Re: What is organic gardening
Cyndi K wrote:
>
> I loved Tony's term "holistic gardening" though I guess he's right and the
> last thing we need is to attempt to change the jargon. But it feels much
> more like what I intend that just "organic gardening". His mention of
> pyrethrum brought to mind a letter I received from a novice gardener. He had
> gathered together every toxic plant you have ever heard of, made a
> concentrated decoction out of them and was pleased to find it was as
> effective at killing everything that moved in the garden as any pesticide he
> had ever bought. He felt his discovery was going to be a great boon to
> "organic gardening", once we all started spraying it on a regular basis. (My
> reply to the letter was a long one. ;-)
>
> I'm with Barry - I just don't spray anything at all. And I swear with hand
> on heart, in our little yard planted mainly with a variety of tough, common,
> drought-resistant plants there hasn't been a problem without them. The
> hummingbirds, lady bugs and hoverflies eat the aphids. By the end of the
> season we have a few spiders who have grown all through summer and have by
> autumn have acquired both a regular home and a personality; they look like
> they could bring down small planes but they're also pretty good at cutting
> down the cabbage moth population. And for the snails, well there's my
> husband as predator. Though he's organic, he's still quite lethal to them.
>
> I do miss MiracleGro though. ;-)
Cyndie
Your garden sounds splendid. I am very fond of spiders myself and try to
encourage them wherever possible.
As I have never even seem MiracleGro I have no chance to hanker after
it. In any case
I find my soil is too rich to need much boosting, but when occasionally
_I_ get withdrawl symptoms I do use a liquid fish fertilizer to give my
plants a treat!
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
