Grow organic-avoid pest and diseases

Grow organic food isn't allways an easy task. You must have experince and petience. Start your  garden with these advices in mind:

• Start by growing strong, healthy plants that will have the ability to resist attacks from pests and diseases. That means "organic growing". 
• Always plant into fertile soil and make sure the plants never go short of water and food. 

grow organic food

• Rely as much as you can on physical methods of pest and disease prevention and control and constant vigilance and you cut down the need for chemicals. 
• Nature will do the rest for you. Nature has worked out the most complex balance of power. 
• Build up as diverse a collection of plants as you can, including as many native flowers, trees, and shrubs as possible, especially those that grow in your own locality and provide a small area of water. 
• By doing this you will build up a varied colony of useful insects and birds and thus keep problems to a minimum.

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Grow organic-disease control

New methods of cultivation that improve yields or that reduce losses from pests and diseases have been discovered, and these have been translated into gardening terms.

A great deal of research has also been directed at finding new methods of growing plants commercially. There is no doubt that much of the information that has come from this research has benefited the gardener, but it would be a mistake to fall into the trap of following the commercial grower automatically. Nowhere has the mimicry of the professional been more evident than in the field of pest and disease control.

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Just as soon as a new chemical has been produced for commercial use, so a slightly diluted version of the chemical appears in the garden shops and centers, accompanied by seductive claims that it has proved to be moree ffective than its competitors. You have to remember that your requirements are very different. The farmer or commercial grower is constantly on the lookout for higher yielding, larger, and therefore more profitable varieties of plants, while you are after fruit and vegetables with flavor, which are not contaminated with chemicals. In addition, he or she may have many acres of, for example, cabbages, that are infested with caterpillars, and so have no alternative but to spray them.

Grow organic

If you have only one or two rows of cabbages, you do not need to cover them with chemicals. Instead, walk down the rows two or three evenings a week, pick off the offending creatures, and drop them into a jar of paraffin. Likewise, a few well-directed squirts of soapy water will wash any aphids off your couple of dozen rose bushes in next to no time. 

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Grow organic. Fertilizer and green gardening

The use of concentrated fertilizer is probably one of the most controversial areas in organic gardening. Opinions vary. Some gardeners claim that additional fertilizer is unnecessary if the correct cultivation methods are observed. Others employ methods that appear to be identical to the chemical grower except that the products used are organic in origin. 

Organic plants need a wide and varied range of nutrients to be present in the soil for normal healthy organic growth. Chemical growers assess the nutrient needs of each plant every year and supply those needs in the form of a fertilizer that is immediately available to the plants. They simply use the soil to hold the plant nutrients. The result of using fertilizer as an alternative to organic matter is that the soil becomes an inert medium, devoid of life and the lost nutrients have to be replaced every year. The principle of green organic gardening is to feed the soil rather than the plants growing in it. If high soil-fertility levels are maintained by regular additions of organic matter, the plants can simply draw on the material as it is required. There is no danger of an overdose and a steady supply is ensured by the activity of all the various organisms in the soil.

For many crops, very acceptable yields can be obtained without the addition of fertilizers, but you have to be realistic. Fertilizers are normally required for several reasons. You may not be able to supply your soil with all the manure or compost needed to provide the necessary nutrients. You may find that your soil is grossly deficient in one or more of the essential nutrients. To correct this by adding bulky organic material can take several years; it is more realistic to add concentrated organic fertilizer as well as the organic material. Also many gardeners wish to make much higher demands on their soil than even the hardestworking colony of bacteria and fungi could provide in the time.

So, there are always occasions when fertilizers are required. What you must do is ensure that they are compatible with the requirements not only of the plants but also of the organisms in the soil. The beauty of organic gardening is that, provided you supply nature with the tools of the trade, she will do the rest.

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