Organic Gardening: Going Natural

What makes organic gardening different from conventional gardening techniques? The simplest answer is that the organic gardeners choose to use natural or organic materials and methods, avoiding man-made chemicals to grow their produce. The two primary areas which distinguish organic gardening are 1) application of fertilizers and 2) controlling pests.

Natural fertilizers: Better Tasting Produce?

Though there is no scientific evidence that the use of organic fertilizers would produce better tasting produce, most organic gardeners would beg to differ. One might agree that with the notion that we are ingesting too many chemicals from our foods, limited use of chemical fertilizers may produce better tasting and higher quality produce. The use of organic compost as a replacement for chemical fertilizers is one of the more common way to fertilizer your crop. Other alternatives include the use of teas derived from plants, such as compost tea. The use of organic matter also replenishes the soil by increasing the organic content.

Rid Your Garden of Pest Naturally

Organic gardeners use of natural pesticides stems from concerns over pesticide residues on food, groundwater and in the soil. Many reports have linked a large number of health problems to exposure to pesticides, which has many consumers and producers moving toward organically grown produce.

So how does one combat garden pest naturally? First and foremost is healthy organic soil, which produces healthy plants that can fight garden pest on their own.

Other organic pest control products rely on extracts from plants, such as oranges and lemons. D-Limonene, which is the active ingredient in citrus oils, kills many flying and crawling insects on contact. Destroying the insect's respiratory systems, an insect basically suffocates.

Another all purpose organic pesticide is made from the Neem tree. Neem oil which is produced by pressing the oil from the neem seed, does not directly kill feeding pests, rather it discourages insects from feeding on the plants that are coated, in essence starving the pests to death. Neem oil can be used on vegetables, flowers and ornamentals. Another beneficial aspect of using Neem Oil is that it is non-toxic to birds, mammals, ladybugs, spiders and bees.

As you can see there are many options for the organic gardeners to both grow and protect their produce without the use of man-made chemicals. There are many organic compounds occurring in nature that are effective natural repellants to pests and others that are beneficial to growing an organic garden.

Paul E. Web is the webmaster and publisher of agreenergarden.com which is an online Gardening resource with free articles on Organic Gardening along with other information on growing a greener garden. Copyright (c) 2007

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