Organic Vs Conventional Gardening
The ability to grow your own fruits and vegetables is one of the greatest advantages of gardening but many gardeners face a major challenge when deciding for organic or conventional gardening. Many plants are prone to diseases and pests, and require some sort of protection by a gardener in order to keep them healthy and subsequently produce delicious fruits and vegetables. This is one of the main differences between organic and conventional gardening. The latter foresees the use of various chemicals which are not only toxic to the environment but are harmful for human health as well, while organic gardening strictly rejects use of any chemicals claiming that they are not necessary. On the other hand, conventional gardeners claim that it is impossible to protect the plants from pests and diseases without the use of chemical pesticides. For that reason many people do not know whom to believe.
There is no doubt that some plants require gardener’s intervention to fight off the pests and diseases but there is a major difference between organic and conventional approach. As already mentioned earlier, the conventional gardeners claim that there is no other way than to use chemical pesticides but organic gardeners have shown that it is possible to protect the plants by using all natural approach. How? By providing the plants optimal conditions for growth, companion planting, attracting beneficial insects in the garden and using organic pesticides.
Organic gardeners pay a lot of attention to making sure that each plant has optimal conditions for growth which includes soil fertilization with organic fertilizers, most often compost and mulch as well as by making sure that each plant has enough space and enough sunlight. Though each plant requires different conditions for optimal growth most of them grow best in rich, fertile soil and require at least 5 hours of direct sunlight. When the plant is provided optimal conditions for growth it is less susceptible to diseases and pests and is able to fight them off a lot easier than plants that grow in nutrient deprived soil and a shady area. Leaving each plant enough space is just as important in prevention of pests infestations and diseases. Why? Because pest and diseases spread a lot easier if plants grow close to each other.
In addition to providing the plants optimal conditions for growth, organic gardeners also advice companion planting and attracting beneficial insects in the garden. Companion planting refers to planting different plants in close proximity of crops in order to assist one another in both nutrient use and pest control. How? Some plants actually enrich the soil and providing the crops more nutrients, while the others repel harmful insects or attract the good ones which in turn helps control pest infestations. Some predatory insects even eat pests which is why organic gardeners also attract them in their gardens by building the so-called insect houses. The more the beneficial insects the less the pests.
All the above mentioned arguments make sense but what if the pests and diseases attack the plants anyway? This is where organic and conventional gardeners have completely different approach. Conventional gardeners do not reject the benefits of “organic” pest preventive measures but they support the use of harsh chemicals even if they are harmful for human health and the environment in order to protect the plants from pests and diseases claiming that there is no other option. Organic gardeners, on the other hand, strongly disagree and promote the use of organic pesticides which most often consists of various plant infusions such as stinging nettle, garlic, sage and many others. They claim that organic pesticides as equally, if not even more so effective as chemical ones and do not cause any harm to the environment not human health. However, organic gardeners also recommend frequent plant inspection in order to be able to react quickly if noticing any pest infestations.
In addition to rejecting the use of any chemicals, organic gardeners also promote planting of fruits and vegetables that are native to a particular area. The reason for that lays if the fact that plants that grow on a particular area for hundreds or even thousands of years are adopted to weather and other environmental conditions and defend themselves against pests and diseases a lot easier than exotic plants and hybrids. Which type of gardening to choose depends on each individual’s believes and personal preferences but even more important is the question whether it is worth to use hazardous chemicals that are toxic to both the humans and environment to produce literally five tomatoes more.