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SUE IN WISCONSIN ASKS:
I am at long last trying to grow a vegetable garden this summer. I even started some seedlings indoors and am steadily moving them outside now as the spring weather allows. I do not have a green thumb, but I do have an aversion to using any sort of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. What are some eco-friendly ways to maintain my organic garden and help my plants flourish?
MOM DETECTIVE ANSWERS:
From one green-thumb-lacking gardener to another: welcome to the club! Every cherry tomato I manage to grow, and keep chipmunks from eating first, is a miracle. My low yield makes me that much more grateful for the many real farmers that feed my family robustly.
But still, I try. Not only do I find the seed-to-plant experience magical, but also there’s solid evidence that getting your hands in the dirt is good for your gut, heart, and mental health. Like you, I have zero tolerance for toxic garden chemicals. Pesticide exposure has been linked to breathing issues, nervous system dysfunction, and even childhood cancer risk. No thank you.
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Most people say sun, water, and nutrient-filled soil are the keys to maintaining an organic garden. I think there’s another critical element: Love. Putting a plant in dirt and caring for it is loving the earth. Not spraying unsafe chemicals on the plants is loving yourself, the groundwater, the birds, the bees and other pollinators, and the whole ecosystem that would be harmed by harsh inputs, even the bunnies who eat my groundcherries.
Before you worry I’ve gone off some mystical deep end, here are some science-based thoughts about eco-friendly gardening, including nontoxic ways to deal with pests, nutrients, and more.
Soil
Flourishing plants need good soil. But not all dirt is alike. Humans have done a lot of unfortunate stuff that destroys our soil and can even make plants grown in it unsafe to eat. This is why where you locate your veggie plot is important. If you have a house covered in lead paint, for example, you do not want to be growing your cucumbers directly in soil tainted with that paint! So choose your (sunny!) site and your soil wisely.
You can test your existing soil for contaminants if you’re concerned, and you can bring more dirt in. There are lots of choices, from certified organic mixes that come in plastic bags and require long-haul transportation to local “vouched for” truckloads of dirt from local garden centers. What you choose is up to you. I located local certified organic soil and was surprised to pull more than a few intact plastic produce stickers out of it. Moral of that story: nothing is perfect and everything contains microplastics—including seedlings grown in meticulously researched organic dirt.
If you don’t already compost, I urge you to start now. This can help you nourish your plants without chemical fertilizers as they grow. Other nonsynthetic, nontoxic fertilizers include worm castings, bone meal, and manure of all kinds. People are always asking each other for horse poop on my town’s Buy Nothing Facebook group. It’s amusing, but I’m not the sort of gardener who knows how to use fresh free poop safely, so I don’t—yet.
Water
One of things I love about my organic garden is that they’re a front row seat to seasonal weather patterns. Maybe you notice during the summer when there hasn’t been enough rain. Or maybe you’ve thought that global warming has changed your plant hardiness zone. (No worries if you don’t know what that means—yet.) But nothing makes you pay attention to too much or too little rain like wilting plants.
Rain barrels are a good way to save water and also keep your plants hydrated, though most on the market are plastic. See what’s in your budget that saves water and is terracotta or metal. And if you’re rigging up irrigation, keep materials in mind. Hoses are usually plastic and can contain lead. Seek out lead-free options for edible gardens, often labeled as “drinking water safe.” Some irrigation systems have PVC plastic pipes. Seek out alternatives.
Issues
Use simplicity as a guiding principle for anything that might pop up to mess with your organic garden. Obvious natural fixes that don’t involve cancer-causing ingredients tend to be simple. Take weeds. Instead of using toxic herbicides, you can: hand pull, kill with vinegar, torch with flames, or use natural mulch. If there are a lot of beetles on a plant, you can: pick them off, spray with strong water pressure, or use a natural soap or oil. It’s surprising how much you can do with your hands, “companion” plantings known to ward off damaging bugs, and row cover (preferably not plastic).
Not sure what to do? Grab a gardening book or hit the internet. It can be overwhelming how much information there is available, but you will quickly find your trusted sources that make sense to you.
Integrated pest management (IPM)
I don’t mind “ugly” fruit or vegetables. Eating rinsed greens with, say, flea beetle holes isn’t bad for you, and it doesn’t hurt the flavor. Just saying. Caveat: This is not the case if a deer has munched your salad! But every gardener draws their own line in the dirt. Maybe a slug invasion ruining a crop will make you want to turn to stronger pest management. Me, I would rather lose the plants than ever use a chemical fertilizer, but my “snacking garden” is not my only source of food nor my livelihood.
This is where IPM comes in. While pesticides, which includes sprays for bugs, weeds, and rodents, can harm people and the environment, IPM is an approach to pests using both nonchemical approaches and what’s referred to as “least-toxic” pesticides only when necessary. All of this reduces the use of the worst pesticides. Want to know how to read a pesticide label? Check this out.
Like I said, in my yard, I’m in charge. But IPM has proved useful in orchards in parts of the country, like the East Coast, where climate makes it difficult to grow fruit organically, and also for school grounds. If ever you run into a real problem in your yard, there are pest management professionals that do IPM.
Sue, I wish you a bountiful growing season full of bumper crops, love, and tasty meals. Have fun!
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