Chemical vs. Organic

In the beginning, the Earth was a complex eco-system that depended on simple systems to keep it self-sustaining – plants received rainwater, lived out their lives and shed spent leaves and other plant parts on the forest floor. The detritus fed the soil, teeming beneath the surface with organisms, worms and insects. The soil in turn provided nutrients and minerals for plant life. Animal and insect life thrived or was reduced or eradicated due to factors such as weather changes. Whether a plant lived or died depended greatly on its suitability to a particular location or climate.

Organic gardening emulates this system, where plants are part of a whole that includes waterways, people, wildlife and insects, whereas in conventional gardening, problems are often dealt with using quick chemical solutions. Organic gardeners know this is a superficial approach that detracts from the long-term health of the earth and the people who inhabit it.

Choosing the right location

The preference of organic gardeners is to emulate nature, taking a long-term view to pest and disease prevention. One of the first strategies of organic gardening is choosing the right plant for the right place. A plant that is adapted to survive in an arid desert environment but which finds itself in boggy soil will struggle, attract pests, and require added resources. A native or well-adapted plant in a location nature intended is less demanding and less prone to insects and disease.

Soil as foundation

The foundation of organic gardening is the building up of soil. Mineral levels should be well-balanced. Fertilizers identify the mix of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in a given supplement, but they don’t identify the unique properties of a particular piece of land, especially the ph of the soil. Though there are certainly clues that can indicate deficiencies, a soil test is usually the best way to determine how best to amend.
It’s a given that organic materials must be replenished every year. Under optimum conditions, soil is dynamic, filled with microorganisms that speed decomposition of organic matter and in turn supplying plants with the carbon dioxide they need to survive and flourish. Supplements such as mycorrhiza, a naturally occurring fungus that helps plants in the uptake of nutrients via a symbiotic relationship with the feeder roots of plants, will help stimulate such an environment for tired soils.

Insecticides and herbicides

Pests and disease are seen as symptoms of an underlying problem in the growing environment. Solutions focus on natural controls – encouraging birds and other wildlife to help keep certain insect populations in check, growing “trap crops,” to encourage bugs to ravage plants that aren’t as precious as some others, or using natural products such as Garden-ville’s Organic Insecticide that include ingredients such as mint and limestone to keep bugs away.
The first line of defense for plants hit by disease is to consider how to improve growing conditions. Is a cover crop that fixes nitrogen in the soil necessary? Is the plant’s water intake what it should be? Is it growing in the right location?
Organic gardeners might also reach for a seaweed based supplement to help build up the plant’s ability to fight back. Malcolm Beck describes how minerals and nutrients from the earth are washed into rivers and then the sea, where they’re combined to sustain sea life. Seaweed as a foliar spray “completes the cycle, bringing the lost nutrient minerals back to the land,” he writes in “Lessons in Nature.”

When it comes to eliminating weeds – organic gardeners know a layer of mulch can help keep them from popping up in some places. When necessary, vinegar-based herbicides, sprayed on plants, or used as a soil drench, acidify the soil to a degree that plants can’t survive. Highly effective, they present a far better solution than using toxic chemicals that eventually make their way into waterways.
Even persistent fungal problems such as black spot, powdery mildew, or brown patch can be controlled using a gentle tonic. Potassium bicarbonate or baking soda is mixed with water, and used in a highly effective spray that like vinegar solutions, alters the pH of the plant surface.

Mother Nature as gardener

That none of these solutions is a silver bullet – and that Mother Nature ultimately decides the success of their garden -- is something that the organic gardener is imminently aware of.

“One form of life dies and decays so that another form can be born and grow,” Beck writes. “The circle continues in perfect harmony, as long as Nature is allowed to control the process.”