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Do you like to garden?

Posted by smallfootprints • 7/27/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Eco-friendly, fertilizer, gardening, organic

Do you like to garden? I love it but don't like using chemicals to fertilize. I'm also concerned about what my gardening practices do to the earth. So I searched and found a new way to feed my plants:

reducefootprints.blogspot.com/2009/07/give-your-garden-boost.html

So I was wondering ... What do you use to fertilize your garden ... and why?

Do you believe chemicals, used in gardening, to be safe or harmful?

Do you think organic foods are healthier than non-organic ... or is that just something we've been fed (excuse the pun)?

I'm interested in your opinion!

Thanks!

Small Footprints

User Comments

7/27/09

cil

Yup i really like to have nice garden in your house but it seems i dont have a green thumb lol so when i want something i asked my husband to plant it for me.

[reply]
1. 7/27/09
  
  smallfootprints
  
  lol ... well, you've got the best of all worlds ... plants and clean hands.
7/27/09

trailofpen

I do have a garden and I haven't used any chemicals myself, save for soap and water, and also some bagged soil. I would like to use compost but I haven't build a bin or anything to collect it yet, plus in this weather, I don't believe I have a proper place to store it.

I'm not really too worried about any environmental concerns, other than me harboring aphids and other pests that have killed half of my crop. I only have tomato plants, some pepper plants, and some eggplant as a result of a pest epidemic, which almost made me turn to potent pesticides.

[reply]
1. 7/27/09
  
  smallfootprints
  
  Hi Trailofpen,
  
  I live in an apartment and actually started a compost bin last summer ... on the patio. I just converted a planter into a bin by placing some dirt in the bottom, adding plant material, covering with more dirt and then covering the entire thing (to keep the smell down). I add to it about once a week and "stir" it up occasionally but ... other than that ... I don't think about it. It has actually worked wonderfully! And this year, I didn't have to buy any dirt for little "farm".
  
  Have you considered lady bugs for controlling aphids? I hear that they work well.
  
  Thanks for your comments!
  
  Small Footprints
2. 7/27/09
  
  trailofpen
  
  I've considered lady bugs, but I don't have a ladybug friendly environment. It's super hot, and there's not a lot of shade. They would all just fly away elsewhere.
3. 7/27/09
  
  amybyrd21
  
  I use chickens,ducks and guinies to do the bug control here
7/27/09

amybyrd21

We garden the only thing we use is 7 dust and that is a have to case. Most of the time we use nothing. We fertilize with manure from our own animals. We have bees to pollinate our crops. We pick the japanese beetles and put them in a bottle of water. Then we feed them to our chickens and ducks. That is the ones they dont snatch up first.

[reply]
1. 7/29/09
  
  smallfootprints
  
  Isn't it great how everything works together ... love that all your "critters" work together for everyone's (and everything's) benefit.
  
  What is 7 dust?
2. 7/29/09
  
  amybyrd21
  
  a very mild poison. actually we switched to DE diamatheiuos Earth (sp) this year and it is all organic and it did really well. It is a dust made of the earth and kills cabbage worms (what we used it on)