I've been involved with gardening since I was a kid, but I didn't get excited about it until I discovered organic gardening. This page is my main hub for introducing you to some important concepts, so be sure to bookmark it.
What's the difference been conventional and organic gardening? Well, there are many, but here are a few that come to mind:
- Conventional gardening uses integrated pest management and chemical pesticides to combat weeds and pests. Organic gardening uses smart landscape health management practices so weeds and pests don't cause problems in the first place.
- Conventional gardening uses chemical fertilizers to feed plants. Organic gardening uses organic fertilizers, organic matter and microbial inoculants to feed the soil food web (and focuses on decreasing inputs in the long run to create a more sustainable system).
- Conventional gardening tends to be more about dominating the landscape into collections of pretty plants. Organic gardening is about working with nature to create a thriving ecosystem teeming with biological diversity (we still have lots of pretty plants, too).
- Conventional gardening focuses on the garden itself as the outcome. Organic gardening takes into account the social and ecological impacts of our gardening actions, as seen in the upward trend of organic vegetable gardening and permaculture.
Of course, they're not mutually exclusive - there isn't some thing called 'conventional gardening' and some other thing called 'organic gardening'. They overlap, but the above points should give you an idea of how an organic gardener tends to go through a different thought process.
It's about working with nature, caring for the soil and the soil food web, and probably incorporating a vegetable garden to grow organic food. Our method of organic garden pest control is prevention.
And the following articles will give you a great overview of what organic gardening and organic farming are all about.
5 Organic Gardening Articles
- "What Is Organic Gardening?" Series
An introduction to the 11 principal goals of organic land care. - 3 Crucial Organic Gardening Tips
Remember these 3 tips and you're off to a great start. - 50 Best Organic Gardening Books
I spent about 12 hours putting together a list of my favorite books. - 5 Vital Organic Gardening Topics
These 5 important topics are being ignored by most gardening bloggers and authors. - Mulch Types - How To Choose The Best Mulch
Many people use mulch in their organic gardens, but it's usually the wrong type.
There's a lot more to this fascinating topic, so if you haven't already, I hope you'll take this opportunity to join thousands of other subscribers by signing up for my '15 Vital Organic Gardening Lessons For Becoming A Better Organic Gardener' below:
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