Organic Gardening Part 1 by Vanessa Jones

Selected Article

Tomato Yellow Peach

This year I tried the "Heritage" tomatoes offered as plants. Not all the plants supplied survived and grew but of those that did one cultivar, Yellow Peach, seemed to me to be outstanding.

Organic Gardening Part 1 by Vanessa Jones

Good organic practice depends principally on an understanding of the components that contribute to soil fertility; the development of a productive soil and then the maintenance of a productive soil by practicing crop rotation and fostering natural methods of pest and disease control by pursuing organic practices such as companion planting and encouraging beneficial wildlife.

It can sometimes seem that there is a bewildering mass of information on organic methods (some of it conflicting and unproven) available to the hobby gardener and sometimes it can be hard to see the wood from the trees when one is setting about employing organic practices or thinking of doing so. I would point out at this point that commercial standards on organic growing are very rigorous and are not the subject of this article, which is aimed at the amateur home grower.

When I first started with an allotment it was, for me, essential to simplify the issues within the organic debate and to try to adopt practices that suited me, the individual, to achieve what I wanted to get out of being organic. For anyone thinking about moving to organic growing I think it is a really good idea to try to identify what aspects about organic gardening appeal to you the most and once you have identified what is essential for you this will naturally lead you to develop your own practice. I think there are broad organic “themes” which appeal, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, to hobby organic gardeners:

growing produce without the addition of artificial chemicals;
being environmentally aware of the resources we use to grow produce;
being aware of the wildlife that can help and hinder the supply of produce;
being concerned about genetically modified varieties.

Growing Produce Without The Addition Of Artificial Chemicals

Let’s focus on the first of the broad organic themes: growing produce without the addition of artificial chemicals. This may seem daunting if you are used to applying artificial chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and inorganic artificial fertilisers. However with some basic organic principles you will be able to produce crops without relying on these artificial substances.

Turn your attention on the components that contribute to soil fertility and then develop a productive soil and then maintain your productive soil by practicing crop rotation. It helps to manage the whole garden in this way rather than just to focus on the produce you will eat (those on an allotment should not suffer too much from their non-organic neighbours but undoubtedly there may be some drift if an allotment neighbour is spraying).

When I first started to grow vegetables on an allotment I was most interested in growing food that was free of synthetic chemicals. I recall reading an article about commercial lettuce growing and was horrified at how many times lettuce was sprayed with synthetic chemicals during the short growing season and what residues were left on the produce that appeared on our supermarket shelves.

As we are constantly being told “you are what you eat” I was keen to ensure that my family ate what was wholesome and ingested as little as possible of chemicals from bottles with labels that state they are harmful if drunken accidentally. Initially I was interested in trying to grow fresh, tasty food with as little chemical additives or pesticides as possible and was very much, at the beginning, less concerned with the wider environmental issues.

It is always helpful to play to your garden’s strengths and capitalise on any particular characteristics in relation to the soil. Maybe it is stating the obvious but grow on your soil that which will grow well and that which you want to eat. Get to know your soil and make soil care a priority.

It is important to aim for a good living soil sustaining healthy plants which will be better able to withstand any pest and disease attacks. Appraise your soil and if you feel you may need to have a soil analysis done to check that there are no inherent deficiencies then do so. Keep records of what you put on the soil and when and roughly what quantity. Make your own compost and leafmould to feed the soil and get into a regular habit of applying compost, leafmould and manure in a regular cycle to suit your soil.

Home Made Compost

Aim to produce as much of your home made compost as possible and also produce as much leafmould as possible as it is an excellent soil conditioner. Composting is a fundamental part of organic gardening. Most garden debris can be recycled into compost, which then provides plant foods and improves soil structure. Apply your home made compost and dig it in the Autumn or use as a mulch. When it comes to buying in well-rotted farmyard manure establish whether it comes with an organic certification: if not you may want to consider letting the heap rot down for a couple of years before applying to the soil.

On this I think you have to be pragmatic: if you know the source and are comfortable with it then that will attach a “comfort factor”. However if it is an unknown source then you may prefer to decline. Your aim should be to build up the soil structure and nutrient content by the addition of organic matter from sources that you are happy with.

Organic Soil Improvers

If you do not have time to make or generate sufficient compost there are several excellent organic soil improvers on the market such as seaweed meal, mineralised straw mulch, worm casts, spent mushroom compost all of which aim to improve soil structure and water holding capacity and some of which contain plant nutrients.

Also depending on your level of squeamishness you could even consider composting with worms which is a highly efficient way of turning kitchen waste into extremely high quality compost.

Organic kitchen waste, including peelings, eggshells, bread, cereals, pasta etc can be composted together with garden waste. We keep two wormeries going and they not only cut down on kitchen waste going into land fill they make excellent compost and liquid feed.

Organic Feeds

Having got the soil in good heart there are many organic feeds on the market these days (seaweed being an excellent one) and you can always make your own feeds by either maintaining a wormery or making your own comfrey liquid feed. All the benefits of comfrey leaves – NPK, trace elements, minerals, vitamins and plant hormones are now available in a dried pellet form (use to make a liquid feed) if you do not have space to grow any comfrey plants and make your own liquid feed that way.

Crop Rotation

Finally a word on crop rotation. The idea of planning your vegetable garden properly may not exactly be the most interesting of activities but to grow organic produce effectively it is really essential. The idea of planning your plot is to ensure that you do not continue planting the same crop, in the same place, year on year.

If you do not maintain records it is so easy for this to happen and if you are organic you will really need to ensure that you do rotate crops in order to avoid problems.

Crop rotation ensures that diseases and conditions are not allowed to build up in the soil. The concept of rotating crops in order to prevent problems associated with the repeated use of land is well known as is the loss of nutrients and the build up of soil borne pests and diseases from over cropping. Organic gardeners must be very wary of this and rotate crops effectively in order to avoid problems.

The easiest way of achieving this is to make a yearly plan diagram of your plot and include a note of each crop grown at each season. Also useful is to take a couple of photos each year to act as a further reminder of what went where and when.

This article originally appeared in the Members Bulletin, the journal of the National Vegetable Society, which is sent quarterly to members. You can Join the National Vegetable Society here

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