Grow a Naturally Vibrant Garden

Organic gardening keeps your harvest healthy without dangerous pesticides
By Debra Lynn Dadd

For spots that provide such serenity, freshness and beauty, many lawns and garden are also remarkably intertwined with deadly substances. Pesticides to be precise.

While the same pesticides used by agribusinesses are on nursery shelves-in smaller bottles with prettier labels-the National Academy of Sciences reports that "suburban gardens and lawns receive heavier pesticide applications than most other land areas in the United States, " including agricultural areas.

For the time-harried gardener, it may be easy to overlook such reports. After all, it's a breeze to spray some week killer or pest spray and be done with it.

What's impossible to ignore is the National Cancer Institute finding that in households where outdoor pesticides were used regularly, children were nine times more likely to develop childhood leukemia. In addition, pesticides are the second leading cause of household poisonings in the United States.

Gardening sans pesticide

The good news is lawns and gardens can be beautifully and healthfully maintained without using risky pesticides. Instead, organic gardening methods can be applied.

Pests are nature's way of eliminating unhealthy plants. Thus the basis if organic gardening is to grow healthy plants, which naturally resist pests. In organic gardening, much emphasis is given to building fertile soil, which in turn produces healthy plants. Compost, rock dust, and other soil amendments are frequently added.

If it becomes necessary to control unwanted insects, animals, and plants, you can use methods that are more natural and harmonious than chemical pesticides. These include traps, companion plants that deter harmful insects, beneficial organisms and insects, and natural botanical pesticides and repellents.

Here are tips for keeping your lawn green without chemicals:

* Let your grass grow. Grass that is 2.5 to 3 inches tall holds moisture in the soil and discourages the growth of weeds. Mow when the lawn i s dry during the cool part of the day.
* Fertilize naturally. Leave nitrogen-rich grass clippings behind to degrade into the soil-building compost. Add compost or manure. Make your lawn self-fertilizing by including clover and other nitrogen-rich plants.
* Cut dandelions at the root, most won't grow back.
* Dethatch in late spring or early summer, then reseed.
* Dry out fungus, dehatch, add soil bacteria and reseed. Fungus grows only in wet, thatchy, over fertilized lawns.
*Aerate twice a year (compacted soil promotes weeds). Add a soil loosener, like compost, then reseed.
* Reseed bare spots and thinning laws to prevent weed growth.
* Water in the evening, deeply and infrequently. Allow the grass to dry thoroughly between watering's.
* Choose the right species. Ask your local nursery for advice.

Spending time outdoors growing flowers and food organically can be a rewarding pastime that also protects your health and health of your loved ones. Once you learn the basics of organic gardening, there is no need for unnecessary exposure to the know toxic effects of chemical pesticides.