Organic Gardening Goal: To consider the wider social and ecological impacts of urban landscapes and the practices and products used to create and maintain them.

When I was running my organic fertilizer business, I was amazed at the number of emails and calls I received from clients who were blown away by the results they achieved just by using my products in their garden.

This was a major help to me, sitting in my little apartment bottling and shipping products and wondering if I was making a difference. This contact with my customers reminded me that my little business was making a difference.

Our gardens can make a difference. It can be negative or positive. Our gardens impact the soil, water and air for many miles around us.

If we spray pesticides and use chemical fertilizers, they travel many miles through the air and groundwater. If we do not take the time to design our garden intelligently, we can end up wasting a lot of water, causing erosion, planting inappropriate non-native species, and so on.

The little things we do make a difference, too. Using non-toxic soap, buying organic clothing, walking to work, and yes, organic gardening. And we can have an even bigger impact by helping others learn how to garden.

I challenge you to plant a vegetable garden in your front yard, rather than hiding it in the back. Plant impressive things like pumpkins and tomatoes and berries. You can start a social movement on your street and all you have to do is put part of your food-producing garden where people can see it.

An even bigger challenge: Put your compost bins in the front yard. This is rarely done because compost piles are often unattractive, but you can make them tidy and gorgeous.

 

Organic Gardening Goal: To encourage the creation and protection of native plant and wildlife habitats.

The two main reasons generally cited for planting native plants are because they are:

1. Adapted to our environment, and
2. Best at attracting birds, butterflies and other wildlife.

The truth is that the above points are very often false. That doesn't mean we shouldn't plant native species, but just for the record:

1. Non-native plants are often healthier and happier in our gardens, and
2. Wildlife regularly chooses these plants over natives.

The reason introduced plants often do better in our gardens is because native plants grew in very different conditions than are present in and around our cities and towns, and anywhere that humans have spent much time, which is pretty much everywhere that we have gardens.

Native plants grew in an environment that was mostly covered by healthy forests, at least in North America. The soil, light and water conditions were very different there. Even the air conditions are hugely different underneath a forest canopy. Chances are good that your garden is in a relatively open space, with soil conditions that have been greatly disturbed, less organic matter, and so on.

This is where the foreign plants flourish.

Gardens with greater diversity that includes non-native species will generally have more wildlife. Gardeners around the world have noticed that birds and butterflies and insects often spend more time on introduced plants than native plants. I'm not sure why, but it's the way it is.

So, should we avoid native plants? Of course not. We should plant lots of them. But we should take just as much care to give them the best growing conditions that we can, because they need it, even more than many of the common non-native plants. They are not acclimated to our compacted soils that are low in organic matter, so we have to improve conditions.

And if we want lots of wildlife, we should plant a diversity of plants that will feed them and house them. It doesn't mean we try to grow things that aren't right for our climate, but we use plants from other climates similar to ours that are better adapted to our environmental conditions as they are now and we choose plants that provide more benefits to the landscape as a whole.

As for food, if we want a diversity of food, we grow lots of non-native plants. Almost all of our common food plants are not native. Yes, we should educate ourselves on the wild plants that have fallen out of favor and incorporate them, but if you want tomatoes and potatoes and all of the other non-native things that are in your grocery store, you'll have to rethink the native-only mantra.

 

Organic Gardening Goal: To ensure biological diversity within urban landscapes.

Biological diversity refers to having different species of plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and protists in the garden. The more species we have, the more diversity we have.

And actually, this goal should probably be changed to biological "complexity", which not only refers to the number of species, but to the relationships between the those species. Biological diversity is important, but when you think about it, it's how much all of these different species are interacting that is more important. That is biological complexity. Makes sense, right?

So, what are the benefits of biological complexity? Ultimately, a much healthier, more abundant landscape. If you don't have complexity, you have a garden that naturally wants to move towards a simpler ecosystem, such as a desert. The higher the complexity, the more you get of each of the following:

• Nutrient Cycling And Retention. Each species plays a different role in harvesting, manufacturing, transporting and retaining nutrients, so the more species the better. Without biological complexity, nutrients seep into the groundwater and volatize into the air, or even more, they stay inaccessible in the soil and air without anyone around to use their specialized skills to make use of them.
• Soil Quality. Most underground critters and plant roots play various important roles in making soil quality better. They make areas for air and water, break down organic matter and integrate it into the soil, and so on. Without them, the soil is dead and not much use.
• Controlling disease. In a complex ecosystem, no disease organism can become a problem because there are multiple things eating it.
• Breaking Down Toxins And Pollutants. There are many species that specialize in purifying water and breaking down toxins.

What does this mean for you? It means if you want to have a healthy lawn and garden instead of a yard that is more naturally going to be a desert, you need to encourage more biological complexity. You need to bring in many different plants, animals and microbes. How?

• Plants. Don't plant monocultures. If you're planting a lawn, use many different species of grass and even some clover. For a hedge, create a windrow of several different species of plants rather than just using a row of cedars. Plant things that grow low, medium, tall, climbing and underground.
• Animals. Plant things to invite birds, bees, butterflies, insects and other animals. Give them water. Allow them to have homes. Have a pile of rocks over here and a bunch of leaves over there and grasses and tall trees and so on. They all want different homes and they all have a role to play.
• Microbes. These are all the tiny little unseen species that are vital to the health of the garden. Bring them in with compost, compost tea, effective microorganisms and other inoculants.

My goal with this website is to show you how to do that. Some of the ideas for this article came from an amazing little book called Soil Biology Primer

Organic Gardening Goal: To avoid or minimize all forms of pollution in the establishment and care of landscapes.

Half of the wetlands around the world have been lost since 1990.

At least a third of rivers and streams in the US are so polluted that fish are inedible and swimming is not safe. Lakes are worse off. Farming accounts for about half of this. The majority of wells have pesticides and even more have pharmaceuticals and other waste water products.

As organic gardeners, we can start by doing our part to minimize pollution.

5 Ways To Decrease Pollution As A Gardener

1. Don't use pesticides. You already know that right? Okay, but also make sure you don't use chemical fertilizers. Did you know that one? If you're putting on 10-10-10 or 21-7-7, as much as 90% of it is missing the plants entirely, killing billions of microbes on its way down into your groundwater.
2. Use quiet equipment. If you live in a city, studies have shown that noise pollution puts stress on you, even if you don't know it. And it certainly puts stress on animals and yes, even plants. Increasingly, organic professionals are offering "quiet" services.
3. Don't use corn gluten meal. I know it's the latest big organic trend, but it's generally made with genetically modified corn. If that isn't pollution, I don't know what is. Same with canola, cotton, feather and soybean meals. Alfalfa meals are sometimes okay, at least for now.
4. Start composting. Statistics often point to about a third of landfills being filled with things that could have been composted. An even better way to prevent leaching (into the ground) and volatilizing (into the air) is to make bokashi, a compost made with specific fermenting microorganisms that retain all of the nutrients and gases in the compost.
5. Air pollution inside a building is often many times worse than outside air. Fortunately, certain houseplants were born to clean your air. I like the 3 plants described in this short video, although the number of plants needed is substantial: How To Grow Your Own Fresh Air

Organic Gardening Goal: To work as much as possible within closed systems with regard to organic matter and nutrient cycling.

It is actually generally agreed that it's often a good idea to bring outside materials into a new garden that is being constructed.

The reasoning is that we can very quickly begin to produce food and create a healthy landscape that takes care of itself, rather than waiting decades for nature to do it his own way (I'm giving 'nature' a masculine identity here just because everyone always calls nature a her. Maybe sometimes he's a he?).

Of course we want to be mindful about stealing from other ecosystems in order to enrich ours, but it can generally be done intelligently for the benefit of all.

After this initial influx of materials, however, the ultimate goal is to create a garden that takes care of itself. This is what we mean by a closed system. Any extra organic matter that is produced is returned to the garden, whether composted first or not. This saves us time and environmental costs of transportation, both in and out.

Nutrient cycling refers to microorganisms and plants consuming food and excreting waste. In a sustainable system, someone's waste is always someone else's food, so the nutrients stay within the system. We often need to help these things get established and eventually, they keep things rolling themselves.

Here's what we bring in:

• Organic matter - Compost, leaves, manure, straw. These are necessary to make soil alive. Otherwise, it's just a plant anchor.
• Microorganisms - They should be there, but they're often not any more due to our mistreatment of the soil. We bring them in with compost, compost tea, effective microorganisms, and other microbial inoculants.
• Nutrients - We may need to rebalance soil nutrient ratios with specific minerals such as calcium and phosphorus, and broad-spectrum fertilizers such as kelp and rock dust.
• Plants - We generally prefer to plant things rather than let nature decide what gets planted.
• Water - We usually install a rain barrel, well, tap, or even a full irrigation system.

We may need to bring these in when we install our garden and over the following few years, but in the long run the goal is to help steer the system in the direction of self-sufficiency.