Growing Organic: What's the big deal?

Thought since nothing really new is happening in the garden department today (other than perhaps my aunt having talked me into doing 2 more boxes- 8'x1' to grow along the fences), I thought I'd share some thoughts/tips/experiences in regards to the whole Organic movement when it comes to growing things.

First, I'm going to preface this with my "credentials" so to speak. My degree is in Plant Science, which means I have a pretty integrated look at everything from basic plant propagation to orchard management to plant biology to pest control to soil science. My practical experience in the field is of course limited, but the great thing about Cornell is that we got to talk to experts in the field ALL the time. Wonderful stuff.

So, now that I've got that out of the way, I'm going to write today a little bit about Organic pest control. Now, I have some problems with the Organic movement. I think some of the standards are misguided and there's a sort of "all or nothing" thinking when it comes to organic vs. conventional means of pest/weed control and fertilization. A lot of people don't realize that there IS a need in agriculture for chemical means of pest control and fertilization. You can't just throw some compost on a commercial corn-grower's field and choose a variety you hope is resistant to disease, while also hand weeding to avoid using herbicides. To understand why this is, you need to know a few things. On top of this, you need to know that even organic farmers are using pesticides/herbicides/etc. Here's what you need to know to understand:

1. Pesticides/Herbicides =/= chemicals. They are two separate terms, which sometimes include one another, but if you make a Venn diagram, you'll see a chunk of each that are not together (maybe I'll draw one for you. But maybe not)
2. Weeds are a problem, and tilling/mechanical means of weed control are bad for the soil. Hand-weeding takes WAY too long for agricultural production
3. Compost is not a complete soil fertilizer. It helps, but a lot of work has to be put in to ensure you're getting different kinds of organic matter for different kinds of nutrients, i.e. putting rotted manure on isn't going to provide everything a plant needs.
4. Farming on a large scale is WAY different than your home garden. Think of all the work you do- then multiply that by a hundred, or even a thousand. Then take into account that the varieties farmers grow have to be able to handle being shipped across the world, may need to be harvested specially, etc. It's a lot to think about.
5. Insects- again this has to do with scale. A farmer is planting hundreds of acres of one crop (because we have yet to find an economically feasible method of inter-cropping that is convenient when it comes to harvest); all those japanese beetles you've got? Multiply that. Farmer's field full of juicy plants just waiting to be eaten... You can set a trap to drown them, but that farmer can't do the same.

Starting to get the picture? Anyway, I'm a big proponent of "Integrated Pest Management," which I think is a good compromise between fully organic and fully "conventional" (by conventional I mean using pesticides and herbicides freely, preventative spraying, etc) because it really emphasizes only using the chemicals that one absolutely needs. Currently agricultural scientists everywhere are spending a lot of time studying what's called the "threshold" or the amount of abuse any single crop can take from a pest or disease without losing too much yield. Through sampling and regional data, basically a farmer can decide if he actually needs to put down whatever pesticide to control Corn Earworm by seeing if his problem is big enough to warrant it. The great thing about IPM is that it also takes into account things like pesticide resistance, etc- we're trying to minimize it. On top of that, when an "Organic" option is available, you use it. Overall IPM is promoting sustainibility and healthy crops through the use of ALL options available. I think it's pretty great.

At this point you're probably wondering why I've spent so much time talking about farming. It's because I feel very strongly about it. I am not in favor of the fully organic movement, nor do I believe that organic produce is necessarily more nutritious for you- and I don't see the point in spending more money on something like an organic banana when you're going to be peeling the skin (which might have residue on it) off anyway. Anything you're not going to peel should be washed thoroughly before eating anyway- residue should NOT be a problem.

There is one time, though, when I think a fully Organic method should be embraced and attempted, and that is in your home garden. Why? Becuase in your home garden it is easy, and unless you're licensed, I don't think any homeowner should be messing with pesticides or herbicides. Gardeners have a greater variety of choices when it comes to which vegetables to grow, and pest problems are far less likely to be really bad when you are growing 10 different kinds of vegetables as opposed to just one. Composting is a great way to use up kitchen scraps and does in fact enrich your soil. Gardening is a great learning experience, too, and it's a good way to test out which "homegrown" remedies for various problems work. (Does Human Hair realy keep the deer away? Are slugs really fond of beer?) So if you want your home garden to be organic, I say GO FOR IT. Mine will be! And there's one thing that I DO believe; Homegrown produce tastes better than anything you can buy in the store, organic or not.

I should note that there's one exception where Organic is better, if still something I don't spend my money on, and that's in animal products. Growth hormones, antibiotics (you know they feed chickens antibiotics because it makes them gain weight?), poor feed practices.. It's all horrible in my opinion and I don't like it.

Progress!

I don't have pictures- I'll take some when I go outside for my "second round" but I got one of the beds put together. I'm now contemplating placing it up against the chain-link fence to avoid having to build a trellis, but I suppose I should talk to the neighbors first and find out if that's OK. I could alternatively place it against the OTHER fence side but the sun comes from that side so everything else in the bed would end up shaded... We'll see.

Gurney's just FINALLY shipped out the rest of my order (I think.. there may still be a few things missing >_<), which is leading me to not be terribly impressed with their service, especially given that the "arrival" date got pushed back several times on me. I need to get onions, peas, and probably some greens in the ground as soon as that all gets here, so... yeah.

I had some issues with the beds, but I didn't want to have to go back out and buy screws or anything so I ended up using the finishing nails my aunt had stashed in her tool drawer. I drilled holes in the ends of the slightly longer 4' boards and sandwiched the slightly shorter 4' boards between those- some of my holes weren't in the greatest place, either. It's all good in the end, though, because any nails that went through were on the INSIDE where no one will get hurt/see them once the dirt is in the beds. The bed I made isn't terribly exact or fancy looking (the lumber we got was slightly warped, also), but that is OK because if there's one thing I learned while studying at Cornell, it's that plants don't really care about that sort of thing and it's only people who do.

I'm not one of those people.

I think after I get pictures and stuff posted I might make a post about my thoughts on growing organic, on home garden pest/weed control, and maybe some other things... I'm not a Master Gardener or anything and this'll be the first garden I'm growing on my own, but I've got a lot of knowledge to share, I think.

Now to try and think of something to do about the deer....

Lowes Trip

My aunt had a doctor's appointment, so we went to Olive Garden for lunch and then headed to Lowes to buy stuff for the garden. I got the boards (cheap pine), some flat molding to use as a grid, and then bags of garden soil (because they didn't have the raw materials- kind of annoying). I think I may not have bought enough garden soil- I ended up doing the calculations for cubic feet but only ended up calculating enough for one 4x4 box. Ooops. We'll see how it actually comes together once I get the boxes built.

My onion sets arrived today from Gurney's, so tomorrow I will probably have to get the garden boxes put together to get those into the ground as soon as possible. The rest of my order still hasn't shipped- I don't know if they're waiting until I'm supposed to plant things according to their schedule or if they're just swamped because it's "that time of year." It Is a little frustrating, though.

Anyway even thou-gh I got lots of stuff done, Lowes really took it out of me! I was just so uncomfortable in there- thank heaven my aunt was there or I might have just gotten nothing at all done. Fingers crossed that I have enough soil! I don't want to have to buy more- what a pain!

Garden Schedule Coming On-line

I got my copy of All New Square Foot Gardening today from Amazon, and it is an even better resource than I expected- they really break it down and everything's relative to the last frost date, which makes it EXTRA nice for people like me who don't know the planting schedule for Rochester because I grew up in Northern New York and there's a 2-zone difference. The average last frost date for Rochester is around May 18, so that provides a really good jumping point for things.

I should probably try to mark everything on a calendar so I know which weekends I need to get things in the ground. Most of the stuff I'm growing is cooler weather so I have to start getting that in soon- as soon as we have the beds built and filled.

Lets see.. nothing much else. I'll have a detailed review of the book to add later, but for now I'm going to just hunker down and try to brave this gloomy, rainy day.

Next week is Garden Week

Well, for us anyway! Aunt Gwen is on Spring Recess, so we'll be really getting things done. For some reason we always get so lazy on the weekends- I wake up and at that point she's already been downstairs for breakfast and is usually upstairs again either napping or puttering around. Then we both don't feel like doing diddly squat. Weekdays are better for some reason.

Anyhow, tomorrow or possibly next week sometime we'll be going out to get the lumber. She wants the sides of the beds to be higher than I had originally anticipated; I was thinking anywhere from 8-12 inches high would be good, but it looks like she'd like 18" better. Apparently grass blows in from mowing the lawn if they're any shorter.

We'll see what they have at the store, though. I figure if they won't cut the wood into 4' lengths, we can buy it longer (depending on what'll fit in the car, I suppose) and I can cut it myself. I think my aunt has a saw- I guess I'll double check.

Then we just need to fill the boxes with garden soil (still not sure on this point) and mark out the 1 foot squares, and then start organizing what's going into the ground when!

Seeds Purchased, Beds this weekend?

Yesterday I purchased the seeds from Gurney's, along with a mini seed-starter for anything other than peppers that I might need to start inside. I spent about $40 all told- shipping and handling was kind of a bitch, but I had a coupon for $25 off a $50 order, so I did good in terms of price.

I'm *hoping* we can FINALLY get to the hardware store this weekend to buy planks and nails (or screws, haven't decided yet) to get the beds done. So simple to do, I just need the materials. I can build them in under an hour I'm sure. I still need to investigate fencing ideas to keep the dog/deer out. I may see about getting some of those hook posts and some chicken wire and just do it really simple, and just make it so I have to unroll it to get in. Kind of ghetto, but whatever.

And with luck, we might get more adorable tree seedlings in the gutters this year!


(Yes, they did get cleaned out. Can't just LEAVE something like that in the gutters)

What's going into the garden?

Since there's not really much getting done today in terms of gardening- and my favorite video game server is down so I can't play, I thought I'd make a post about what I'll be planting. I got the layout of the garden set last night on graph paper, and it might still get some adjusting but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I won't be buying the garden kits from online because they don't take credit card and I'm just not comfortable doing a direct bank transfer, so I'll have to get to a hardware store this week sometime.

I'm ordering all the seeds I don't already have from Gurneys. Now, I can't say that I'd buy anything but vegetable seeds (and maybe some flower seed) from them (more on why later), but I have a real soft spot in my heart for them. I know for a fact my grandfather used to buy vegetable seeds from them as well, and I have fond memories of looking through the old catalog and trying to decide which "giant" I would buy- there are always customer pictures and testimonials inserted into the copy, usually marveling at how big the yield was, or at how big the tomato/pumpkin/turnip/squash/zuchinni/etc was. Or how tall something grew, or something to that effect. Wonderful stuff.

Here's the list:

• Rutabega
• Spaghetti Squash
• Butternut Squash
• Cucumber
• Cantaloupe
• Red Onion
• Carrots- the heirloom carrots from Seeds of Change and the Colorful Carrot Blend from Gurneys
• Beet
• Lettuce Blend
• Mustard Green Blend
• Broccoli
• Orange Cauliflower (!!)
• Pumpkin (Might get switched out for something else, not entirely sure yet)
• Regular Peas (My aunt doesn't care for pod-eating)
• Eggplant
• Tomato
• Corn
• French Breakfast Radish (Seeds of Change)
• Orange Bell Pepper (Seeds of Change)
• Snow Peas (Seeds of Change)
  

The tomato and eggplant won't be purchased as seeds- I prefer to get plants locally since I don't have time to start my own this year. Next year, though, I will likely get an heirloom tomato and start it from seed indoors. All in all I do believe it's going to be a tasty treat.

Seeded: Cal Wonder Orange Bell Pepper

Our local Wegmans has a large selection of seeds from Seeds of Change, which is a very environmentally conscious seller of certified organic heirloom seeds. Where many seed catalogs are selling fancy hybrids and new varieties, Seeds of Change is one of those that tries to keep the old varieties alive. While I'm not one who subscribes to the "hybrid=bad" philosophy, or someone who thinks everything has to be strictly organic, I do really admire Seeds of Change, especially since they make an effort to have sustainable packaging (resealable seed packets! And I can put seeds I save in there, too!)

Anyway, I picked up 4 selections about a week ago. Cal Wonder orange bell pepper, Red Core Chantenay Carrot, French Breakfast Radish, and Sugar Pod Snow Pea, which does not seem to be available on their website.

As I said in a previous post, I'm getting a little bit of a late start on the peppers, but I got them seeded today (pictures to come later) in newspaper containers (folded newspaper filled with soil), so I'm on the way. That's the official start of Bronwyn's Garden!

Late Start

I got a bit of a late start on things for the garden; I planted the pepper seeds today (finally). I won't be starting my own tomatoes this year. Although perhaps my peppers aren't getting started *too* late, according to this, our last frost will be around May 18, so I'm not getting as late a start as I originally thought. That's good.

That being said, I'm really gearing up right now for "hardcore planning" so I can get this garden going. I'm doing a Square Foot Garden this year, which I think will make it much easier on me. Because I'm having some issues getting to a hardware store, I'm thinking I may buy a couple ground box kits from that site as well- shipping isn't as bad as I expected, about $26 for 2 full kits, which run $42 each in pine- not horrible. All told it'll be around $75, which is a bit more than I wanted to spend just on the garden setup but then again, the convenience.. well, it's hard to get out, is all.

The next thing I'll need is soil; To be perfectly blunt, I've no clue what to do about that. I suppose I'll need to try to shop around. We're going to do two 4'x4' boxes, so I imagine I'll need enough to fill that- not sure how much, though. I suppose I'll have to figure that out as I go, then!

Went outside today to scope out places for the garden.. I'm going to be setting it just behind the house, where we get the most sun. There are some bushes I need to prune back there as well and then I think we'll be set for everything. It's just such a beautiful day today.