INTRODUCTION

Organic growing is a system which uses natural (organic) materials to nourish the soil which in turn produces vegetables, fruit and other crops. It does NOT use pesticides, herbicides, and artificial fertilizers. It is the system which your grandparents and great grandparents used until the end of World War II, and which nature has used for millions of years. So there's nothing new about organic growing.

BACKGROUND TO ORGANIC GROWING

It was after WWII that scientists turned from a wartime to a peacetime footing. Scientists in America who had produced the atomic bomb now looked around for other areas to conquer.

Some scientists turned their attention to conquering space and sent satellites up to orbit the earth, and later landed a man on the moon. Other scientists turned their attention to agriculture which generally used rotation of crops and other natural means of producing vegetables, grains and other produce. If they could go some way to conquering space, surely they could now control nature so that bigger and better crops could be harvested WITHOUT the methods which NATURE used. In other words man, not nature, could now set the agenda for crop production.

They scientifically analyzed the growing needs for crops and worked towards reproducing artificially the various nutrients which plants require for growth. They looked at the problem of pests and disease and unwanted weeds and devised powerful pesticides and herbicides which they could apply to the plants and to the soils to eradicate these. Man, they thought, was now safely in control; nature could take a back seat. Who needed her anyway?

Agricultural departments around the world welcomed with enthusiasm this new era of chemical control. Production could be boosted; they could now control how red an apple was, its shape and size. Fruit and vegetables LOOKED wonderful. This is what the consumer wanted, they said. A new GOLDEN AGE of crop production had arrived.

But a few people around the world were uneasy about using poisons on the food which they then had to eat. They found that under the new chemical regime their soil was dead; there were no living organisms in it at all. Good and bad had all been killed by the pesticides, herbicides and artificial fertilizers. They were worried about the long-term effect of the poisons on the health of themselves and, more importantly, their children.

Scientists and agricultural departments ridiculed their fears. There was no 'scientific evidence' to show any ill-effects on people in the short term and, of course, the poisons had not been in use long enough to determine the long-term effect on people's health.

So the 50s, 60s and 70s saw wholesale use of these techniques and a whole generation grew up which by and large knew no other way of growing crops and vegetables. The few people who were concerned about these developments were branded as hippies or the lunatic fringe element. It was in this context that the organic growing movement began. One way or another they were peculiar because they went against the mainstream.

By the mid 80s however more people were becoming uneasy about the fruit and vegetables they were buying. DDT which in the 1950s had been hailed as a major breakthrough in insect control, was found to be almost completely non-biodegradable. It remained in the soil and eventually built up in the food chain and could be deposited in the fatty tissue of humans. It was eventually banned, but its offspring lindane, dieldrin, chlordane and other chlorinated hydrocarbons, remained in use.

But it was not until 1987 that Australians really began to sit up and take notice of what was happening to their soil and crops. It was in that year that the US rejected a potential $200 million worth of export meat because of the unacceptably high level of chemical residue in the animals.

Many of these animals had been grazing on pasture which originally had been used for the growing of vegetables and other crops and to which a whole array of pesticides had been applied. To the dismay of the farmers they were now told that those chemicals had a life in the soil of 20-30 years and that no more grazing must occur on their property for that period.

In many ways 1987 was a watershed in Australia and for the first time mainstream people began to question the wholesale use of chemicals in their fruit and vegetable. People, looking around for alternatives, began to seriously consider organic methods and to seek organic produce. During the eighties groups such as the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA) had been formed by organic growers to certify farms as organic, and now the government, recognizing the export value of organic produce, set up the Organic Produce Advisory Committee (OPAC). This committee developed a National Standard for Organic and Biodynamic Produce which must be met by the various certifying agencies. Organic growing had now become 'respectable'.

HOW DO WE GROW ORGANICALLY?

So, if you want to grow organically, how do you do it? 

SOIL

The most important factor in producing healthy, tasty crops is to build up the fertility of your soil. Where chemical growers use a range of laboratory chemicals to feed the plants, organic growers would feed the soil, not with laboratory-based chemicals but with organic matter -- manure, compost and other organic material. These will not only feed the soil, they will also encourage worms to your soil.

The value of worms can't be emphasized enough. Worms live on the organic matter in your garden; they process it for you by eating it and then providing worm casts to nourish the soil. At the same time they aerate and break up the soil as they tunnel around looking for food. So if you give them plenty of organic matter to eat you'll have numerous worms and therefore productive soil.

COMPOST

Compost is the most wonderful material and if you have good compost you need no other fertilizer. It is, after all, what nature uses and if you look at the forests around the world, or what's left of them, you can see how successful nature is.

Any organic matter, material which was once living, will break down and the nutrients from the material are transferred to the compost, and are thus recycled to use in nourishing other plants; so compost gives you a never-ending circular supply of all the nourishment your soil will need to grow strong and healthy vegetables. You will thus not have to spend money at the nursery buying artificial products to nourish your garden.

A word of caution however: compost will be only as good as the materials which go into it. You need a variety of materials to give you a balance of nutrients: grass clippings; kitchen waste; leaves; weeds; manure; hair; moldy bread; meat scraps; egg shells; sawdust (as long as it hasn't been treated with arsenic to kill microbes); tissues; vacuum cleaner dust; feathers, twigs. The list goes on and on.

If you grow herbs, throw some small pieces of yarrow on your pile from time to time. This will activate the decomposition process, and hasten the making of your compost. Other activators are manure, blood and bone or other compost.

As the materials become available, put them either into a covered compost bin or make a pile in the open air. Whichever method is used, it is essential that the bottom of the bin or heap is open so that micro-organisms from the soil are attracted to it. Water the heap from time to time to provide sufficient moisture for correct composting. If you're using an open-air heap, try to turn it over regularly to hasten the decomposition process.

As the material starts to decompose you'll find it becomes quite hot. This is a sign that it's curing well. As it cools down, the worms will come to finish off the recycling for you. When the heap is cold and the material completely broken down, apply it to your soil and start planting.

MULCHING

This is a technique which many organic growers use and which they find particularly effective.

Mulch is any organic matter which covers the soil. In a natural forest for instance nature covers the bare earth with leaves, twigs and bark and they lie undisturbed, left to decay and in turn nourish the soil. These form a natural mulch. Organic growers, realizing the benefits of such a process, endeavor to reproduce these conditions in their own vegetable gardens. To do this they use a variety of organic matter:

Hay:

This is one of the best mulches to use, particularly if you can obtain second or third-cut lucerne. Lucerne makes lovely mulch. Its deep roots take up minerals and other nutrients which are often not available to more shallow-rooted plants. When the Lucerne is cut and placed on your garden, these minerals are then transferred to your soil as the hay slowly decomposes. Second or third-cut is better than first-cut which often has a large percentage of meadow grasses which are not nearly as beneficial and which in turn may introduce unwanted grasses (weeds?) to your garden.

If you do not have a source of hay, consult the "Pets, Livestock" column of the Canberra Times. You can often buy spoilt hay which has already started to decompose. This is cheaper and equally effective.

Leaves:

These make very good mulch. They are akin to the natural mulch found on the forest floor; they have got many nutrients and if you can gather a few trailer-loads in autumn it will save you buying hay in the summer.

How to Mulch

Now that you have your bales of hay or other material, your next step is to place it on your vegetable garden. But first you must ensure that your soil is well-watered and that whatever nutrients you intend giving your soil have already been applied. Then divide the bale of hay into pads about 12 centimeters thick and place these directly on the soil so that all the bare earth is completely covered. When you plant your seedlings, move aside the hay to leave a couple of centimeters free of hay around each plant.

Advantages of Mulching

Weed Control:

Mulch inhibits the growth of unwanted plants which find it very difficult to make their way up to the sunlight through 12 centimeters of hay. You will find that those which do achieve this are spindly and shallow-rooted and are easily pulled out. Place these unwanted plants on top of the hay so they in turn will add to your mulch.

Water Conservation:

Since the soil has been well watered before you applied the mulch, the moisture in the ground will be retained for a long period. The benefits to your plants -- and to your water bills -- are obvious.

Temperature Control:

If you lift up the hay on a hot day you will find that the earth underneath has remained cool. Similarly, on a cold morning the temperature of the soil under the hay is well above the air temperature. This ensures that your plants are subject to a more constant root temperature which, in turn, aids their growth.

Worms:

Worms love mulch because it creates the conditions under which they thrive. Pick up any pad of mulch and you will find the worms doing much of your work for you -- aerating and nourishing the soil. This makes digging your garden superfluous.

Nutrients:

As mentioned above, your hay will decompose and provide valuable nutrients to your soil. In addition however you may decide to use the mulch as a convenient cover for composting some of your kitchen waste. This method of composting breaks down waste very quickly, provides food for the worms, and gives a continuing and varied source of enrichment to your soil.

 

CONCLUSION

Companion Planting Table

CROP ROTATION

1. moving vegetables around

2. incorporating legumes

3. growing some green manure crops

- must be adhered to.

The rotation system given here, works by dividing your garden into four, roughly sized areas (1-4) and planting them sequentially with the four groups of vegetables. The sequence of planting covers four successive years, by the fifth year you are back to the start.

A - Summer fruiting vegetables, legumes, early potatoes, summer salad greens

B1 - Broad beans, peas, onions and garlic followed by

B2 - brassicas and other winter vegetables

C - Carrots, winter and salad greens, late potatoes (which keep in the ground all winter)

D - Corn , pumpkins, zucchini, cucumber, followed by a winter green manure.

GM - Green manure