Contrary to popular belief, organic gardening does not necessarily
mean hours of exhausting labour. It involves looking
at your garden as a natural system and understanding how your
plants interact with the soil, weeds and insects. Many of
the principles behind organic gardening rely on keeping your
plants in tip top condition by ensuring they receive ample
water, food and sunlight and by selecting varieties that are
resistant to disease and suited to local conditions. In the
vegetable patch, crop rotation is a vital tool as it ensures
that the soil stays fertile and pests and diseases do not
build up.
The most obvious
alternative to weed killers is hand weeding. This is an especially
daunting task with deep-rooted weeds such as dandelions and
horsetail.
Mulching is a less labour-intensive method of weed control
and simply relies on the principle that covering the soil
with old carpet, straw or wood chips, removes light and air
thus ensuring that germinating seeds cannot survive.
There are also many ingenious ways of keeping insect pests
at bay. A fine mesh netting over your cauliflowers and cabbages
keep the caterpillars away, while we can cash in on the slug’s
aversion to grit by surrounding plants with rough sand or
broken egg shells to create a slug-proof barrier. Slugs can
also be lured and trapped using a container of beer buried
in the ground. For aphids, our main line of defence is extreme
vigilance. Affected areas should be removed or sprayed with
soapy water or with environmentally friendly insecticides
such as those based on Neem.
Copper
tools are also a worthwhile investment. Copper is antimicrobial, making
it a more hygienic material to work with. It is not a base metal so it
does not extract oxygen from the air to form oxides. This means it does
not rust the way metals like iron do. More important, it is
non-magnetic and conducts electricity. The overall effect on soil
worked by copper tools rather than those made from other metals is that
they retain more nutrients. It does not disturb the magnetic field, but
in fact connects any breaks to make the area of soil being worked on
more harmonious. Additionally, copper does not leave a trail of
magnetic residue that would attract snails and slugs. They follow an
iron trail – the magnetic signature left by an iron tool - but not a
copper one!
In the
organic garden, you will be pleased to know that we are not alone in
our fight against pests. An army of natural predators such as ground
beetles, ladybirds, hoverflies, spiders, birds, frogs and hedgehogs all
help in the struggle. We can encourage these beneficial predators by
creating shelters such as log piles, garden ponds, nesting boxes, and
by planting plants they find attractive such as marigolds, coriander
and lavender.
By working with nature, a greener and healthier garden
can be created without chemical sprays.
Gardening Organically
