Why Should You Garden Organically?

1. With organic gardening, fewer pesticides and chemical fertilizers are released into the environment, and humans are not exposed to potentially toxic chemicals.

2. Organic gardens reduce chemical runoff. Two tools in traditional are pesticides and chemical fertilizers. When you spray pesticides, the food you spray them on absorb some and you can ingest those chemicals when you eat the food. Some of the pesticides also go into the soil, where they can kill the soil microbes that form the basis of your garden ecosystem. Then you have chemical fertilizers, which do nothing for the soil texture and do little to build the long term nutrient capacity of the soil. These fertilizers give plants a quick boost and then wash off the top of the soil.

3. Reduce waste and fertilize your organic garden. Organic gardening is all about cycles. It’s about honoring the natural cycles of life, death, and decomposition within the garden ecosystem. Composting is an important part of this process. When you purchase or grow food, it is alive until it is picked. You eat it and discard the peel or core, but where does it go? The waste enters a landfill where it sits and waits to produce methane gas. However, it could become a necessary part of your garden. Composting food scraps yields rich soil that is full of nutrients and microbes. This rich soil feeds your plants and can act as a soil conditioner and mulch. Turning food scraps into compost is the cornerstone of organic gardening.

4. Organic gardens use mulch to protect and enrich the soil. Mulch is like a thick blanket for the garden. This blanket buries weed seeds but can spread and allow larger established plants through. Mulching the garden is an excellent way to prevent weeds and protect the soil.