Being Organic with Wasatch Community Gardens
Being organic is a commitment to health, a respectful relationship to the earth, and a love for the many facets of gardens and gardening. For us, being organic is sticking to a simple philosophy: keep the garden healthy.
Keeping the garden healthy means that we work in natural ways to improve soil structure and nutrients, we recycle the garden’s organic matter back into the earth, and we promote a healthy ecosystem where birds, insects, plants, microorganisms, and people all reach a natural balance that is beneficial for all. Natural methods to keep the garden healthy include composting, companion planting, crop rotation, mulching, solarizing, double-digging, planting cover crops, carefully selecting crop species, weeding, and being flexible. Importantly, keeping the garden healthy also means that we don’t use synthesized chemicals. Synthesized chemicals are found in fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.
We want the land to receive only natural, or organic, fertilizers. This completes a natural cycle of growth and decay—nutrients stay within the garden. Chemical fertilizers like Miracle Gro might seem good at first, but organic growers have learned that after time, these fertilizers ruin the soil structure, kill mircroorganisms, and produce unnatural chemical levels in the soil. Growers end up having to dump more and more chemical fertilizers on depleted soil that can’t hold onto the nutrients, resulting in high fertilizer costs and a very unhealthy ecosystem with excess fertilizer running off into the groundwater and onto other plots.
What many growers have forgotten is that a healthy garden takes care of its own pests. Our organic gardens do not have the same pest problems that inorganic farms and gardens do because we rotate crops, we build up soil microorganisms and natural predators, we plant companion crops, and the garden takes care of the rest. In extreme cases, there are other organic methods of pest control, which include using biodegradable soap solution on plant foliage, attracting natural predators, handpicking larger pests, and planting a “friendly zone” for pests. Using genetically modified crops that are resistant to pests or pesticides is not an organic option. There are plenty of naturally resistant crops available.
As for weed control, the use of herbicides is clearly not part of a philosophy that keeps a garden healthy. These chemicals are made to kill plants, and the gardener’s purpose is to cultivate, not kill, plants. Many gardeners have forgotten that hoeing with a sharp hoe is not only a pleasant and calming cultivation activity, but it takes the same amount of time and less back stress than bending over to spray Roundup. Please do not use Preen ‘n Green, Roundup, Weed-B-Gon, or any other herbicide in our gardens.
FERTILIZERS
The best fertilizer money can buy is made in our gardens. Organic compost is truly a revitalizing and magical gardening mixture. It provides nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as other elements (calcium, magnesium, sulfur, and micronutrients). Furthermore, composting aerates soil, breaks up clay, binds together sand, improves drainage, prevents erosion, neutralizes toxins, holds precious moisture, releases essential nutrients, and feeds the microbiotic life of the soil. No chemical or additive comes close to providing so many benefits.
You may not know that all of Wasatch Community Gardens’ gardens have had soil tests. The results show that the soil is very healthy—it contains amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus that will produce healthy plants. Nitrogen is water soluble and it should be added each year, preferably through compost or cover-cropping (green manures). Nitrogen also acidifies the soil, which has a regulating effect on our alkaline Utah soil. All of our gardens actually contain amounts of potassium so high that we do not recommend any potassium supplements. With such great soil to start with, all of our growers can save lots of money by simply composting and using this rich supplement to get their plants producing wonderful produce.
Below is a list of organic fertilizers that we allow in our gardens. Note that there are three categories:
1.) fertilizers we recommend,
2.) fertilizers some organic growers recommend but we do not recommend for use in our gardens (although some may be useful in other gardens), and
3.) those that are strictly not organic, which means they should never find their way into our gardens.
For Nitrogen:
Recommended Not Recommended Strictly Not Organic
Compost from the garden Manure* Sewage sludge
“Green manures” (nitrogen-fixing plants) Blood meal† All ammonia-derived sources
Alfalfa meal Hoof and horn meal† All chemically-synthesized sources
Kelp or seaweed (liquid or powder) fish emulsion (also for phosphorus) Chilean nitrate (16-0-0)
* Organic farmers have found that compost is a much better soil additive than manure. Manure is often considered a good source of organic matter, but raw manure needs time to cure. This curing process best takes place in compost. Also, if the animals are not yours, there is no way of knowing their diet or if they were disease-free animals. If you have questions about manure, please talk to WCG staff members.
† Blood and bone meal may pose a health danger, and we recommend great caution given recent health concerns like the Mad Cow Disease epidemic in Europe. When you buy any animal product, whether manure, blood, bone, or hoof & horn meal, read the package carefully and ask the supplier if the animals were raised under organic conditions. Even this does not guarantee problem-free products.
For Phosphorus:
Recommended Not Recommended Strictly Not Organic
Rock phosphate Bone meal‡ Acidulated phosphates (superphosphate)
Soft phosphate (colloidal) Soap phosphate All synthetic (DAP, MAP, etc.)
fish emulsion Fish emulsion with added phosphates
‡ see notes above for blood meal. Also realize that application of bone meal requires use of an appropriate respirator.
For Potassium:
Recommended Not Recommended Strictly Not Organic
Wood ashes (check labels) Chilean Nitrate of Potash (15-0-14)
Granite or feldspar dust Muriate of Potash, KCl, (0-0-60)
Greensand All synthetic sources
Charcoal ashes (from BBQ, stove, etc)
Cigarette ashes
PESTICIDES
Pests are every garden’s enemy, right? Well, not really. A healthy ecosystem (an organic garden) is the habitat for all kinds of plants, animals, and pests. The organic garden reaches a state of equilibrium where pests usually do not pose a significant threat to produce. Conventional farms, where herbicides and pesticides reduce the ecosystem to a fragile state and where only one crop is being grown are much more susceptible to pest infestation. Studies show that robust and healthy plants have far fewer pest problems than stressed ones. Just as a healthy person who eats nutritiously is less susceptible to disease, healthy plants are less likely to develop disease and be plagued by pests. Pests are a symptom, not a cause. They plague a plant when something else, namely poor growing conditions, is the cause.
The first line of pest control for the organic grower should be a careful evaluation and maximization of the soil and nutrients for a plant. Good compost and loose, rich soil are often the best solutions for pests, and they can be accomplished before the plant is even grown! Make sure your plants receive enough water and sunlight, you choose plants that grow well in this part of the world, you grow two or more crops together, and you rotate your crops. All of these prevent insect problems.
So should you jump to pest controls when you see some nibbling on your leaves? Not necessarily. Often when leaves are eaten by insects, the produce itself may still be good (some studies show a yield increase of 30% when insects eat a percentage of leaves). Also, remember that organic gardening is about establishing a healthy ecosystem, and planting an extra 5-10% of area for your crops is realistic to counteract the natural give-and-take, and you’re still 20% ahead of the damage done to large farms that grow only one crop! Below are recommended, not recommended, and strictly not organic pest controls that may be used when there are still problems despite trying the methods listed above. We do not want anything other than the “Recommended” items to be used in our gardens. Also, it is a good idea to speak with a WCG staff member before applying any pest controls to make sure you’ve got the right concentrations (sprays), or the right habitat (beneficial insects), or the right plan (companion plants, handpicking, row covers).
Recommended Not Recommended Strictly Not Organic
Beneficial insects* Neem Bendiocarb, Bug B Gon, Captan, Consan
Hand-picking (esp. at night for snails) Pyrethrins Cygon, Detergent, Diazinon, Dursban
Spraying with garlic, onion, oil, & pepper sprays Rotenone Insectagon, Kelthane, Lindane, Malathion
Biodegradable soap (not detergent) solutions† Nicotine Permethrin, Pest Meal, Sevin, Slug and Snail
Traps (beer, pheremone, sticky, water, food) Sabadilla Snail Bait, Thiodan, Thuricide
Row covers
Companion plants like herbs, sunflowers, marigolds
* These include ladybugs, praying mantids, trichogramma wasps, lacewings, tachinid flies, syrphid flies, and BT (bacillus thurigensis), but don’t forget about encouraging bird habitat as well as homes for toads, snakes, and spiders.
† An example of a biodegradable soap is Dr. Bronner’s®, and you can look on the labels of other soaps to see if they are biodegradable as well.
