How to Start with Organic Gardening

Gardening the world’s most popular pastime. It’s also a tangible way to reconnect with the environment. Here’s how to get started — organic style.

From clutches of little flowers in window boxes to rambling backyard vegetable and ornamental beds, gardening is enjoyed by more adults than any other form of recreation.

Perhaps the urge to garden is buried somewhere in our DNA. Growing food, rather than chasing it, is the cradle of all civilization. So if you’re somewhere the weather is starting to warm, and you’re beginning to feel a bit restless looking  at that empty yard, don’t be surprised. And give it a shot.

Before you pull on your gloves and start tracking down that missing shovel, consider organic gardening. With a little planning, you can be kinder to the Earth while enjoying  fresh, wholesome veggies and beautiful ornamentals.

Start with the soil

Before 1940, virtually all gardening and agriculture is what we’d call “organic” today. After World War II ended, companies which had been producing gunpowder and explosives saw the potential to retool for peacetime. They began turning out variations of the same salt-based, water soluble nitrogen fertilizer in current use.

And they worked, at least for a while. The high yields of chemical fertilizers come at a cost: damaged soil, sterilized of the natural fungi which assist healthy root growth. That led to more potent fertilizers, and finally pesticides to kill the pests which moved in to attack weakened plants. It’s an endless cycle, and the reason that commercial produce is so full of pesticide residue.

Organic gardeners use carbon-based solid nitrogen fertilizers: in short, compost and natural by-products such as cottonseed meal, fish emulsion, or manure. You might want to start by getting your soil analyzed to see what it’s lacking. Then get your compost heap going. That spoiled lettuce could be back later in the season as a handful of fresh rosemary. Just let nature do her thing.

Be smart about your plants

Whether it’s flowers or tomatoes you’re after, success will come easier if you choose varieties appropriate for your location. Find out what worked for your neighbors. Have a long chat with someone at the County Agent’s office or local nursery. Gardening can be a social activity, and you’ll find plenty of people ready to lend advice if you ask.

Mulch is your friend

It’s not organic gardening if you’re spraying to keep the weeds down. Fortunately, nature has

provided us with a great way to keep things from growing where we don’t want them to:  mulch! The best part is that mulch can be so many things — wood chips, leaves, sawdust, hay, or grass clippings.

A caveat, though: know where your mulch is from. If you’re buying pre-packaged, source it. Several major retailers are currently under pressure to stop selling cypress mulch allegedly harvested from irreplaceable old-growth stands in Louisiana — the same wetland ecosystem which protects populated areas from hurricane storm surge. You’ll find a big list of mulch pro and cons here.

Fight pests with non-toxic remedies

All gardeners eventually have a run-in or two with pests. Sometimes you can beat them by being smart about how you arrange your planting, splitting up stands of like vegetables to make it more difficult for pests to migrate between their favorites, or by mixing veggies with aromatic herbs and flowers. OrganicGardenPests.com is a terrific resource when it comes to identifying and targeting specific garden annoyances.

You can also fight fire with fire, introducing predator insects to keep the riff-raff down. Ladybugs (ladybirds, to our UK readers) are a classic example. They’re a joy to see in the garden — unless you’re an aphid. Beneficial insects are available by mail.

Have fun!

Relax. Get your hands dirty. Enjoy the way soil smells when you turn it, and the satisfaction of harvesting or looking at something you’ve grown in harmony with nature.