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By George Boyhan
University of Georgia
You may have heard of organic gardening or that a vegetable has
been grown organically. What exactly does this mean?
Organic production relies on naturally occurring materials and
processes to produce a crop. Neither pesticides nor manufactured
fertilizers are used.
Organic gardeners often refer to “feeding the soil, not the
plant,” when discussing organic gardening. And this is the main
idea in this type of garden. Build a healthy, biologically
active, nutrient-rich soil, and plants will thrive.
The most important part of organic gardening is increasing the
organic content of the soil. Compost is the most common material
used to do this.
Compost is the product of formerly living tissue that has
undergone aerobic (requiring air) decomposition. You can buy
compost by the bag or the truckload, or you can make it yourself.
Buy it?
Your local garden center will have bagged compost, but this might
get expensive for a vegetable garden. Truckload amounts may be a
better choice at a modest price.
Making your own compost involves collecting kitchen scraps, yard
waste and similar items and building a compost pile. If it’s done
right, this material will break down fast into compost. To learn
more about composting, contact your county University of Georgia
Extension Service agent.
Ideally, in organic gardening, your garden soil should have at
least 5 percent organic matter. Plant nutrients are supplied from
the compost.
Other ‘food’
You can supplement them with other natural, organic materials
that may have higher amounts of plant nutrients. These include
things like blood meal, poultry litter and fish emulsion.
Other methods important to organic gardening include crop
rotation, in which crops that add fertility to the soil, such as
beans and peas, are followed by crops that require high amounts
of fertility, such as corn and cabbage.
Another important method is green manuring. This is the process
of growing a crop solely for the purpose of turning it under to
add organic matter to the soil.
Organic gardening may be more challenging in the short run. But
in the long run, it can be very rewarding and good for the
environment. Check it out.
(George Boyhan is an Extension Service horticulturist with the
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.)
