The Basic Facts About Organic Gardening

Until recently organic gardening was viewed as part of a counter culture - something that "new age" people did just to be different. Over the last few years, however, people have come to realize the importance of growing and eating both edible and environmentally safe flowers, fruits and vegetables. By the way, nothing about organic gardening is really new since before the mid 1800s there were no such things as chemical fertilizers and insecticides. We are now returning to an appreciation of the benefits of using only what exists naturally to grow our gardens and, in the process, once again become one with nature.

To know about organic gardening it is essential to understand what the word "organic" means in the modern contexts, as we use it today. Organic as used today, means applying modern science to find new ways for using natural materials and elements to protect plant growth and enhance the health and productivity of the crop. This involves not just using modern scientific methods to enhance what nature already gives us but to also appreciate the natural logic of using nature to regenerate the soil and protect the crop from predators as well as planting crops suitable for specific environments rather than trying to change growing conditions.

If you compare this understanding about organic gardening with the "modern" one of firstly killing off everything that can be killed of (both plant and animal) and then using factory created chemicals to create an artificial balance once again, the reason behind the organic gardening becomes clear. There are two specific aspects to organic gardening and they both must work in tandem to be successful. Firstly there is the use of organic material to regenerate the soil by the use of mulch or compost to return to the soil nutrients that were taken out of in by the previous crop. Secondly is the use of naturally occurring substance to protect the plant from attack from insects and disease.

While all this sounds perfect, there are some issues about organic gardening that have to be taken into account. Organically grown fruits and vegetables not only taste better but are more nutritious that those supported by fertilizers and insecticides, although they may not have the artificial near perfect that chemicals may provide to the garden's appearance. The other problem is that with artificial chemical we are able to produce much faster plant growth and yield which is unnatural since those who know about organic gardening know that all this does is deplete the soil for future use, leading to more chemical fertilizers being used.