Page 14 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2022/23

Organic
Vegetable
Growing
This article is in response to a request in the 2019 survey asking for an article on organic vegetable growing, before going into the vegetable growing it may be helpful to say what organic growing or being an organic grower involves. Basically, they do not use chemicals unless they are approved by an organic body like the Soil Association which prevents the use of nearly all herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides. During
the latter part of the 20th century this restricted the control measures that were available, but nowadays we have an even smaller list arsenal of chemicals available.
The next point is that organic growers do not use artificial or manmade fertilisers like sulphate of ammonia, sulphate of potash, ammonium nitrate, superphosphate, Growmore and many others. They only
use natural organic materials, like hoof
and horn, bonemeal. Dried blood, rock phosphate (and not all organic bodies allow this), seaweed meal and other seaweed products etc. Homemade mixes like comfrey and nettle tea are allowed as are liquid feeds made from manure or compost. The interesting point about restricting the use of fertilisers is that a plant only takes
up a salt and it does not matter to a plant whether it is organic or inorganic!
Organic growers use environmentally friendly methods, which these days many gardeners do; it is interesting how much the trend has moved over the last 50 years from organic being a small part of growing to being the main part and this is likely to continue in the future. Recent trends in organic growing are reducing the use of plastic in the garden and in the early 2000’s no-dig started to become mainstream
and has been heavily promoted by many organic enthusiasts and even now by the
Mypex weed control
RHS in their new vegetable garden at Wisley. The 3R’s of recycle, reduce and reuse are also part of the organic growing principles.
One of the main principles of organic growing is to feed the soil and not to directly feed the plant, by feeding the soil mainly with organic matter this then feeds the soil organisms that break it down which releases the nutrients for the plants. Composting is one of the key principles and virtually all green waste should be composted unless it is infected with pests or diseases. Once composted the material is used on the soil.
In the last 20 to 30 years the use of green manures has really taken off and are much more widely used than in the period 1960 to 1990’s. There are a greater range of green manures available now and I have covered this in previous magazines.
Increasing biodiversity in the garden has been part of the organic growing movement for many years but again this is now mainstream, and every garden
magazine and gardening TV and radio programme go into this in detail. Another trendy topic, and rightly so, is the saving
of rainwater for use in the garden to water plants, this is becoming more important with the ongoing effects of climate change.
I mentioned no-dig earlier and many organic growers are no-diggers but so are some non-organic growers. No-digging
is promoted by many organic growers
and personalities and is part of organic growing, but you can continue to dig and still be an organic grower. A more recent development is the use of animal free organic materials being promoted by vegan growers who do not use animal manures to feed the soil but only plant-based materials. Other movements linked with organic growing are biodynamics, permaculture, and agroforestry; there are others as well.
Other factors organic growers will consider are using local materials to give a lower carbon footprint and using more of the traditional methods of gardening some of which are backed up by science.
Most organic organisations are anti genetic modification for both plants and animals. Although a contentious topic I think GM will happen in the future unless we get better at feeding the ever-growing population which looks unlikely with the current politics in the world. Many organic growers use heritage cultivars but, in some cases, the modern F1 hybrids are higher yielding and can have more pest and disease resistance.
Blackfly and ladybird on broad bean
Manure heap
14 Simply Vegetables
So, what should organic vegetable