Organic Gardening - Advice and information

There is no point in simply just 'doing' organic gardening! Organic gardening is much more a greater part of life and ethos.

The reasons for going organic in your garden can be many - and varied. They can range from a natural 'distaste' for synthetic chemicals, through to a desire to change your bit of the environment - or even the wider global aspects of environmentalism.

With the environmental issues being aired daily it seems - especially at political election times - there has never been more interest or concern about our planet's wellbeing, short and long term.

So What Exactly is Organic Gardening?

Organic gardening is not simply about growing wholesome fruit and vegetables. We are talking gardening in its widest possible interpretation. If you grow your food crops in an organic manner, but then go running for the sprays as soon as you see aphids on the roses, you are not an organic gardener!

In it's basic form, organic gardening is simply growing crops and plants without using synthetic chemicals (Sprays and Feeds). It is generally held that food crops in particular, when grown this way, have a higher nutritional value and better taste. The matter of the added 'nutritional value' of organic food is hotly disputed by many scientists. It is sometimes hard to believe this when you are up to your ankles in manure! Many of us would say that all food crops harvested from the garden and eaten fresh have a superior taste to their supermarket counterparts. Well, we would wouldn't we? How else can we justify the hard work and frustration that is part of growing your own - organic or not! For me, a good 'test' is to observe the general health of the organic gardeners with the rest of us! I have never been able to pinpoint any differences in general health between those who are passionately organic, and myself. In fact a recent study showed that those with leanings towards organic gardening, had a higher incidence of sickness-related days off from work than those who just carried on life as normal(!)

The jury is out on the actual nutritional benefits of organically grown food. Perhaps on a large commercial scale it is virtually impossible to grow food 100% organically. The surrounding environment doesn't simply surround - it knows no boundaries!

But organic gardening is not simply about chemicals and their avoidance. It also needs the skill and determination to grow the right plants in the right conditions, in the right place!

I grew up surrounded by organic gardening at it most basic. On a hillside in Wales, where mothers and fathers could not afford to buy sprays and feeds. Manures were the order of the day. Aphids were washed off with soapy water, and all kitchen waste - and there wasn't too much - was consigned to the compost heap. The surrounding woodland was a ready source of leaf mould and the garden virtually recycled itself. This then, was organic gardening of necessity! No politics: No Green Wellies: Just Gardening as it can be!

David Hughes - Site Editor