Thought I’d update again - my sfg boxes are buried in snow but several birds are still feeding from the remnants of the sunflowers. My roses are skeletal and wild looking. Christmas was wonderful and went by way too fast!!!
My experience with organic gardening this year was a learning experience. I found I like it - but it isn’t for a lazy gardener. I realized it takes more research, dedication and work than spraying a few chemicals on - but the results are safer (of course), better tasting, and somehow more rewarding.
Some pros of organic gardening:
- The Health Benefits (a no brainer, I know). After reading a national geographic article on the pesticides and other chemicals we have in our blood, organic food became a red alert for me. Not to mention I have little children.
- The Swankiness of It. Organic gardening is popular - recently, standing in line at Walmart I overheard people behind me talking about the new organic appetizers Walmart apparently has. While the term “organic” still makes my husband roll his eyes, it is catching on.
- The Environment. The bees, ladybugs, earthworms, praying mantises, birds, my pets - everything around me appreciates it when I make that effort and garden organically. To illustrate, my roses in front were sprayed and fertilized. They were void of every form of life also - that means no aphids, but also few bees, ladybugs, and other beneficial lifeforms. True, my SFG did have some outbreaks - but there was a balance. There was life there - in all it’s enjoyable as well as annoying forms. Later on in the growing season I began to research organic rose tips and managed to turn my roses around and liked the results so much better.
- Self-Sufficiency. To be able to garden organically requires learning about the soil, plants, little creatures, and there impact on one another. It takes the self sufficiency of regular gardening to a whole new level.
Some Cons:
- Time. Organic gardening is more time consuming/labor intensive than conventional gardening. For some this makes it an impossibility. It also requires time as in study time, because it requires some preparation (and reference) to make it work.
- Money. OK, so I thought it would be cheaper to have an organic garden than to spend $$$’s on it at the store. Not true, at least not the way I did it. Maybe in time, as I get better at seed starting, making my own organic sprays and so on it will be cheaper. But for now, ordering ladybugs online, investing in all the organic sprays I could afford and buying actual plants, it was a hefty investment.
- Limited Availability of Supplies. I couldn’t just run over to Lowe’s or the local nursery and grab a wonderful assortment of organic plants and supplies. Not to mention everything was more money because it was “organic”. Most of the really great organic gardening supplies, at least in Utah, is still online. OK so that isn’t a con for everyone, but for my non-’net savvy mom, it might be.
But for me, the cons of organic gardening are far outweighed by the pros, and I know I will keep sticking with it, learning a bit more every year until I feel truly successful at it.
