What Are the Benefits of Organic Gardening?

Have you been wondering about the benefits of organic gardening?

 Droves of people are turning to organic produce as a way to feel safer about the foods they eat.  People are worried about the foods they put into their bodies.  With all of the reports of food poisoning from fruits and vegetables, many people are worried about what they’re eating.

We now know just how dangerous all of those chemicals that we spray plants on can be, too.  Many chemicals have been banned because they were shown to cause cancer!  But some of these dangerous chemicals have not yet been banned, and there may be plenty of hidden dangers that haven’t yet been discovered.

When you garden organically, you can feel safer about the food you eat.  You’ll know that the food you’re feeding your family is safer and healthier than the questionable stuff you find in the grocery store.  You and your family deserve to eat food that won’t give you all cancer!

Organic gardening is also extremely beneficial to the environment for several reasons.  For one thing, every time you spray your plants with chemicals, those chemicals wash off of your plants and onto the ground.  From there, those chemicals wash down into the ground, and eventually make it into the groundwater!

When the insects on your plants are poisoned, they can be eaten by birds or other animals.  These animals can then become sick and die.  If the toxicity was high enough, any animals that eat those animals might also perish.  This can have a very strong environmental impact.

By killing too many of a certain species of insect, you can also cause an imbalance in the local wildlife.  If you and your neighbors kill off a large portion of the population of one insect, then anything that depends on that insect for food might also start to die off.

Then anything that depends on the second species for food might start to die.  This could spin out of control if the problem became too widespread.  This is unlikely, but it’s not impossible. Organic produce is also known for its superior flavor.

For example, organic carrots are widely known for being much sweeter than traditionally-grown carrots.  They don’t have the same bitterness that other carrots can have.  This is a very good reason to grow your produce organically, even if you aren’t worried about the chemical effects to your body and the environment.

There are obviously a few drawbacks to gardening organically, too.  You have to deal with pests differently, and it can be a longer and more complex process to rid your plants of certain pests.  Instead of picking up some chemicals, you have to pick off insects by hand and drop them into soapy water.

You have to spray your plants with solutions made of things like hot peppers and garlic to prevent some bugs from eating them.  It can be difficult. You also have to stick to organic fertilizers, rather than using easy chemical fertilizers.

But organic fertilizers can actually be cheaper, because you can make them yourself.  Fish emulsion is a common organic fertilizer.  It’s a sort of tea made from dead fish.  Seaweed fertilizer is another tea-like fertilizer that many organic gardeners swear by.

And of course there’s natural compost that can help you make use of your kitchen waste!  The benefits of organic gardening far outweigh the few drawbacks.  It may be a bit more work, but it is so rewarding!