Organic Products for your Garden

Paul James: It’s the big O of the gardening world, organics. But just what the heck does that mean? Let’s start with the legal definition.

Phil Radspinner: Growing organically means taking the USTA law and applying it to the way you’re growing. And USTA establish a national Organic Program so that it could have standardization among what is that can be called organic.

Paul James: Now Phil Radspinner spent a dozen works for the US Department of Agriculture. But as the Vice President of the Northern California Farming and Garden Supply store, helps his customers understand that growing organically is as much product as it is practiced.

Phil Radspinner: Well to me organic is growing of course naturally using natural inputs. But it’s also along the lines with sustainability which is respect for the land. Making sure you’re preserving soil, making sure keeping soil alive, making sure you have nothing that interferes as much as possible with the natural processes.

Paul James: Translation? Say goodbye to anything synthetic or at least begin facing them out of your gardening arson. And know that that doesn’t mean you’ll weak or puny plants. In fact, it’s often just the opposite.

Phil Radspinner: This 880 pound pumpkin was grown organically. It just goes to show you that you can still grow organically and still get the production you’re looking for out of your garden. And at the same time, you’re going to make a safer and more healthy place around your home.

Paul James: So where does a gardener begin the process of doing organic? Same place plants do the soil.

Phil Radspinner: Well the first thing you want to start with this is your soil because everything comes form the soil and in fact in organic farming and gardening we have the same as it says feed the soil and not the plant.

We need to focus on the products that keep us in that natural cycle and not depend on chemically synthesized products. In addition to just focusing on products, we also have to think about what processes or what things we need to do be organic. And those can involve some of the interaction with nature to preserve beneficial insects and some of the soil practices to preserve soil.

Paul James: One of the ways that naturally boost your soil chemistry is with compost. Making a compost pile is organic with a capital of easy, cheap, and a great way to recycle garden teaching ways.

Phil Radspinner: If you don’t want to do all that work, you can go to the store and buy the compost. It’s not that expensive and if you get good quality compost, it will power packed with all the things you need.

Paul James: Adding compost to your soil improves its tilt, drainage and microbial activity. You can also use compost to make a soupy soil sat and one of these contraptions, a compost tea brewer.

Phil Radspinner: A compost tea is a great addition to your garden fertilizer management program because Compost Tea has beneficial nutrients as well as beneficial microbes. And it can be applied as a foliar or it can also be applied to the soil. And people have seen phenomenal results with Compost Tea both large and small growers are like.

Paul James: For best results, use the Tea within a day of growing. If 10 gallons this home system makes is too much, many home garden supply stores sell freshly brewed one gallon containers.

In addition to fertilizers, there are also lots of ways to deal with pests organic.

Phil Radspinner: Insecticides that are available for organic farmers and gardeners tend to be milder. So you’re not going to get that shock that you get out of some of the commercial pesticides. On the other hand, you’re also not shocked in your plants and your beneficial insects is much. So that’s a big plus.

Paul James: Insecticidal soap is very mild much like the soap you use in the kitchen or bathroom. Unlike most of the products we’re showing you. This product hasn’t arm relay. The Organic Materials Review Institute has determined that it shouldn’t be designated organic.

And what about organic weed control? Is it possible to have a red hot product that’s also green?

Phil Radspinner: Well weeds are pretty big primary organic in the garden. So of course there’s lots of methods such as hand weeding, digging with tools and pulling weeds out that way but we have some substances and of course the flame weeding to get back down as well.

Paul James: A pro paint flamer works by rupturing the plant’s cell walls, eventually killing it. It doesn’t disturb the soil surface, so there’s less erosion plus buried weeds seeds are unexposed which would start the whole cycle over again. And come on, how cool is roasting weeds?

Phil Radspinner: It’s also a great way to start barbeques and to start camp fires.

Paul James: And we’re back to the law. Well the law of gravity that pulls me to cool things like flame weeds anyway. The bottom line, organic gardening is oh so good for oh so many reasons.

Phil Radspinner: Organic is really addressing all these issues that we need to improve on to make our whole living experience better above some level and purposeful society.