What is
Organic?
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There are many views on what
organic gardening is. You may have your own views and opinions.
Generally it is meant that you do not use chemicals in any way.
This can cause a great deal of
confusion. What are chemicals? This is not easily answered. What is organic?
Again this can be difficult to answer.
The dictionary definition of
chemical is:
• 1. made by, or employing
chemistry.
• 2. substance obtained by or used in chemistry.
The
dictionary definition of organic is:
• 1. from animal or plant
origin.
• 2. produced without artificial fertilisers or
pesticides.
• 3. containing carbon in it's molecules.
Obviously this doesn't fully
answer the question. What is artificial? What does and does not contain carbon
in it's molecules? To put it in simple terms organic gardening is gardening
without the use of man made substances such as artificial fertilisers,
insecticides, fungicides, herbicides. But how far do you have to take this? Can
you really use a paraffin flame gun to scorch weeds, or even put petrol and oil
in your lawnmower or strimmer to cut your lawn? Organic can be summarised as
using any naturally occurring material such as animal manure, compost, burning
diseased plants (without the use of petrochemicals?).
Your average gardener may
well want to do all they can to be organic, but it may not be possible to be
100% organic. Don't worry this isn't a major problem. It doesn't matter if
you occasionally find it necessary to use weed killers or insecticides, just be
aware of the effect these can have on your soil and plants, and where possible
look for alternative methods of controlling weeds, pests and diseases.
If you are new to organic
gardening you will find that their is a lot to learn, with time you will find
better ways of dealing with certain problems in your garden. Try reading books
from the library or search the internet for articles on organic gardening. You
can even join a club or talk to someone who has more experience on organic
gardening. Above all don't be disheartened if things go wrong and you can see
no alternative but to use chemicals to kill persistent weeds. It doesn't
matter, nobody will tell you off, just look at it as a learning
process.
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