For many who garden, the concept of gardening naturally, holistically or organically is one of our greatest challenges. Each new generation approaches the issues of the modern world from a unique view point. While some long time gardeners feel intimidated by the idea of eliminating all non-organic techniques, those who begin gardening in today’s world will likely feel that the use of sustainable gardening practices is the best choice they can make.
Sustainable gardening is based on an understanding of how nature creates healthy plants. Whatever we grow, be it vegetables, flowers, grass, or trees, we can garden with sustainable methods. The ultimate goal of sustainable gardening is to have a healthy living plant and soil ecosystem that survives heartily on its own resources. Sustainable gardening uses natural biological methods to build soil fertility and healthy, insect-resisting plants. The raw materials used in the garden are taken from local plant and mineral sources.
When I was a kid and the topic of organic gardening came up, it was often dismissed as if it was no more than a hare-brained scheme thought up by a bunch of California hippies, high on marijuana. While some of those details may have been true, time has shown us that over the long term, organic gardening was never a foolish concept. There is no longer any doubt that many of those original organic gardeners had the right idea by gardening in conjunction with nature.
When speaking with gardeners of a certain age, I find that one of their greatest fears is that altering long held gardening practices will somehow make gardening more difficult. Another fear is that they will lose control over the pests that may invade their gardens. In reality, sustainable gardening relieves us of many time consuming tasks, the most obvious being chemical spray and fertilizing schedules. Rather than causing us to lose control, sustainable gardening puts pest control back in the hands of the beneficial insect population.
