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The standard wisdom among chemically dependent gardeners and farmers is, feed the plants with petroleum based fertilizers, and use the soil to anchor the plant roots! And the general gardening and farming community has bought it hook, line and fertilizer spreader!! In recent years, a growing number of gardeners, and yes farmers too, are going back to organic practices. Why? Because they have come to understand and realize something that the big chemical companies don’t want you to know about! You don’t need chemicals to grow healthy food crops!
Are Chemical Fertilizers Necessary? You don’t have to be a soil scientist to answer that question. Mother Nature answers it quit well, thank-you! Take a drive sometime to an abandoned farm, pristine wilderness area, or even local wooded acreage that has be left alone by man for some time, and observe! The first think you might notice is that there is vegetation everywhere, and that’s it healthy. Bear in mind that no one has tilled this soil, added fertilizers or soil amendments, or sprayed insecticides for years, if ever. Yet, all the plants growing wild are healthy, well fed and doing quite well! A closer look will reveal that there are an abundance of insects and animals of every type and description, and yet, no serious damage to plant life.
What we are seeing here is the result of the natural life cycle of plants and soil, in perfect balance and harmony, which happens when left untouched by man.
It is also apparent that there are a large number of plant types in any given area, each with their own special needs and preferences. This is quite unlike food crops in a garden or on a farm, where the focus is on a large amount of a small number of plant types. So how does nature provide the nutrients that plants need to thrive, without benefit of man’s intervention?
The Natural Life Cycle! When vegetation dies, it falls to the ground, and microorganisms begin to break it down into humus, while depositing nitrogen, potassium, phosposus (NPK) and trace minerals into the soil. As the plant material breaks down, it make the nutrients available to the next generation of plants. This rotting process also releases trace minerals from rock particles, which are also essential for healthy plant development. Some of the vegetation gets eaten by wildlife and get deposited onto the soil in the form of manure or droppings, which in turn undergo the same decay process, making the nutrients they contain available for future plant growth. Earthworms and other soil life aid in bringing humus and nutrients deep into the top soil layer.
We Got Bugs!! As previously mentioned, we find insects of every description in the wild, some of which we classify as “harmful” to the plants we want to grow, and others we might call “beneficial” because they eat the bad bugs. So why don’t the “harmful” bug just eat all the plants! There are two good reasons, and the chemical companies don’t want you to know this! First, healthy plants have the natural ability to repel insect attack, and can survive a certain amount of insect damage, and still produce well. Given a choice, insects will always attack weak, sick plants, and weak sick plants are created by chemical fertilizing and poor soil.
The second reason is that the “beneficial” bugs keep the “harmful” bugs in check, so there is almost never an infestation of the bad guys. That is unless we use the chemical insecticides, which kill both the good guys and the bad guys. Once beneficial insects are killed by chemicals, harmful insects can easily multiply and overwhelm plants.
Copying The Natural Cycle! Unlike virgin area’s untouched by man, the farm and garden disrupt the natural order of plant growth and soil health. We focus on growing a small number of specific food crops in a limited area, which upsets the natural plant balance found in nature. We also favor bare, weed free soil, so we eliminate the natural layer of rotting organic matter so essential for healthy soil and plants. So how do we duplicate the natural plant cycle, while gardening and farming as we know it?
The chemical advocates will tell us in effect, “feed the plants with chemicals, and use the soil only as a medium to anchor the roots”! The organic concept is quite different! We declare loud and clear, “feed the soil, and let the soil feed the plants”! Our goal is to reproduce in our garden and farms, what we find in nature, without the use of chemicals that damage the soil and infiltrate our food system.
Let It Rot! Healthy soil demands large amounts of humus! Rotting vegetation produces humus that puts essential nutrients back into the soil. There are several way we introduce humus into our soil.
Number 1 - Organic mulch! While this is not practical in large scale organic farming, it is very doable in the smaller organic garden. By maintaining a layer of organic plant material such as hay, straw, grass clippings, chopped leaves, etc. over the garden surface, it duplicates the natural soil cover found in nature. Microorganisms, earthworms and other soil life constantly break down the mulch and naturally fertilize the soil. As an added benefit, the mulch cools the soil, reduces or prevents weeds, and helps soil retain moisture, lessening the need for watering.
Number 2 - Compost! The compost pile is the gardeners best friend, and large scale composting is often a mainstay in organic farming. Compost can be incorporated indirectly into the soil or used as mulch. Everything from lawn clippings to chopped leaves to kitchen waste can easily be converted into “brown gold”!
Number 3 - Manure! This is where the farm has an advantage over most organic gardeners, unless you happen to have access to animal manure and the means to haul it. Poultry manure is the highest in nitrogen content, while cow, horse & pig manure have a larger amount of plant matter and trace minerals. Either or both make great additives that greatly benefit the soil.
Nutrient Depletion! Since we tend to grow only a small number of crops in a given area, and each crop has it’s own specific nutrient requirement, garden and farm soil can easily become deficient of certain essential nutrients. Sweet corn, for instance is a very heavy nitrogen feeder, and not enough nitrogen will cause a poor crops, and unhealthy plants prone to insect damage. . Potatoes, on the other hand, require much less nitrogen but a lot of phosphorus which produces strong root development. In the organic garden or on the organic farm, essential nutrients can be introduced back into the soil, without the need for chemicals, with the use of natural soil amendments such as blood meal or feather meal for nitrogen, bone meal for phosphorus, wood ashes or rock phosphate for potash (potassium) and green sand or seaweed for trace minerals.
Why Organic? Until the beginning of the 1900’s, and the wide scale introduction of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, virtually all food crop production was done by organic means. The chemical companies sold the farming community a bill of goods, promising bigger crops, bigger profits and less work through chemicals. What they didn’t tell them was that using their products would destroy the natural balance of their soil, and produce crops deficient in minerals and vitamins needed to sustain human health and vigor. It was chemical farming that caused the “great dust bowl” in the midwest in at the turn of the century, where millions of acres of top soil was blown away because the soil became not much more that lifeless dust without organic matter.
It has been proven that many farm chemicals remain in the human food chain and are consumed by us and our families each year. Since the introduction of chemically produced food crops, there has been a rapid rise in certain human diseases such as cancer, diabetes and other illnesses associated with nutrient deficiencies. Scientists remain divided on cause and effect, and naturally, many of those scientists claiming that chemicals do no harm, are employed or financed by grants from the huge chemical companies.
Many gardeners and farmers are returning to organic techniques, producing healthier crops for healthier families. This is evident by the rapidly growing “organic produce sections” found in most supermarkets today, not to mention the higher prices. This forum is about helping you produce significant amounts of healthy, abundant food crops in your home garden, while reducing your food budget.
About This Forum - This is the first of an ongoing series of specific “how-to” articles on organic gardening for home gardeners that want a healthier, abundant lifestyle. We hope that you visit often, and tell your friends and neighbors about “The Garden Guy”! Blessings,
Ron CLICK HERE TO RESPOND OR COMMENT ON THIS ARTICLE!
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