Organic Vegetable Gardening provides healthy food for your family
When you hear someone say "Organic Vegetable Gardening" your first thought may well be "Chemical Free" and while this is certainly true, there is much more to it than this. You might also think of low input or Frugal Gardening, but there is more to both organics and frugality than simply saving money by cutting out inputs like fertilizer. In fact, there are probably three stages in becoming an organic gardener. The first is 'do-nothing' or 'low-input' approach mentioned above, when we throw out all the chemicals and fertilizer and garden 'au naturelle'. As we discover the limitations to this approach, we move to stage two, which is 'substitution'. We substitute 'good' chemicals for 'bad' ones. For instance, we may stop using organo-phosphate insecticides and spray pyrethrum instead. The third stage comes when we discover the real meaning of 'Organic' as reclaiming control over the quality of our lives. To achieve this we must also ensure that the things we use, buy and do produce no negative impact on the environment or the lives of others, with whom we share this World. In this way, the quality of lifestyle we have is not achieved at the expense of anyone else's opportunity to do the same. Many people are put off by this, expecting it to be complicated and difficult, when really it is just a change of outlook. To help you find your way, we have included a page that describes what organic gardening and organic living is in more detail. In addition to this, there are is also some especially useful information to be found on other sites. These include:
Of course, this means somewhat different things for urban living as it does for country living. In the City, it is more about reclaiming control over your life. From employers who say "You shall spend your time only in my service", to supermarkets who say "You will buy this AND believe us when we tell you its fresh"; and on and on. Country living is more about the environment and our place in it. It is not only a natural setting for organic vegetable gardening, it also usually provides enough room and freedom to plan the garden of your choice. One website devoted specifically to optimizing the Country Living experience is Modoc Country Living. Click here to see some aspects of growing your own food from a garden in the country. To reach the goal of sustainable organic food gardening, one thing we must do is begin to redesign the system used to produce our food. It is when we begin to treat the garden as a Living System that we discover the real key to organic vegetable gardening. In fact, it is here that Organics becomes an entire lifestyle, affecting the ways we think about everything we do. To help you manage your garden as a living system we have put some detailed information on various parts of this site. However, if you would like a bit of a quick start guide to get started with, try this beginners guide to organic food gardening. For a more in-depth approach you can find some organic vegetable gardening concepts are discussed in detail under Garden Ecology. We also have other information on some of the basic principles of organic vegetable gardening. The first of these is Watering Vegetables. The basic objective being to find ways of maintaining production while using less water. Of course, conserving water involves doing more than just being careful how much water you put on. Techniques for effective soil improvement are at least equally important. Another valuable way to conserve moisture is to increase the depth of the root zone. Doing this properly involves doing more than just tipping on more soil to make a raised bed. To do this effectively you should combine methods of soil improvement with others adapted from the so-called 'Bio-intensive' system. To achieve this (even if the ultimate goal is for a no-dig garden), you will need to know something about the methods of cultivating soil. It is also important to have a good supply of organic garden compost. Of course if you have only a small area to work with (or even if you don't) growing some herbs and vegetables in pots and containers can be a good idea. However, many people find this frustrating and end up saying they just don't have a green thumb, when they are only getting a few of the basics wrong. So click here to learn some 'Tricks of the Trade' about organic vegetable growing in pots. And now for the really interesting part of organic vegetable gardening - working out what vegetables to grow. Choosing the vegetables to grow depends a lot on personal preferences, but there are a few basic principles to consider as well. Of course, the range of potential food plants that can be grown in the garden is huge and ever increasing. It includes everything from edible weeds and flowers, to heirloom varieties and a range of rare, unusual or exotic plants. But even more than this, there are also commercial crop varieties that are seldom if ever seen in the garden things like Truffles, Saffron and Ginseng. These need someone to have a go and learn how to grow them in a garden setting, so they will form the basis for a series of research and development projects we will run here. This means that as the results become available, you will be among the first gardeners in the World able to include these organic vegetable gardening options in your own food garden successfully. There are some links for further reading below, but to make sure you are always in touch with the latest information, you can also subscribe to our Free email newsletter - The Food Gardener.
And don't forget about our links page. This is intended to give you access to useful information about things that may be a little "off topic" elsewhere. For instance, we have a section there on Organic living and lifestyles, as well as kitchen utensils and appliances to help you get the most out of the food from your garden. Further Reading and Useful Links
What are "Super-Foods"?
Understanding and managing weeds.
Dealing with gardening pests.
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