If you don’t think you can tackle all 10 during your first season, pick one or two. Do some research on those couple topics and dive right in.
I bet you’ll get the hang of it in short order.  If you need some help there are some online communities such as the Organic Gardening Yahoogroups mailing list that would be happy to strike up a conversation with you.

For more information you can google for hundreds of websites on organic gardening or you can purchase what I consider the best book on the topic. Not surprisingly it’s published by Rodale and is titles Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening.  The book is absolutely wonderful and would be a great resource for any gardeners library. It also includes the HDRA standard in the back of the book.   A copy of the HDRA standard can also be found online at www.hdra.org.uk or you can find a direct link on the mychicagogarden website in the Learn More section.

A quick note before we end.  A new gardening book club has started up that I’ve decided to join and will be providing my review of each months book as part of this podcast.  If you want to join the book club head over to gardenbloggersbookclub.blogspot.com or you can find a link to the book club on the mychicagogarden website.  January’s book is title Teaming with Microbes: A Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis.  I finished reading the book a few days ago and will be posting my review shortly. I invite podcast listeners to comment about the book on the mychicagogarden website if you do not have a blog or website of your own in which to do so. I’ll make sure the book club gets your comments.

That’s all for this edition of my Chicago Garden. my Chicago Garden is a production of AllisonHouse LLC, copyright 2007 and comes to you from  my apartment in the Edgewater neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. Music provided by the PodShow Podsafe Music Network. Check it out at music.podshow.com. I’m Tyler Allison and I hope you have a little bit of nature in YOUR own backyard. Thanks for listening.