How Does Your Garden Grow in Back Yard? : Organic: To get away from pesticides, people are producing their own “cleaner” crops. Here are tips in home agriculture for beginners.
Starting a back-yard garden might not be an obvious way to protect the family from harm, but anyone concerned about pesticide residues in foods ought to give it some thought. After all, growing your own food means you’ll know exactly what went into it and on it.
The home gardening movement got a powerful boost early last year from a non-profit, environmental action group called the Natural Resources Defense Council. Their findings were released in a report called, “Intolerable Risk: Pesticides in Children’s Foods.”
Meryl Streep, a parent as well as an actress, seized headlines as she became a spokeswoman for the council. She declared, in an interview in Organic Gardening magazine, “To think food could hurt a child. It’s weird. It upsets every corner of my existence. It’s insane that we have to worry about the food we give our children.”
Maria Rodale, working with Streep on a national committee called Mothers and Others for Pesticide Limits, said: “I was not surprised to hear that such an extensive study confirmed what we at Rodale had been saying to deaf ears. Chemicals can hurt children and the environment.”
As Rodale forecast at the time, the publicity would make consumers more aware of what they were eating and would put farmers under more pressure to meet the demand for “cleaner” food.
Rodale advised consumers to change their way of thinking; to accept that organically grown crops might not be as picture-perfect as those raised with the usual chemical sprays and treatments; to seek out local farmers who have been using low-input methods to raise crops; to buy locally grown produce in season; to encourage local supermarket produce managers to sell organically grown produce; to be willing to pay the price if, for a time, this kind of produce is more expensive.
She concluded, “People who are really interested in safe food should consider starting gardens. It’s easy. It’s good exercise. It’s rewarding. The food is great and you know it because you’ve raised it.”
Apparently, more and more people are taking her advice. Maria van Hekken, assistant director of the Rodale Research Center in Maxatawny, Pa., commented: “The interest in organic gardening is mushrooming. Last year, more than 7,000 people visited the center to see our gardens and learn more about what can be done.”
No one needs to take a tour to get started gardening, however. Now’s the time to begin.
Terry Schettini, the Rodale Research Center’s horticulture coordinator, described what it takes to make a changeover to what he calls “optimal input” gardening.
“It really isn’t as hard as it sounds,” he said, “But it is necessary to become something of a student of gardening. It’s like learning to drive. At first, it’ll feel a little clumsy but soon, the process will begin to feel natural.”
Right now, you can plan space needs and decide what you reasonably can grow in that space. Designate certain areas of the garden for permanent raised beds and walkways (Raised beds should be no wider than 4 feet so the gardener can reach to the middle while keeping to the walkways).
Schettini says that there are five steps to this kind of low-input gardening: building the soil and then selecting plant species, varieties, a plant protection program and companion plantings.
“People must understand that the soil is not simply a physical support to hold plants up. There are lots of things going on in the soil and the life there affects plant health and pest management.” He added that a soil test should be done this spring.
Composting is one of the best ways to build the soil, according to Schettini. “Consult books, magazines or your extension office on the best ways to go about making compost.
“You can build the compost bin now, before you get busy with other garden tasks,” he said. Then, all that’s required is mixing food scraps (minus meat products, which attract rodents, and citrus, which is slow to break down) with soil, grass clippings, a nitrogen source and other plant residues.
