Lori McDonald - The Organic Gardening Made Easy

Over 20 years ago, gardening sounded strange to a lot of people as there was the feeling that there were too many external factors that could not be controlled which will make gardening difficult. Questions about weed control, bug extermination without the use of chemicals were raised because people were used to all kinds of farming with one form of artificial input or the other.

In reality, organic gardening is not so hard to wrap ones head around. I mean people have been growing things for years without using chemicals or some form of artificial additives. The early men never had any chemicals at their disposal and yet they cultivated crops successfully and produced their own food by themselves. So nothing stops us from doing the same; all we need to do is make use of the resources that nature has provided and steer clear of potions straight out of a chemists laboratory.

But the interest in organic gardening is not just because of the benefits it holds for us and our families, but also for the environment. A lot of the chemicals we use are hazardous to the environment and if the environment should become unbearable that we find it difficult to live in, then whats the point of existence. Hence, the reason for a rise in the study of ecology and concern about the environment and organic gardening is seen as a way out. All you need to do is to take advantage of natural predators, recycle garden waste and overall make use of natural minerals to produce what you need.

Organic gardening holds many advantages with the foremost one probably being that the food from it is healthier, safer and provides more nourishment due to the fact that it contains little or no amount of chemicals found in abundance in the produce of todays supermarkets.

A report released by a British organization known as the Soil Association in early August 2001, showed that there are definite and unmistakable differences between foods grown organically and those grown inorganically in terms of safety, primary nutrients, secondary nutrients and health outlook.

On the average, Vitamin C and dry matter contents are higher in organically grown crops then they are in non-organic crops. Mineral contents are also higher, and food grown organically is believed to contain significantly higher concentrations of antioxidants and other health promoting compounds than crops produced with pesticides.

A lot of people feel that foods that are grown organically taste better. Also, it has been found that some of these organically-grown foods that contain no pesticides produce a higher amount of an anti-oxidant that has been found to reduce the risk of some cancers.

Overall, though, most people who enjoy organic gardening submit that the fulfillment they feel or derive from it all stems from veering from the artificial route and getting into the natural way of producing food.

Theres an extra freshness that comes with organic gardening, either in the form of newly picked peas or freshly picked fruits. Just that feeling that you cultivated it yourself and then pick it fresh is an incredible one.

Apart from saving money as a result of growing your own food, you can also make some extra money from selling some of these natural foods that might be in excess after taking the one that you need. Theres always the farmers market where you can sell your organic foods to those who dont have the privilege of having their own garden. Trust me when I tell you that you will make sales because people are realizing the danger in chemically-grown foods and turning to naturally-grown ones.

If you are still skeptical about the need for an organic garden, then here are scientific facts to back up all that have been said and possibly change your mind. In March of 2001, the American Cancer Society published a report linking the use of the herbicide glyphosate (commonly sold as Round-up) with a 27% increased likelihood of contracting Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Furthermore, John Hopkins University also revealed that home gardeners use almost 10 times more pesticide per acre than the average farmer and that diseases caused by environmental illness, exposure to chemicals etc., is now the number one cause of death in the U.S. With the EPA's recent prohibition of common pesticides such as Dursban and Diazinon, it is now dawning on people that many of the chemicals that were thought to be "safe" were never actually tested to see their effect on children, women, and the elderly. This has then generated the awareness about a need to reassess our dependence on pesticides.

You may then have this question bothering you, if chemicals are so bad, then why have we been using them all this while? Well, lets closely examine chemicals.