Guest Columnist
Comments are often made that reflect a misunderstanding of what organic gardening is all about. The first is about releasing beneficial insects for bad insect control. While this could apply to organic or inorganic gardening, it’s normally a waste of money. Unless one is simply overwhelmed with bad insects, the imported beneficial will simply move to greener pastures
Planting marigolds doesn’t deter bad insects. Root knot nematodes don’t care for marigolds, but such will not kill them. There are various crops and herbs to deter bad insects, and a few insects that will kill bad insects, but marigolds are not one of them.
Organic gardening doesn’t mean no pesticides can be used. In reality, numerous pesticides are used. Also, out of approximately 925 or so synthetic pesticides, 25 are approved for organics. The difference being that organically approved pesticides are made from naturally derived products that have undergone a strict approval process to ensure they aren’t environmentally harmful.
Some think nitrogen from organic fertilizers is better than nitrogen from synthetic fertilizers. Sorry, nitrogen is nitrogen. Synthetic nitrogen is already in a form plants can use (faster acting), while organic fertilizers have to go through a conversion process. The organic advantage is that nitrogen (and other elements) is slowly released at a rate that plants can absorb, meaning little to no loss occurs due to leaching before the nitrogen can be used. Also, they add organic matter to the soil.
Home remedies aren’t developed just for organic gardens. Rather, they’ll work in any garden, if applied correctly. Make sure they’ve been tested. Otherwise, try on a very small portion of the garden. The kicker here is doing your homework. Many of the home remedies contain very caustic ingredients and can harm the soil, killing beneficial microorganisms, or harm your vegetable plants.
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