Organic
gardening links
Patchwork:
stories
of gardens and community
"In the garden" column
Garden organizer tool
kit
Greenbelt
gardening
tips
Garden
ideas for recyled materials
|
Organic gardening tips
and resources
Growing garden
vegetables organically is the safest and healthiest
choice for community gardeners. Practicing organic gardening methods
involves a commitment to learning about and understanding the
relationship between soil, plants, weather, and insects. Organic gardening centers on stewardship and managing
your garden for long
term results, rather than short term fixes fueled by chemical inputs.
This
involves working with nature by devoting time to building healthy soil,
planting a diversity of crops, and carefully observing the life cycles
of plants and insects.
The community side
of organic gardening
 In an
organic
garden, community starts with the earthworms, bacteria, and fungi that
inhabit the soil and support plant life. Organic gardeners help to
replenish the soil community through composting, crop rotation,
mulching, and cover
cropping.
The plants and animals living in a garden also form a community. Bees
and
butterflies transfer pollen between flowers, enabling zucchini
and cucumbers to produce so abundantly,
while amphibians consume slugs, snails, and insects.
With their permeable skin, frogs and toads are easily harmed by
chemical pesticides and fertilizers—yet another reason to reduce
the use of synthetic chemical products in your garden.
For millennia, human beings have cultivated gardens organically to
nurture and sustain communities. While chemical fertilizers can cause
rapid plant growth, crops grown organically in healthy soil tend to
have
more flavor, a longer harvest, and higher concentrations of nutrients.
Here's
what you can do to go organic:
- Buy organically
grown
seeds, and
learn how to save and use your own seeds the next season. An excellent
source for organically grown seeds is High Mowing Seeds, a
Vermont company which offers high quality vegetable, herb, and flower
seeds for home gardeners and commercial growers.
- Instead of frequent
watering, build organic matter in your soil by adding compost each
spring and fall, by mulching beds with hay, straw, or grass clippings,
and by cover cropping fallow areas of the garden. Harvest
rainwater and use compost teas where possible in your garden, rather
than chlorinated tap water.
- Avoid using bark mulch,
sawdust, or
woodchips as mulch in a vegetable
garden as these mulches tend to bind nitrogen from the soil. Apply
grass, hay, or straw mulch in early summer after weeding your garden
thoroughly and when
the soil is moist following a steady rain.
- Practice organic
pest
control. To prevent pests from overwintering in your garden, remove and
compost dead plants as the season progresses. If plants are diseased,
remove them from the garden site. Develop a schedule for annually
rotating the location of crops planted within your garden
ORGANIC
PEST CONTROL
Topics include:
There are many
ways
to control garden pests naturally, without using synthetic pesticides.
From where and what you plant, to homemade sprays and
beer traps, organic pest control is easy and practical. Not only
will you save money on expensive pesticides, but you can eat your
produce in confidence, knowing that it is free of potentially harmful
chemicals. Keep in mind, though, that many of pesticides are
not completely species specific, and if overused you could damage your
plants and kill
beneficial insects.
Homemade Remedies
These
solutions
can be made up in your kitchen out of inexpensive everyday
supplies. Try a few versions and see what you like best!
Solutions containing the following plants are popular: members of the
allium family (onion, garlic, chives), hot peppers (jalapeno, cayenne),
and herbs (basil, coriander, wormwood, peppermint). These sprays can
successfully repel a wide range of insects.
Soapy
water sprays
can be effective against aphids and spider mites. When using any
of these sprays, wet both sides of the leaves and repeat after a rain
or as often as necessary. Flour
and salt can
also be used to repel pests and as a dust to suffocate or
dehydrate many kinds of caterpillars. Wood ashes sprinkled around the
base of plants also discourages cutworm attack.
For additional homemade remendies for organic gardens, visit the
National Gardening
Association web site at
www.kidsgardening.com/growingideas/Sept_01/7organic.htm
Beneficial
Insects
Beneficial insects
feed on the insect pests in your garden. Beneficial insects will
frequent your garden if you plant natives and other desirable plants in
the garden and around the periphery. When
the following
plants are allowed to bloom, they attract beneficial insects with their
nectar and pollen:
- Parsley
family
(parsley,
fennel, coriander, dill and chervil)
- Sunflower
family
(sunflowers,
daisies, asters and cosmos)
- Sweet
allysum
- Native
buckwheat
Beneficial
insects can also be purchased and added to your garden:
- Beneficial
Nematodes for
cutworms, weevils, grubs and fungus gnat larvae
- Green
Lacewings for
aphids,
mealybugs, scale, mite and thrips
- Thrichogramma
for
moths and
caterpillars
- Ladybugs for
aphids, mealybugs, Colorado Potato Beetle eggs, scale, and leaf
hoppers
For more information visit http://www.beneficialinsects101.com/
 Companion
Planting
Companion planting involves
designing your garden so that plants with natural defenses for pests
are planted adjacent to plants that are more susceptible. Interspersing
flowers and vegetables can also encourage pollinators like bees and
butterflies to visit your garden.
For more information visit: http://www.companionplanting.net/
Barriers and Traps
 Barriers
are simple to use, and many are easy to make yourself. Cutworm collars
are an effective physical barrier to prevent cutworms from girdling
transplants of tomatoes, cabbage family members, peppers, and vine
crops. Simply cut out a 1-1/2" strip of newspaper and place it 2 inches
from the stem, anchoring it into the soil around transplants. When the
cutworms emerge at night, they will run into the collar rather than
girdling the new plant.
Row
covers
can hinder flying insects (such as cabbage butterflies, leaf miners,
and potato beetles) that lay eggs on your
plants. Cover seedlings before the insects emerge and
fasten the sides of the row cover securely. Check under the covers
periodically for
insects. Remove the covers,
if necessary, for pollination and then replace them again. When using
row covers,
it helps to understand the life cycle of the pest you're trying to
control.
If insects overwinter in the soil, you may actually be trapping
the emerging larvae underneath the covers. In this case, cultivate the
soil before planting to expose insects to birds and other
predators.
Traps can attract insects by using
color, taste, and sex hormones.
For example, yellow sticky traps will lure aphids, Whitefly,
thrips, and leaf miners. Slugs will drown in a shallow saucer of stale
beer if placed in the garden.
Japanese beetle traps commonly use sex hormones and floral lures
to attract the adult insects to them.
Handheld vaccuum
cleaner: A handheld vacuum cleaner can also be a low tech way of
removing insects from plants. Be sure to clean out the collecting bag
each time and drop insects in a container of soapy water!
Common insect pests and controls
 Flea
Beetles,
Colorado Potato Beetles (photo left), Striped Cucumber Beetles, Squash
Beetles, Mexican Bean Beetles, Japanese Beetles, Leaf Miners,
and Cabbage Butterflies
are common pests in gardens in Vermont. Botanical
and biological
pesticides are sometimes used by organic gardeners when plants are
under threat of severe insect damage.
Rotenone and Pyrethrium
are botanical insecticides (derived from plants) that can be
effective
against adult beetles and
leaf miners. A ready to use spray is preferable to using
the dust form of the insecticide. Pyola
(pyrethrium
dissolved in canola oil) acts as an ovicide for the eggs of beetles. Bio
Neem (derived from a tropical plant oil) can be used to interrupt the
life cycle
of
the Mexican Bean Beetle larvae.
Botanical insectides are toxic to humans and other animals, and they
need to be handled carefully. If you
choose to
use a botanical or biological pesticide in your garden, be certain to
read and follow
safety instructions and adhere to local and state
regulations.
Bacillus
thuringiensis (Bt) is a naturally occurring, soil borne organism that is effective in controlling specific insects in their
larva stage.
The larva stage in an insect's life cycle is the stage during which
most of the feeding occurs and the insect
appears worm or caterpillar-like. The Bt is applied as a spray to the
underside of
the plant foliage where the larvae hatch
and do most of their feeding. Bt variety
kurstaki
(BTK) controls
the imported cabbage butterfly larvae, European corn borer,
tomato hornworm,
and other
caterpillar-like larvae.
 The Colorado Potato Beetle is best controlled by
regular inspection and hand removal of beetles, eggs, and larvae. Hand removal is generally an effective pesticide free
strategy if done several times a week. Gardeners
should avoid planting larger patches of potatoes or eggplants than can
be regularly cared for. At the first sign of the adult beetles,
diligently remove the beetles and any orange egg clusters on the
undersides of leaves. If larvae hatch, remove them immediately as the
larvae can quickly multiply as they defoliate the potato plants..
More Information
Here are some other
helpful web
sites: |
 |
http://www.gardeners.com/gardening/content.asp?copy_id=5288
“How to tell the
good
bugs from the
bad”
http://www.cdcg.org/pests.html
Provides more
homemade
solutions and spray recipes.
http://www.extremelygreen.com/pestcontrolguide.cfm
List of
garden
pests (along
with an identification key) and beneficial insect and organic
solutions.
http://eartheasy.com/grow_nat_pest_cntrl.htm
Natural
garden pest
prevention, beneficial insects, homemade remedies,
insecticides, traps, and deer control.
Cornell
Cooperative Extension fact sheet on garden pesticides
Lake Friendly Gardening Series pamphlet with advice on proper pesticide
use
Northeast
Organic Farming Association of Vermont
Provides information, resources, workshops, conferences, and links for
organic gardeners and homesteaders
Guide to lake
friendly lawn care
published by Friends of Burlington Gardens & the UVM Sea Grant
Program
|
