Going Green with Gardening

Does anyone remember the Victory gardens from WW I and WWII? The United States government asked its citizens to plant gardens in order to support the war effort. Millions of people planted gardens. In 1943, Americans planted over 20 million Victory Gardens, and the harvest accounted for nearly a third of all the vegetables consumed in the country that year. Emphasis was placed on making gardening a family or community effort -- not a drudgery, but a pastime, and a national duty.

Over the years, we have gotten away from growing our own fruits and vegetables, however, now is the time to bring that tradition back again. Why plant a victory garden you might ask? Well,
today our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, spraying with insecticides, processing, packaging, and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy and contributes to the cause of global warming. Planting a Victory Garden to fight global warming would reduce the amount of pollution your food contibutes to global warming. Instead of traveling many miles from farm to table, your food would travel from your own garden to your table.

Having your own garden allows you to provide your family with healthy, organically grown fruits and veggies because you control how it is grown. You can feel good serving food to your family that isn't full of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Plus, our current economic situation is other good reason to start a Victory Garden. Every time that food is shipped from the farm to the store and your table, gasoline is used. As gasoline prices rise, food costs rise. Add to that the freshness factor. What could be tastier than a salad freshly picked from your garden or berries just plucked off the vine?

An organic garden can supply you year after year with fresh and healthy organic food for a fraction of the price you would pay in a grocery store. While establishing an organic garden does take time and patience, there are ways to plan your green garden so that it practically takes care of itself. Let’s dig around and unearth the very best ways for going green with gardening.

As a whole, American homeowners use millions of pounds of fertilizer and pesticides on their lawns and gardens every year. The use of pesticides and inorganic fertilizers is responsible for an alarming toxic buildup of chemicals in our soil and drinking water. Inorganic fertilizers often contain heavy metals and other dangerous ingredients disguised under the term "inert" on product labels. These ‘inert’ ingredients in our garden products are subject to little regulation and yet they abound in our most personal spaces, affecting our health and that of the planet.
A healthy and prolific organic garden takes time and effort to establish, but it teaches the green gardener valuable lessons about patience and provides a new appreciation for the subtle relationships that exist in nature.

Non-organic methods also often produce an effect opposite of the one intended—would-be pest control methods contribute to an increased incidence of pest problems that lead to an endless cycle of even heavier applications of toxic chemicals. Chemical salts and fertilizers cause an initial burst of lush and succulent growth, which is a veritable magnet for pests. Meanwhile the same chemicals are wrecking havoc on the soil below, weakening its natural defenses against pests and disease by discouraging earthworms and beneficial micro-organisms from inhabiting the area.

Healthy Soil

Successful organic gardening begins with healthy soil. By working to create a balanced soil, you naturally reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizers. In healthy soil, nutrients, trace minerals, and helpful fungi are stored in the many organisms living under the ground that can be accessed by your plants as they need them. Compost is a superior alternative to chemical fertilizers because it improves soil structure and texture, allowing the soil to hold more water. Composting also promotes soil fertility and stimulates healthy root development. You can find compost from a local organic supplier or your local recycling center, or you can easily set up a compost bin for a composting operation of your own. Recycling your own garden and kitchen waste can provide you with a rich amendment for your soil at no cost whatsoever, while drastically reducing your contribution to the garbage that goes into the county landfill. The average person throws out 1,500 pounds of trash per year, says Mark Harris, author of Embracing the Earth. This excessive number is reduced to 375 pounds of trash annually when you compost!
Another organic gardening trick for preserving healthy soil is keeping it covered at all times. Sun and water wash away and destroy vital nutrients, harming the soil’s structure. Drastic fluctuations in soil moistness can also slow plants’ growth. Just consider what adding a 3-inch layer of mulch—weathered straw, grass clippings, shredded leaves, bark chips—can do.

Mulching:
Helps keep the soil moist
Conserves water
Discourages weeds
Prevents nutrients from being washed away
Adds humus and nutrients to the soil as the mulch material decays

Avoid using peat in green gardens as peat bogs are an essential part of the ecosystem–taking peat from them destroys valuable wildlife habitats. So many great alternatives to peat are now available that there is no reason to diminish the dwindling peat bog supply and threaten the survival of wildlife species.

Plant foliage also acts as a living mulch by keeping the soil cool and providing shade for underlying plants. You can employ companion planting in your organic garden with plants that have different sun and shade requirements–you’ll be planting shade-loving plants beneath taller shade-providing ones. Gardens planted in this intensive manner conserve soil area and resources and allow green gardeners to take advantage of the chemical and symbiotic interactions between plants. Every plant releases different chemical agents through its leaves and roots that in turn affect plants growing in close proximity. Plants that promote each other’s growth may be planted together to boost the health and productivity of the garden as a whole.

Successful Methods for Organic Gardening

Intensive intercropping, by which one crop is grown between rows of another, has multiple benefits. It maximizes your garden size while minimizing your water and nutrient requirements, allowing you to grow the healthiest plants. Your garden’s immunity to insects is further increased when you plant herbs and flowers—including basil, chives, chrysanthemums, marigolds, and mint—known to help keep pests away. Using disease-resistant and pest-resistant plants, in addition to plants that attract natural predators such as ladybirds, and rotating the crops in your garden also help to deter pests from returning while adding varied nutrients to the soil.

Successive planting allows you a continuous supply of produce throughout the growing season. By timing your crops to provide a constant harvest you keep your organic garden busy and active all season and you save money all year. Planting pollinator-friendly plants such as wild lilac, goldenrod, and lemon balm attracts butterflies, bees, and moths to your garden. Pollinators affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production and are directly linked to the pollination of 87 of the leading food crops. By growing a variety of native flowers that pollinators are drawn to, you positively contribute to the output of food crops worldwide. Planting local species is also important for ensuring the vitality of your garden. Choosing well-adapted plants for your soil, weather, and sun or shade exposure increases plants’ ability to deter pests and requires less effort from you to grow and maintain.

exerpts taken from greenlivingideas.com