Page 56 - July18LivingSCCLmagazine

July Gardening at SCCL Why Organic?
By Jeanette Oesterlin
Is organic just another buzz word? Sometimes I see organic on a label and say “really.” Kind of like "fat- free" peaches...are there peaches that are not fat-free?
Back to organic... Why bother? At the grocery store
you may be buying organic for health reasons or not buying it because of the additional cost. However, the question goes much further than that. While in Mexico, I went to the local market. The vegetables and fruit were fantastic, much nicer
than we ever see. I asked about fertilizers: was Miracle Grow** big in Mexico like the US? The answer I got was not really; we grow things organically. They explained that the produce I
saw came from irrigated desert. If salt based fertilizer chemicals were used the land would become unproductive because of the quick build up.
Rain cleanses our soil. Hmm.. Wonder where the chemicals go.
When I was in New Zealand, I talked to some gardeners. They don’t even allow Round-up to enter the country. Miracle Grow does sell products there but they are all organically formulated to New Zealand
standards. A couple of years ago, I asked Miracle
Grow why we didn’t get these products. The answer: Americans don’t mind putting chemicals on their land.
After living here more than 10 years, my yard gets uglier and uglier. All the chemicals dumped on do no good. Why? Chemicals do not build up the soil. Organic fertilizers do. Not only do they feed our plants but they also feed our soil.
I will be the first to admit it is easier to dump
fertilizers on my garden. I’ve done it and still do
it. I’m trying to get away from the quick fix. Last winter I put an
organic fertilizer on my garden soil after having gone a year adding no
chemicals. It is amazing how much healthier my
plants are.
The same goes for pesticides. There are way more good bugs than bad bugs. Let the good ones do their job. I do smash bad ones when I can and smash the eggs if I find them. Healthy plants are less often attacked by bugs.
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56 LIVING @ SCCL, July 2018