Although most of us are comfortable with the term "organic" and how it applies to products we can buy in stores, it's still easy to get confused about what "organic" actually means. ". Additionally, if you ask, you might get different or conflicting definitions. So let's clear things up today.
If you asked us what it means for a product to be “organic,” most of us would probably answer that it is produced without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. But this is only partially true.
Here's how the USDA defines organic: "Organic products must be produced using agricultural production practices that promote resource cycles, promote ecological balance, protect and improve soil and water quality, reduce waste, use of synthetic materials and preserve biodiversity. » So, considering an organic product involves a bit more experimentation than fertilizer and pesticide options, and if you want organic certification for your production, this process may require it. three years to complete.
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For those of you who want to adopt organic practices at home, here are some of the practices we should implement in our garden.
A good place to start is to work on improving the quality of the soil, because the success of any garden begins with the soil. One way to do this is to add organic matter to the soil. Organic matter is essentially anything that is living, and a good place to start is by adding compost from your home compost pile. Don't have a compost pile? That's a topic for another article, but let's just say that most of us probably throw away a lot of kitchen and yard waste that can be composted at home and used as a natural soil amendment.
The organic matter content of our region's soils is close to 1%. We want our garden soil to contain between 3 and 5 percent organic matter. Why is organic content important? It is said that for every 1% increase in organic matter in your soil, you can increase your productivity by up to 10%. So if you want higher vegetable production, this is a good place to start and fits perfectly with organic growing practices. Composted manure is another great way to add organic fertilizer to your garden soil.
Organic matter can also be replaced with off-season cover crops. Cover crops are plants that can be grown to till the soil before the spring gardening season begins. Cover crops include winter rye, annual ryegrass, alfalfa, winter peas or hairy vetch. Legumes make an attractive cover crop because they capture nitrogen from the air and transport it to the soil. To get the maximum nitrogen content from legumes, make sure it is in the soil before flowering. Then you should move on to organic fertilizers such as bone meal or blood meal. The disadvantage of organic fertilizers is that they generally contain fewer nutrients than synthetic fertilizers. However, organic fertilizers also add micronutrients to the soil that cannot be obtained from synthetic fertilizers. Disease control is often where we determine whether we truly want to grow organically. There are many synthetic insecticides that effectively eliminate pests. The problem is that they also do a good job of killing the beneficial insects we want in our gardens. Fortunately, there are good organic insecticides that we can use to target specific pests with minimal harm to the good insects, if we choose. It's not that the insect is good or bad that causes us problems.
Another way to reduce the need for pesticides in your garden is to use disease-resistant varieties when available. Disease-resistant varieties are the result of crossing two similar varieties to increase production and improve disease resistance. For example, they will take a tomato that produces well and cross it with another tomato that has proven to be disease resistant. So if you've ever had trouble with a particular disease, look for a variety of your favorite crop that is resistant to that particular disease. You can usually find this information on seed packets.
This includes transplants you purchase for your garden. To reduce disease, purchase seedlings from a reputable grower and don't be afraid to remove that plant from a small pot and check the roots. Healthy roots are lighter in color. If the roots are dark, it is better to put them back in place and continue the search. When purchasing seeds, be sure to purchase them from a reputable dealer.
Crop rotation is another great way to reduce pesticide use by reducing disease. This is the problem. Most of us probably have a preferred way of organizing our garden, which can lead to wanting to plant the same crops in the same spot year after year. But when we do that, we encourage soil-borne diseases to thrive over time by giving them what they want to grow. But crop rotation can be complicated.
Let's say we rotate crops in our garden by alternating where we plant tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and eggplants. Believe it or not, they all belong to the same plant family and are susceptible to the same diseases. So, even if we move these plants to different locations in our garden, it will not be an effective method of crop rotation, since they belong to the same plant family.
Instead, we should alternate with something from the cucumber family, like a cantaloupe, squash, cucumber, or watermelon. Plant families can be confusing, which is why we have a great information page on our website, tulsamastergardeners.org, in the Vegetables section of the Lawn and Garden Help section.
Even if you can't adopt a "completely organic" way of gardening, any step you take in this direction will be an improvement. See you in the garden!
