Gardening Responsibly
by Donald W. Trotter, Ph.D.

It is possible to successfully tend to your garden without chemicals, while saving your back and preserving the valuable resources that are supposed to remain in your wallet or purse.

Natural gardening is actually much less labor intensive than conventional practices because you use materials that build the quality of your soil when you fertilize, and those fertilizers last for a longer period of time.

When you use natural materials, the biological diversity of the soil environment is increased. This condition promotes a resistance to pests and diseases in your plants, allowing you to relax instead of applying pesticides. As the health of your soil is increased, so is the health of the plants growing in that soil.

The practice of natural/organic gardening encompasses utilizing the most natural methods of pest and disease control in your garden. Once you try it, you will certainly see how simple and responsible this type of gardening is.

Natural/organic gardening was practiced before all of the chemical products produced today were even conceived of -- and people ate fine and grew wonderful gardens. In our modern society where instant gratification isn't quite fast enough, we have come to believe that fast-acting chemicals that make our plants grow like they just drank a triple espresso with extra sugar are actually superior to natural, slow-acting products.

We get a look at some of those "champion" tomatoes or pumpkins and are convinced that this or that product must be the answer to our gardening prayers. Not so. They never tell you that they had to feed that "champion" plant every time that they watered, and that the rate of growth was so fast that insect pests were all over it, requiring constant application of pesticides to fend them off. You are also never told that the quality of the fruit or vegetable fed with this compound is almost devoid of nutritional content. These super veggies are rarely good for you. Quite the opposite is true for plants cultivated naturally.

Natural/organic plant production relies on the plant to produce fruits and flowers in a way that is more compatible with the genetic makeup of the plant being cultivated. If the tomato plant is supposed to produce eight-ounce tomatoes, natural gardening techniques revolve around producing as many of those eight-ounce tomatoes as possible, instead of growing six two-pound tomatoes. Natural gardening techniques also help the gardener save money when it comes to the application of (sometimes) dangerous pesticides. This method of reduced-input gardening ends up being healthier for the gardener's personal environment and pocketbook at the same time.

Chemical residues are permeating every part of our ecology. Recently, DDT residues were found in polar permafrost, where no agriculture has been practiced for hundreds or thousands of miles. This kind of infiltration of toxins is slowly having a considerable impact on the quality of our air, water, and food. One of the intents of my book, "Natural Gardening - A-Z" is to expose gardening experts and hobbyists alike to the environmental responsibility and logic of gardening naturally. I discuss all kinds of hints and tips that help you understand what the term stewardship means when used in the context of tending to your garden.

One of the truly wonderful things about gardening naturally is watching your garden spring to life after just a short time without the influence of synthetic chemicals. You will experience more birds, butterflies, lizards, frogs, and all of the other organisms that contribute to the balance of a natural ecosystem. Ecosystem -- what a wonderful way to refer to our gardens.

So let's go garden naturally...

About The Author

Donald W. Trotter, Ph.D., is a consulting naturalist and environmental scientist. Don grew up in a family where commercial farming was a part of daily life. He pursued the love of plants shown to him by his family, and went ahead with his education in finding out how to preserve the fragile balance of nature in farming as well as in the residential garden. From the farm to the front yard, it is Don's belief that no one needs to use harmful chemicals in order to successfully tend to one's garden. This article is excepted with permission from his book Natural Gardening - A-Z published by Hay House Inc.,Carlsbad, CA. www.hayhouse.com

Great artical on how to garden naturally, One thing I miss from not being in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia is the loss of Organic Farms that we don't seem to have where I live

I work in the horticultural field and have often said that I won't use chemicals on the plants that I propagate. One good way for us to propagate plants at home, instead of using rooting hormone is willow tea, all you have to do is take internodal, or nodal (where a main stem of a branch has another branch coming off of it) and dip it into an infusion of willow bark and water. Be sure to put it into peatmoss and perlite, which usually works the best.

Other ways to propagate plants during home use is to divide our perennials and shrubs like Irises, Dahlias, even common herbs like pepper mint and spearmint.

As always make sure to read up on what you want to propagate at home to know the best methods of doing so.