Re: Fertilizing/ "Organic" Gardening

In a message dated 8/22/1999 4:11:28 PM Central Daylight Time, 
Sam020857@aol.com writes:

<<  Organic gardening is not for everyone ---- it is time consuming, 
 labor intensive (check the price of organically grown produce at the local 
 grocery store) and involves quite a bit of "learning the hard way."  
 
    Continued and heavy applications of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides 
 do have an extreme and lasting effect on the health of the soil.  >>

Sandie may have answered my question in the excerpt above. I guess I do not 
know what is meant by "organic" gardening. Really my question is what is the 
opposite of "organic" gardening? "Inorganic?" If that is the meaning then 
would it not be "inorganic" to use newsprint as a mulch?  Vinegar or ammonia 
to kill slugs? City water? 

Or does "organic"="inert". If so, wouldn't it be wrong to use pine bark mulch 
since it is not inert but combines with something in the soil to remove 
nitrogen? What about compost? Gypsum?

I agree that the overuse of certain pesticides may be harmful. But how can 
anything be harmed by the use of a fertilizer that contains N, P, and K and 
some trace elements? Or Miracle Gro? I have used Miracid in my garden for 19 
years and the garden is teeming with earthworms.

I find that "organic" gardeners are frequently "environmentalists" and 
deplore the use of what everyone would consider to be "organic" ,e.g., 
Canadian peat moss and Jersey Green Sand. I gather that the "organic gardener 
cum environmentalist" would advocate the application of leaves. Imagine what 
would occur in a forest if all the fallen leaves were removed each year?

Clyde Crockett z5
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE HOSTA-OPEN
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index