subject: Is My Garden Organic or Not? [print this page] Is My Garden Organic or Not? Is My Garden Organic or Not?
We are often asked the question: "Is my garden organic?" Many people are not sure exactly what is the definition of organic, and whether they can correctly apply it to the vegetables, fruits and other plants that they are growing in their garden, yard or small land holding.
The word 'organic' originally meant anything that contains carbon (in chemistry) or anything relating to living organisms or organs of the body (in biology). However, in farming, gardening and food production, 'organic' has come to mean food and plants that are grown and prepared without the use of chemicals or pesticides.
If you are growing food for sale, there are a lot of regulations that you must comply with before you can call your produce organic. These vary from state to state and country to country so we cannot include them all here. Generally, the land must be free of chemical pesticides, fertilizers and other treatments for a period of several years before it can be certified as organic. Your local agriculture office will be able to advise you about this.
Clearly, having an organic garden is not as simple as just avoiding using chemicals on your growing plants. You also need to think about the plants themselves, the soil that they are growing in, and what is happening on neighboring land.
For example, if you have a fruit tree orchard and you want organic fruit, you will not be able to achieve your aim if your close neighbor on the other side of the fence is spraying his orchard with pesticides. The wind will blow the spray onto your trees and it will get into the soil. Rain and living organisms will transfer the chemicals in the soil onto your land, and your trees will draw them up into their roots, trunk and eventually into the fruit.
Therefore, to have a truly organic garden, you need to have a pesticide-free barrier around your growing crops. If you have plenty of land you can easily accomplish this by not using chemicals on the surrounding land. If your yard is closely surrounded by neighbors, maybe you can persuade them to go organic too.
Organic plants must be grown from organically produced seeds. You can find many suppliers online. If you buy your plants as seedlings, you will need to check that they have been sprouted and grown in organic conditions. This means using organic potting soil, fertilizers etc.
Instead of buying fertilizer, most organic gardeners use compost that they make themselves. You can pile up fallen leaves, plant matter, wood shavings, and kitchen vegetable waste either in a corner of the garden or in a specially designed compost holder. If you just have a heap you can fence around it to improve the appearance. Avoid putting any cooked food waste or meat on your compost - this can attract rats and other vermin.
Having an organic garden is a process or path that can take several seasons. Just like organic structures themselves, your organic garden will take time to get established. Keep taking steps toward what is natural in your garden and you will soon not need to ask "Is my garden organic?"
