Organic Gardening

Organic_Gardening Means Befriending Beneficial Insects

Not all insects are pests. In fact, the majority of bugs living in your garden are helping your plants to grow in numerous, unseen ways. If you are having a problem with pests in your garden, you probably have an imbalance of fauna or an imbalance of soil nutrients. The more insects and other fauna in your garden, the less likelihood the “pesky” ones have of surviving. You will find that most insects eat those moths and maggots that are eating your plants.

How biodiversity keeps your garden growing
Biodiversity is the key to a healthy organic garden. Biodiversity means the presence of a diverse collection of plants and animals. Commercial mono-crops require obscene amounts of chemicals because they have an un-healthy level of diversity.

In un-touched nature, pests and plant diseases do exist, but rarely get out of hand. This is because there is a natural system of checks and balances, which keep these things under control. Of course, your garden is not “untouched nature”- it is quite touched. You have planted plants here, which are not naturally occurring, you weed and dig and manipulate the earth and you will likewise have to encourage a balance in natural diversity.

How to control your aphids
If you have a problem with aphids in your vegetable or flower garden, you may want to introduce an insect, which feeds on Aphids. The most common of these is the Ladybug. The Ladybug and her larvae feed on Aphids, mites and small caterpillars. The larvae are especially active between May and July. Ladybugs are available at your local nursery as well as through mail order. Gardens Alive, an environmentally responsible gardening company is the preferred place to purchase them.

Encourage beneficial insects to visit your garden
If you are having a problem with fruit tree spider mites, green flies or small caterpillars, you can encourage Hover flies in your garden. Hover flies resemble dark bees or wasps. They tend to hover over plants and dart around quickly. Bring Hoverflies into your garden by planting marigolds, phacelia or “poached egg” plants throughout.

Dragonflies are good for your garden too. Dragonflies eat mosquitoes. If there has been spraying in your area for mosquitoes, chances are the spray has killed the dragonflies too. If you are afraid that your dragonfly population has been taken out, re-introduce them either by purchasing through mail-order, or by planting reedy plants in or around your garden.

A frog is a prince in the organic garden
Building a pond near your garden will encourage amphibians. Amphibians, especially frogs, are great friends of your garden as they eat many flies, moths and flying insects. A pond will also encourage dragonflies, which eat mosquitoes.

Plant and encourage the growth of as many different types of aquatic plants in your pond as you can. With an increased density of aquatic plants an increased diversity of pond associated insects (including dragonflies) will inhabit your pond and feed on an wider range of insect pests.

Why most insects should be protected
An organic farmer should not and cannot eliminate every insect in his garden. Most insects are so tiny and mobile that most people never even realize that they exist. Spraying pesticides indiscriminately is the worst thing you can do for your garden. Take some time one afternoon to sit quietly in your garden and watch your plants, you will be amazed at the amount of life that exists there! Appreciating all of the life in your garden is part of being an organic farmer and a friend of the earth.

Bees are great insects for your garden. Fruit trees that require pollination cannot live without bees! Encouraging bees in your garden is easy; they love flowers. Plant lavender, rosemary, daisies, cosmos, heather and/or marigolds around the outside and amongst the other plants of your garden and the bees will come.

Organic gardens are for the birds... seriously!
Birds are another great form of natural pest control. Birds and bats live off of bugs. It is unfortunate and ironic that pesticides often end up killing or harming local birds. Plant your garden near tall trees. Birds will establish nests in the trees and visit your garden to eat pesky beetles, moths and flies.

Imitate Mother Nature through Diversity
The very best way to encourage a diverse collection of life in your garden is by planting a variety of plants. While some of the pests will be attracted to some of your plants, the other plants will attract the friendly insects. The more plant diversity in your garden, the more insect diversity. Talk to your local nursery about native plants in your area and stick with those.

The importance of buying local
Be aware when buying potted plants that they have been grown locally and carefully. Imported plants may contain imported insects. If your pests are local, chances are they have local enemies. If your pests are imported, they may not have any local predators in your garden.

Organic gardening is about maintaining balance
Be aware when introducing insects into your garden intentionally, even beneficial ones. Do not introduce insects if their prey does not exist in your garden. If you introduce a population of insects but not feeding them, then you are harming the diversity of your garden rather than encouraging it by throwing off the balance.

When you look at your garden is it a mess of beautiful color? Are birds, bees and flies hovering overhead? Does your garden fit naturally into the landscape with a variety of native plants and animals? With a healthy diversity of insects and other fauna, your garden will be healthy, have very little insect herbivory and local populations of animals will maintain healthy populations.

Beneficial Insects Will Control the Bad Insects
Some insects like the Ladybug and the Green Lacewing are called beneficial because they are the good guys who are on the hunt for the bad guys that are feeding on your plants. Here is a list of beneficial insects, with links to where they are offered by an Earth friendly distributor.

Green Lacewings Chrysoperla carnea
Green Lacewings are an all purpose beneficial insect that feed on insects such as aphids and other insects that will come and feed on your plants. Green Lacewings are perfect for a backyard garden, larger garden, or a greenhouse.

LadyBugs
The most popular beneficial insect, these cute little beetles eat Aphids and Spider-mites and can be purchased readily in most nurseries. Don’t discount their black, alligator like larvae which eat up to a hundred aphids a day!

Minute Pirate Bug
These little guys eat Thrips, Corn Earworms, Aphids and Spider-mites. Though be careful not to pick these guys up as they have a nasty bite.

Predatory Mites
These mites feed on Thrips and Pest mites.

Praying Mantis
These big guys also eat a lot of beneficial insects, so they are not recommended for your garden.

Rove Beetles
These beetles feed on soil-dwelling insects like Root maggot eggs, larvae and pupae, especially those of Cabbage maggots and Onion Maggots. They also eat slug and snail eggs.

Soldier Beetles
These beetles eat Aphids, Caterpillars, Corn Rootworms, Cucumber Beetles and Grasshopper eggs.

Spiders
All spiders are beneficial predators. You should encourage them into your garden by using a straw mulch.

Spined Soldier Bugs
These bugs eat the Larvae of Colorado Potato Beetles, Sawflies, Cabbage Loopers and Tent Caterpillars.

Tachinid Flies
These flies eat Caterpillars, Armyworms, Cornborers, Cutworms and Stinkbugs.

Tiger Beetles
These beetles eat various soil-dwelling larvae.

Trichogramma Wasps
These weird and tiny wasps lay their eggs inside the eggs of moths, killing the mother moth in the process.

Yellow Jackets
These bees feed the larvae of flies, Caterpillars and Grasshoppers to their young.

Most of these beneficial insects can be purchased in a nursery or through mail order. Those that cannot be purchased may be naturally attracted to your garden if you plant specific plants.

Do not release these beneficial insects into your garden if their prey does not exist there. If you do so, you may disrupt your garden’s natural ecosystem and possibly worsen your pest problems.

Growing a diversity of plants in your garden will attract a range of insects, and most insects are beneficial. Beneficial insects are only one of many reasons to maintain a diverse collection of plants in your garden.

Beneficial creatures are not all insects. Birds and bats feed on insects as well and may be helpful to have in the neighbourhood. Pesticides, ironically, can kill birds, which may themselves be your best ‘pesticide’.

Reptiles and amphibians are also beneficial creatures. Building a pond on your land will encourage frogs and toads to reproduce, and these amphibians will then eat flies and other insects.

Maintaining a healthy and diverse ecosystem within your garden is the true key to pest control. Encouraging life, not death, is what will ultimately give you a beautiful and fruitful organic garden that is bounteous and rewarding.

Growing Organic Fruit Trees

The advantages to growing fruit organically are obvious in the first bite. Your own organic fruit is not covered in arsenic (as some commercial apples are to lengthen shelf-life) or wax. Growing your own fruit means picking varieties for flavor, not looks or ability to travel. Your organic fruit may not be as picture perfect as the stuff you find in the grocery store, but fruit is to eat, not to take pictures of!

Most plants in your garden are annuals, they produce fruit only once and in the same year they are planted. Your fruit trees may not bare fruit for many years after they are planted, but will produce delicious fruit for generations once matured. Some trees can fruit for over 1,000 years!

Grow fruit in even the smallest backyard
Even a small garden has room for a fruit tree. Fruit trees are ornamental as well as useful. They produce beautiful blossoms in the spring and can enrich the surrounding soil. Apple trees are great for climbing and providing shade as well as…apples. If you have the patience, consider at least one fruit tree as a beautiful and useful addition to your organic garden. Depending on the size of your yard and area where you want to plant a tree consider dwarf, semi dwarf and standard sized trees.

Your fruit tree must be pollinated in order to bare fruit. Some trees are self-pollinating while others need to be planted in pairs. Some trees require three trees in order to be pollinated. Ask your local nursery if self-pollinating trees are available, otherwise, let the bees do all of the work! For apple trees, a crabapple tree makes a great tree that is used solely for pollination.

When picking the site for your fruit tree, take into consideration the landscape. Nearby slopes may cause frost pockets, which will adversely affect your fruit. Wind may also stunt the growth of your fruit tree and the altitude of your garden may be better suited for certain fruits or strains.

Let's take a look at your soil
Prepare your soil as you would for any organic garden. Enrich local soil with your own or store-bought organic compost or you can make your own with little or no cost. When selecting a fruit tree, be sure to visit a specialist or nursery in which you can examine a variety of plants for the best and strongest. You may choose to buy a potted tree or a bare-root tree to be planted in dormancy.

Despite the years that must pass before a tree bares fruit, a younger potted plant is more likely to adapt well to its new location than an older potted tree. Once adapted and healthy, the tree is more likely to bare fruit. Overall, bare rooted plants are cheaper and sturdier than their potted counterpart, but any variety will work.

It's all about location... planting location
Trees can be grown in a variety of shapes and styles. You may choose to grow certain trees diagonally along a fence or to just let it grow wild. There are many ways to allow a fruit tree to incorporate itself naturally into your garden. Young trees usually need to be staked for support after transplantation and in this way you can choose the direction it grows in.

Tips on pruning a fruit tree
Pruning also plays a huge rule in training which way your tree grows and encouraging it to bear fruit. At the very minimum, prune your fruit tree such that there are no branches crossing eachother. However, espaliering a peach or nectarine tree against a south facing wall requires that all back and front facing branches be removed. Use gardening tape or used nylons to weight branches down and train them to grow horizontally.

Have you considered an apple tree?
Apple trees are probably one of the most common and satisfying American fruit tree. With dozens of varieties to choose from, this attractive and low-maintenance tree is a simple and rewarding addition to any organic garden. Apple trees will grow in almost any climate, can be bought in dwarf varieties for smaller gardens and can be harvested for several months.

Apple trees do have their problems, the foremost being the Apple Maggot. Apple maggots love apples as much as we do. If you have ever found a worm in your apple, it was probably an Apple Maggot. These can be taken care of by hanging sticky red balls from your apple tree in early July. The Apple Maggots will be attracted to the ornament and become stuck in it, keeping them out of your apples.

Organic Apricots
Apricot trees can be grown in many U.S. climates and produce fruits tastier and juicier than any available in the Supermarket. Apricots must be harvested carefully, as they are delicate fruits and do not have a long shelf life. Additionally, some strains of apricot trees overproduce, bending and snapping their own branches. These fertile trees must be supported by hand made ‘crutches’.

Apricot, citrus and apple trees have a common enemy in the Tent Caterpillar. These caterpillars hatch when the leaves first open. Any visible “tents” can be removed easily with a broom in the evening and squashed or drowned in soapy water. If there are too many caterpillars, use a sulfur spray on the tree periodically.

How to keep your organic fruit trees healthy
Planting a variety of local native grasses and plants around your trees can help you to avoid most harmful pests. Planting lavender bushes and other flowers near your fruit trees will encourage bees, which are necessary for pollinating your trees. The more insects there are in your garden, the healthier your fruit. There are always more beneficial insects than harmful ones.

Whether adding an ornamental dwarf apple tree to your existing garden or starting an entire orchard, growing your own organic fruit is easy and rewarding and will continue to be ‘fruitful’ for generations.

How to Create a Beautiful Organic Garden!

The leap from gardening with chemical fertilizers and pesticides to truly organic gardening can feel like a leap of faith. I came to this point of view gradually, as I work in the green industry, which is just starting to recognize the benefits of organic products (Here’s another place you can help save the planet; vote with your almighty consumer dollar by buying organic).

What I have learned along the way is Nature takes care of her own. The less I coddled and fussed with plants, and the more time I spent taking care of the soil they grew in, the more I was rewarded with strong healthy plants that took care of themselves. In the few cases where bad-guys attack organically raised plants, they are sturdy enough to need little in the way of help; I managed last year with neem oil and a few products from the fridge and pantry; more on that later…

It's all About the Soil
So there it is. My gardening secret from the vault. As my friend Lisa tells me, it’s all about the soil, stupid (she ends lots of sentences that way. To me, anyway…). Chemical fertilizers sterilize soil and plants don’t like sterile soil very much. Oh you can fool some of the plants some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the plants all of the time (Sorry, Abe…). So how do we go about getting living soil for our plants?

Mother Nature supplies nutrients from decaying matter be it plant, animal or even mineral. The Northeastern Native Americans used to pile their kitchen garbage, fish leavings, and seaweed with wood ashes from the fires. This half composted material would be spread on the fields in late fall and left to finish over the winter (less smell that way, I’m sure, but it would still be hard to get away with in my neighborhood). But this does illustrate my first point. This is not rocket science; it is Nature doing what it does. Without Man in the picture, this process is still going to go on, so there is almost no way to go wrong here. Organic is easy.

Here are the first steps to take
The most important step in going organic is replacing salt based, water soluble nitrogen with carbon-based solid nitrogen. Throw out the blue goo, you know, that box of 10-10-10 (oh, wait you thought more was better and got the 20-20-20, right? I know you because I WAS you!) The sooner we get your little junkies; I mean plants, off that stuff the better. Now our soil isn’t back to full health yet, so what can we use to support our plants and help to build good soil? Let’s look at that native recipe again.

Blood would be one of their kitchen leavings and it is one of the best sources of nitrogen in organic form (Bat guano is better, but not as available as blood meal) Bone meal is another excellent source of nutrition as it’s almost a third phosphate and wood ashes will round out the picture by supplying potassium. We’ve covered all three of those numbers on your box of blue goo. You can also use things like fermented seaweed and fermented fish oil to supplement our soil amendments. How much to use? Follow the package directions, but be assured there is very little chance of messing this up; short of burying your plants under piles of the stuff, the lower assays of natural products make them much safer for your plants…

Lower assays? But I want 20-20-20! Not really and here’s why…
Remember those mycorhizii we talked about? As soon as we stop sterilizing our soil with salt, these little fungi start to creep back into the soil (there are even things to really encourage them; more later). So instead of a plant trying to derive it’s nutrition solely through it’s own roots, hundreds of thousands of these “little roots” colonize the root system of our plant, effectively doubling the existing surface area to absorb nutrients. So bigger numbers don’t mean squat, bigger root systems do…

Let's take a look at caring for those plant roots
So we need to start building soil for these little roots to live in. Where to start? How does Mother Nature handle it? Oh yeah, decaying matter. Like what? Like leaves, chopped up twigs (not sticks, twigs), banana peels, coffee grounds (they make organic compostible filters now!), vegetable peelings, garden cuttings, grass clippings, wood shavings or sawdust; just about anything that doesn’t have fat or meat and isn’t too big to turn over in a season. In short a lot of things you have been throwing away. So we are trading in things that cost you money for things you are throwing away, which brings me to my second point; Organic is cheaper. Organic is easy; organic is cheaper… organic is better!

Back to the Compost Pile!
So how do we break it down? The old fashioned way is a compost pile, and that’s how most of mine gets made. The trick here is a layer of greens, a layer of browns, a layer of greens a layer of browns, building our pile layer by later. Most of my pile is:

• leaves (browns)
• and grass (greens)

Vegetable peelings? Greens. Wood shavings? Browns. Coffee grounds? Browns (okay, that’s harder, but you get the idea).

Fluffy compost piles
Now here comes the hard part; once a week during warm weather you have to turn the pile to aerate it. The fungii breaking down the material are air breathers, and the ONLY way to screw up compost is to let it go anaerobic (airless). Then the little critters die and the only things that continue to populate your compost are anaerobic bacteria. These are the little buggers that give mudflats a bad name, what with the slime and the smell and all. Not what we want in our soil at all.

So we turn the pile regularly to make sure it stays fluffed up and airy for our mycorhizii, who by the way really like the leaves a lot. If you don’t have access to lots of leaves like I do, cocoa mulch is a bad mulch but a great way to jump start mycorhizal colonies (they like it SO much they will start surface colonies and that’s why it’s a bad mulch). In about 14 weeks you will have dark, crumbly compost for your garden…

Oh, and there's also the easy way
Can’t wait that long? Back hurts and you can’t turn that big pile? Ah, the compost tumbler is for you. I have my big pile, but I also use the tumbler to finish small batches quickly. Some purists complain that they heat up too much and some organisms die, but I have yet to see