Your vegetables are poison, your destroying your soil.

[Gary350]

There are people that think because I am NOT planting organic Heirloom seeds my vegetables have almost no food value and my harvest is 3 times less than theirs. Because I till my soil I am destroying the soil my garden will never produce as good as their garden. Because I do not mulch I am out of tune with nature their vegetables are more healthy than mine. Because I do not have a compose pile my vegetables have no food value. Because I use fertilizer my vegetables are poison. They say, never till, cover the soil with, plastic, cardboard, wood chips, asphalt shingles, to keep out weeds. And they claim because they cover the soil to keep out grass and weeds their garden is less work than mine. LOL. Adolf Hitler was crazy too. LOL hahaha. I think someone is brain washed and it is not me. LOL hahaha This is funny.

[ElizabethB]

There all always nay sayers. If you are happy with your process and production that is all that matters.

[gumbo2176]

There are 2 things I NEVER argue about and they are religion and politics. Throw in gardening and it could be a possible 3rd as there are a lot of different ways to get to the same end. We do have folks on here that are staunch strictly organic, no-till, no fertilizer other than a compost pile and other natural materials and minerals, and that is fine with me. I don't care how they grow their garden and hope they have bountiful harvests.

I use a tiller to prepare my garden, do, on occasion use chemical fertilizer, try my best to not have to resort to chemicals to control pests, but I'll be damned if I'm going to allow bugs to destroy my garden as I don't have the time or inclination to head outside with a flashlight at night and spend hours to hand pick bugs off my plants.

I refuse to tell you you're wrong in your approach, and won't like it if you decide to preach to me that I'm doing things all wrong. I'm more of a live and let live type and no one way is the only way.

If I remember right, you've been at this for many years, so you must be doing something right I'm assuming.

[applestar]

I agree. I think it's great that we share our different methods and the joys of successes and agony of failures on this forum with other gardeners who understand these feelings when it is (only or all?) about plants and vegetation. Some people could care less.

What I hope I'm doing is relating methods that worked and works for ME, never in criticism of other folks' methods. I always think there are things that I can learn. Sometimes, astonishment that some things that never occurred to me or that I wouldn't have thought would work may creep through in my words, but such reactions are never intended to be hurtful.

I hope that others might find glimmers and nuggets of interest -- maybe not so much wisdom -- and maybe amusement in the things that I do. I know I can be pretty silly and otherwise seem rather crazy sometimes.


I love seeing how everyone else grows their garden.

[PaulF]

Let's see: I till but only in the fall to till in the mulch to add organics to the soil that needs it. I don't like weeding and mulch allows me not to weed so much. I do not plant organic seed unless that is what I have. I think organically grown vegetables are a marketing plot. If you are organic that's great. I just grow vegetables. I use fertilizer according to soil testing and if there is an infestation of bad bugs they get a dose of insecticide, but only enough to get rid of them. I try not to kill pollinators. I have a compost pile and use the compost. For no other reason than it's a good place to put leaves and grass and other vegetable waste and get something back.

I make no comparisons as to how much more or less than anyone else I grow because I don't really care. I get what I get. I do keep track of what I grow for my own records and if someone wants to know some history, I share but state that this is what happened in my garden. And never, never never tell someone they are doing anything wrong. Every gardener does what they do and if they like how they grow that's excellent. Then the proverb about skinning the .....

[imafan26]

I think you are right. Everyone who is here loves to garden. We all have to work in different environments and have different soil conditions, pests, diseases, and weather. We do what works best for us and are happy to share that with everyone.

Organic is popular now, and some people have good success with it and think they are getting a better crop out of it.

I try to incorporate the organics I can, but I take advantage of crop science as well. I test my soil, I only add what is needed and while I do experiment with some plants, I tend to grow the ones that have the disease, heat, and nematode resistence needed to produce well in my climate. I don't care to use animal byproducts, so I do use synthetic fertilizer recommended by my soil test. I can grow brandywine tomatoes in a pot off the ground and sprayed with fungicides every week or I can grow cherry tomatoes in the ground and not do much with it. The brandywine tastes great, but it is a lot of work for me to keep it alive and I have to work a lot harder for relatively small yield. (The birds love it too). I really miss being able to make Thai food because I have a hard time keeping downy mildew off basil. Downy mildew is here to stay in this climate and after 10 years of traditional research that has yet to yield a resistant basil that tastes the same, it doesn't look like I will see better choices any time soon with traditional breeding.

[thanrose]

My brother, after a decade or more of watching home and garden type reality shows on TV, believes he knows more about gardening than I do. He listens to a guy in a bar and then tells me I'm mowing my lawn the wrong way. Told me I was wrong to dig a hole so big, or water at all, or compost with the eons old dead pile. I am book savvy, but also regard intuition and local lore and experience as more reliable than a guy in a bar. I have a lot of allopathic, shallow rooted, trees on the property and I have to interrupt those ever encroaching roots if I want to plant a sizable root ball. I don't have to dethatch my lawn because there is no thatch. And I have the richest soil in the neighborhood because of my piles of dead falls and mostly ignored compost piles that provide shelter and food for rodents and reptiles. I figure if I own the ground the tree grew up on, and it worked hard to pull those minerals and nutrients from down deep only to drop them on the surface with branches and leaves, then I appreciate the contribution. I don't need to enrich the county landfill.

Whatever one does in gardening is balm for the soul. I would be upset if someone thought their needs outweighed the community, such as putting out poisoned bait for animals of all sizes, or dumping pet feces and fish and meat trimmings on an open compost, or letting poisons run in the gutters, burning poison ivy. Generally, though, whatever you want to do is cool with me, and might give me a new perspective on what choices are available. You may not like it, but I will bury fish scraps, and will leave some animal scat and fallen fruit in remote areas to attract butterflies. Not enough to offend anyone nearby, but hardly something to see on garden TV.

[john gault]

I've learned that there are so many myths in gardening. All the instructions I've read on various packs of tomato seeds and a few other veggies is to plant in full-sun conditions. My tomatoes don't like full-sun conditions and it can kill them early in their life.

Not exactly a myth, but it shows that you can't just look at your hardiness zone and choose how to garden, much more to it than that.

[thanrose]

John, we are practically in another country as far as the rest of continental US. I laugh when someone says something demands full sun. But you're so right. I wouldn't presume to tell you what will work for you, but I can say what works for me.

Botanist on another board pooh-poohed the idea that tomatoes don't like to set fruit in sustained high heat, until I referred him to studies done on heat index related to fruit reduction in nightshade vegetables in tropical areas. You probably have noticed the same thing. Cherry tomatoes will continue to fruit, but the slicing size? No way in July and August. Eggplant and peppers are only slightly less sensitive to the high temps. Ground cherries and tomatillos and small hot peppers seem to continue okay.

[Topangawild]

Hello all,

And love to all! What you do is better than nothing. I like the whole "organic movement" in part because my father decided in 1967 to "drop out". He started making bread and this was the best food that I had ever tasted- bar none. Really sad considering I was raised in hawaiii which should have been producing the best tasting foods on earth. Still this got me going, and now I search out --how did those that came before me do it? How did they garden successfully before the advent of chemicals?

I am not trying to convert anyone, but I am trying to learn.

There are a couple of products out that have helped me in regards to effective insecticides; the first is called "Stave C" I was introduced to this product by the curator of the Huntington Park Rose Gardens in Pasadena -Tom Carruth Rose hybridiser for forever at "Weeks Roses".

He said it was all they used and so I ordered some. It smells great, has been effective for me and also quells my inner "peace angel".

Another product that has been effective especially for "cabbage butterfly" is Monterey B.T. (Bacillus Thuringiensis).

I have worked and will continue to work to bring my soil back to life. But this is my journey, not yours. I seek knowledge and hope to find more here.

[xtron]

I too try to keep the chemicals to a minimum. a couple of years ago I got infested with Colorado potato beetles .. to the point I was in danger of loosing my crop. I tried everything under the sun, from natural organic bug juices to sevin powder. nothing worked. I found something called spinosyn D at a local farm store. it's formulated specifically for potato beetles and is approved for use in organic gardens. it has a 2 hour window in which it will kill pollinaters, so I sprayed at dusk.. the next morning the only beetles I could find were on the ground, dead. I've used it since, applying as soon as I see the first beetle. if you kill off the first generation, you don't have to worry about the second, third, ect.

but I have no problem drawing the big guns if it's necessary and unavoidable. last year the Japanese beetles got so bad they were damaging the beens, the blackberries, rasberries, horseradish, and all the fruit trees. after trying several natural methods to no avail, I, again in the evening to minimize damage to the local bees, broke out the malathion. problem hugely reduced..one week nother shot and the problem was ended. hopefully the adults were terminated before they could lay this years eggs. we'll find out in a couple more weeks, but so far so good.

[Taiji]

Hello all,

And love to all! What you do is better than nothing. I like the whole "organic movement" in part because my father decided in 1967 to "drop out".

Hmm. Topanga Canyon. I thought that rang a bell. That's where Gypsy Boots and the nature boys hung out! He "dropped out" long before it was fashionable. Did your father know Gypsy Boots by chance?