This website has nothing to do with TV personality Paul James,
             The Gardener Guy of Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Organic Gardening, Gardening the Natural Way

"Organic farmers feed the soil so that it can feed the plant"

My grandfather, John Lenat (1885-1967), was an organic gardener. A tailor by trade, his greatest passion was gardening. He came from the old country, Germany, before the First World War and eventually settled in Spencer, Massachusetts. As my mother was growing up they kept a cow, had some chickens, and grew much of their food, particularly in lean times. By the time I came along the animals were gone, but Grampy grew enough vegetables not only for himself, but for neighbors, friends, and even the check-out clerks at the local A&P grocery store. His tomatoes and cucumbers were famous for their taste and abundance.

As I child I never thought much about why my grandfather's vegetable garden was so amazing. I remember the excitement of going to the local chicken farmer to get manure, which we dumped into an old wooden barrel which was mostly full of water. My job was to stir the concoction each evening to make a "tea" for his tomatoes. He always had a huge compost pile which was full of earthworms. And there were always copies of a funky little magazine called Organic Gardening and Farming around the house, which he saved for years.

Later, long after Grampy had gone to the great garden in the sky, I started reading Organic Gardening Magazine for myself, and became convinced that organic gardening is a better, healthier, way to grow things. And although my grandfather never preached organic gardening to others, forgive me if I do.

Organic vegetables have become widely available at grocery stores, and most of us prefer to buy organic food when we can afford it, but I don't believe that most people understand what the term "organic" really defines. It does not just mean that no insecticides were sprayed on the vegetables. It also means that no chemical herbicides, fungicides or fertilizers were used in the fields of production for at least a three-year period. The USDA recently ammended the rules to prohibit using the term "organic" to label any gentically modified product.

It is obvious to all of us why we don't want chemicals sprayed on our foods. Rachel Carson opened the eyes of many Americans when she wrote her classic book, "Silent Spring". Partly as a result of her book, the insecticide DDT (sold for decades to farmers as part of the "modern" way of farming) was eventually banned.Since then many new generations of chemicals have been created and tested. Many of them may be safe if used as directed. I don't accept that they are all safe, or that they are all used as intended. I do know that I can trust my own chemical-free soil to produce vegetables which are tasty- and safe.

Many home gardeners avoid Death Row, the pesticide row, at their local garden center. But many still feel the need to buy chemical fertilizers such as 10-10-10, or the delicious looking blue kool-aid for plants, Miracle Gro. Organic gardeners believe they can get better results using composts, manure, and natural mineral additives to the soil.

Chemical fertilizers may not be dangerous to you, but they are not good for your soil and plants in the long run. The fertilizer industry has done a good job of making Americans think that soil is only there to give plants something to grab onto.That what plants really need can be produced in a factory and purchased by you. That is not so.The fertilizer industry works on the premise that you need to feed your plant. In contrast, organic farmers feed the soil so that it can feed the plant.

Planting a tiny seed in order to get a delicious tomato a few months later is truly miraculous, if you stop to think about it. Millions of chemical reactions or combinations of elements must occur in very specific ways. Over the millenia Mother Nature worked out systems to accomplish this. Plants use energy from the sun to create their own food from water and carbon dioxide in a process known as photosynthesis. They also get needed elements from the soil. A healthy soil is full of living things which work in concert with your plants to create healthy growth the way nature intended, and the way plants grew before the advent of the fertilizer industry.

A key to successful organic gardening is providing lots of compost, or decayed plant or animal products. Compost does several things which make your plants happy: it provides organic matter, it holds water, it keeps the soil fluffy enough for air to circulate through the root zone, and it feeds the microorganisms which make the soil healthy.

Of course, there are liabilities as well. Beware of fresh cow and horse manure, both are full of viable weed seeds. You can compost them, or age and turn them to reduce weed problems. I like to stockpile manure and use it after 2 or 3 years. Some farmers are now starting to produce composted manure for sale by the truckload to gardeners. It's worth every penny you pay. Composted cow manure is also available in plastic bags, but since more is better when it comes to manure, this can get expensive.

A single teaspoon of healthy soil can contain 5 billion bacteria, 20 million filimentous fungi, and a million protozoa. Some of these are microorganisms which can fix nitrogen from the air, others help roots obtain minerals, or attack disease causing pathogens. Some of these organisms will be killed or their effectiveness diminished when you add chemicals to your garden. Herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, and yes, fertilizers can affect the health of the microorganisms, and of your soil.

Chemical fertilizers are water soluble, which also means that rain or watering can wash away the elements that you have bought to feed your plants. A soil which is rich in compost and microorganisms makes nutrients available as they are needed by plants. Adding soluble nitrogen suppresses the growth of nitrogen fixing bacteria. (Fixing nitrogen means taking nitrogen from the air and combining it with oxygen and hydrogen to make it available to plants). So adding chemical fertilizer can make the soil even more needy of fertilizer over time, and some commercial fields become nearly sterile.

But there are good things that come in 50 pound bags. Limestone is one. It is a source of calcium, and usually magnesium, two minerals needed by your plants. Here in the northeast the rain really is acid, which causes the soil to be acid. If the pH of your soil gets too acidic, certain minerals get bound up and unavailable to plants. Wood ashes can be substituted for limestone, a pound is equal to 2/3 of a pound of limestone. Kits are readily available for home testing of pH, and these will tell you how much limestone to add to get your soil to a healthy pH.

Rock phosphate is another good mineral to add to your soil. It comes in a bag, and is essentially ground up rock, which slowly dissolves and makes itself available over at least a 4 year period. It doesn't migrate through the soil, so it needs to be thoroughly mixed in, not just applied to the soil surface. Phosphorous is needed by plants to develop strong roots, set flowers, and produce fruits.

Green sand is another good product used by organic gardeners. It looks like its name: green sand. Suspiciously enough, it comes from New Jersey. Apparently it comes from an ancient underground sea bed, and is a good source of potassium, and even more importantly, trace minerals that are essential for healthy plants and soil. Green sand is useful in breaking up heavy clay soil (as is composts). Potassium is important for plants to survive environmental stresses like cold and drought.

In recent years a number of companies have been formed to produce and sell organic fertilizers. I am partial to one called Pro-Gro, made in Bradford, Vermont. It is made from dried whey, cocoa meal, compost, sea weed, ground oyster shells, and other natural goodies. Unlike chemical fertilizers, you can not burn tender roots with this stuff, even if you add plenty. Although the bag lists the three main ingredients as a 5-3-4 fertilizer, it contains many other nutrients because it contains material produced by other plants, and by animals. It is a slow release fertilizer, and some of its components are effective for years. Similiar products are made throughout the country, just look for the term "organic" on the bag.

I feel good about being an organic gardener not just because it's good for the environment, and lets me eat healthy foods. I am also an organic flower gardener, and believe that I have healthier, more vigorous plants because of it. Just as a healthy, well fed child resists illness better than a malnourished one, my plants are healthier because they are organic. Although I can't prove it, I am convinced that my tomatoes taste better because they are organic. And most of all I like growing things the way my grandfather did. Sometimes I have a feeling he's smiling on my garden.