An Organic Garden Is Not Just Chemical Free

When developing an organic garden, the biggest change to be made is in our thinking and attitude. Unfortunately, many people don't seem to realize that you don't have to always reach for some medication or vitamin supplement to deal with health problems. Drug-free-natural-health.com is a good place to find lots of information about more natural living.

When it comes to making this change in attitude, most people seem to go through three stages:

1. "Do-nothing". The first stage is to cut out chemicals and fertilizer and 'hope' the garden will grow itself. Having reached the point where it is clear that more is needed, you may feel a bit foolish for having expected things to be that simple, but don't. The garden needs this time to kind of "clear the Slate". This stage is not the result of ignorance, but a necessary step in the process.

   For instance, when an organic beef farmer buys a new bull, it must be 'quarantined' away from the certified area of the farm until it can be introduced without bringing any contaminants with it.

2. "Substitution". This is your next step and the logic is that if chemical fertilizer is no good, then use organic fertilizer instead. Or if insecticides cannot be used, try soapy water or a garlic spray to do the job. Again, there is nothing wrong with this logic, but there comes a point when you wonder what you have achieved and whether this is truly 'Organic'.
3. "Truly Organic". This is the point when you hear statements like: "Our Organic Citrus Fertilizer gives your trees everything they need" and then wonder how they can make such a claim without knowing what your garden provides. After all, fertilizer is used to make up for what what the soil in the garden cannot provide in meeting the needs of a plant.

Re-Designing the System

This is what organic gardening is all about, the most difficult part of the process and the reason why the first two stages are so essential. Every organic garden is unique, so there is no simple formula that can be applied - you have to find your own way there. However, there are some lessons that others before you have learned that should help you get there a bit more easily.

The Citrus food example is one of the first. The sales process requires people to simplify there message, so they cannot deal with you as an individual and will even try to work against any effort you may make to behave as one. Often, then, you will find that the more people try to tell you to do things differently (by just following this nice simple 'Rule of Thumb' for example), the more you are actually doing things right.

But I am not trying to malign salespeople. They have a job to do and a living to make like anyone else. They also provide a lot of useful information. The trick is to learn the difference between useful information and selling. You do this by learning the basics first. For example, if you know your soil is high in Potassium, but short of Iron, then you will know that a 'High Potash Citrus Food' is not what you need. You may then find the same company has a product that suits your requirement, but it is called "Asparagus Food". The salesman may well try to tell you this is the wrong choice, but the knowledge you already have will serve you better.

Organic Garden or Organic Living?

Perhaps the most important organic criterion is that we should live in harmony with our environment so that our actions do not harm or hinder others or the environment.

For instance, if we use a fertilizer that produced in a country where workers are treated poorly or harmful impacts on the environment are not controlled, then are we being truly organic?

A more difficult question - and one we each must answer for ourselves - is: "Will being self sufficient avoid all these effects or simply create new ones?" In other words, if we become islands, cut off from interacting with salesmen and others, are then also harming or hindering their opportunities to find a productive and comfortable life?

Complete self sufficiency is almost impossible, so the answer to this question becomes more a matter of degree. While I could go further in discussing this point, that would (for me) be going too far, as my feelings and opinions may overly influence your thinking. In the end I believe the answer you come to must be entirely your own.

The real key to both an organic garden and an organic life is to find and use good information. The rest of the story then, will be found elsewhere, but I will do my best to point you in useful directions. You can use the links below to find useful information and resources. There may not be many to start with, but that is only because I will not include any link here until I am sure it will be genuinely helpful and reliable, so come back from time to time to see what others have been added.

The Story of "Stuff" can be quite an eye-opener.
This series of free videos is an absolute 'must see' and a good first step on the way to organic living.

A beginners guide to organic gardening
This e-book really is what it says - a beginners guide. It covers virtually all the topics you will need to know about and does so in plenty of detail, but if you read the information on this site (especially in the soils and ecology sections) you will find the equivalent sections of the e-book a bit dated.

Nevertheless, if you are just getting started, this really is a good 'beginners guide' and it can help you get up and going very quickly.

Companion planting for an organic garden
This is our own companion planting page, which takes a more basic look at the subject than the usual list of companion plants you find elsewhere. You can also find good information on this with the Beginners Guide above.

Understanding soil balance
The Mikhail System describes how soil functions and the balance relationships upon which it depends. This is not just useful in understanding soil, but like soil the garden itself is a living system, so understanding soil balance is very helpful in understanding how an organic garden works.