Gardeners showing more interest in organic products
More and more people indicate on surveys that they are using natural or organic gardening methods and materials these days. In response, it seems like every product at the local garden stores is labeled organic or natural. So just what makes a garden product organic or natural, and how can you choose the best ones?
Organic garden products for the most part are created from naturally occurring materials, biological organisms or animal based byproducts. Organic fertilizers are often made from combinations of feather meal, kelp meal, blood meal, compost or animal manures, all of which come from a plant or animal source. Soil amendments like greensand, peat moss and rock phosphate are mined and minimally processed. Insecticides are often based on bacterial action against bugs or interfere with a bug’s ability to eat or retain moisture.
Does that mean that using any product labeled organic or natural is the best choice? Not necessarily. One of the things that made conventional garden chemicals and fertilizers popular was they acted quickly and often had a residual effect that could last for months. In modern day terms, it’s the instant gratification thing. Using organic based products requires some modification of expectations.
Using organics often works best when other organic gardening practices are used. The organic products are only one part of using other sustainable practices. Take your lawn, for example. Conventional fertilizers will green up any lawn in a hurry at the expense of soil organisms and healthy soil. Organic lawn foods on the other hand usually release their nutrients slowly and work best in a lawn that is properly watered, mowed and where attention is paid to keeping organic material in the soil. Other practices include making your own compost and then adding it to your gardens, living with a few bugs and their damage or choosing plants that are resistant to disease, can tolerate drought or don’t need pruning.
Are all organic products the best choice? Again, not necessarily. Products like greensand, peat moss, rock phosphate, and guano are all mined from nonrenewable resources. Greensand and rock phosphate are minerals mined from quarries. Guano is bat droppings mined from caves where the bats have made deposits for hundreds of years.
Peat moss is widely used as a source of organic matter for gardens. It however is mined from bogs in the northern Canadian boreal region that have been forming for thousands of years. Some estimates put the regeneration rate for peat at a millimeter a year which means decades to replace what is mined. Compost is a better option if you are trying to add organic material. Peat moss is however useful if you are trying to acidify the soil for rhododendrons or blueberries.
If you are interested in using organic products approved for use on certified organic farms, the Washington Department of Agriculture maintains a list at its website, http://agr.wa.gov/ FoodAnimal/Organic/docs/wsda_ approv_input_list.pdf. Not all the products on the list are available in personal garden quantities and some are only locally available.