Growing an organic garden

[Judi-50-Calif]

I got my seeds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange this year http://www.southernexposure.com/

My husband put together a raised bed on our property around 4 weeks ago and planted most of what we will plant. I had wished I would of read about the Square Foot gardening before he planted they have some good tips. I have done organic gardening for over 20 yrs with some years no gardening due to heavy work schedule...I use straw and compost...

I can't wait until our garden produces and we can start to eat,sprout, and juice all the yummy veggies.

Judi

[cordeliaflyte]

i just have a tiny garden, snatched from the little places the grass doesn't grow in my tiny apartment backyard, and some containers... last year was the first year i ever tried to grow anything, and did pretty well with tomatoes, potatoes (i was just vegan, not raw!), and various green veggies and herbs. this year, i'm totally excited to be getting into better organic practices and to use heirloom seeds and learn about seed-saving and stuff. thanks for all the links in this thread that will help me with that.

i saw this documentary at the boston independent film festival a few weeks back called "The Future of Food". i'd highly, highly recommend it to anyone, but especially to raw folks and gardeners. it's all about what GMO has done to food, and to farmers and consumers. it's extremely well-made and well-researched and STARTLING... i knew that GMO stuff was bad, but my goodness, what a disaster! Monsanto's (huge GMO seed/pestiside company) is working on crops that won't even germinate or grow if not sprayed with their special (nasty) pestisides. what a crime...

there was some statistic in the film that really shocked me, something like 97% of the vegetable varieties being grown at the turn of the century (19th-20th) are now extinct. all that bio-diversity and regional specification gone! it really inspired me to get with the program with heirloom varieties this year.

anyway, if you're interested in this film, they have a website where you can find out where it's showing or buy a dvd... there are lots of resources for finding out more about these issues, and for getting involved in CSAs an other good organizations.

[VeganVixen]

thats horrible ,geeesh for such a "brilliant" species -we sure are DUMB!

Have you heard of the bunny/human embryos that a group of japanese scientist created for stem cell harvest -they ARE destroyed before they develop -but how terrible!!!! theres more .... got to this thread .....http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/sho...1822#post31822

[RawTruth]

Monsanto's (huge GMO seed/pestiside company) is working on crops that won't even germinate or grow if not sprayed with their special (nasty) pestisides. what a crime...

Speaking of Monsanto, did you know that we made it illegal in Iraq for the farmers to continue using their saved seeds; they must buy and use Monsanto. Wazzup widdat?

[VeganVixen]

omg ,thats HORRIBLE!

In afghanistan they have a large opium crop production ,the ones that are NOT run by "gangs" are run by farmers and they have alot invested in them and very often are used medicinally -the goverment will probably end it ,but did you know that only until recently has there been a need for rehab clinics -thats what I heard anyways...

[RawTruth]

... dang, girl ... your commas are making my eyes cross!

There's lots of info available on Afghanistan's opium production -- funny how our "War on Drugs" only seems to be in effect in the U.S. -- you can search and read tons online.

As for no need for rehab clinics -- do you mean in Afghanistan? It's my understanding that the opium is mostly exported.

[AubreyG]

Hi!

I have been exploring these threads and found this one so cool because my mother is an organic gardener. She has been gardening organic since she started gardening, and I have never once seen her use chemicals.

Sometimes, when I was a kid, she would go to the grocery store and buy organic fruits and make my sister and I save the seeds. She would dry the seeds in the sun from the fruits, and then sprout them, and plant them.

My parents live across the street from a woman who own a bunch of fancy horses, and the stable hands have always been nice enough to bring over the horse manure for my mom to put in her compost. She is HUGE on remineralizing her soil, as well, and about every other year, she will buy differnt kinds of pulverized rock and spread it into the soil before she tills the crops under for the fall. When my cat and I are there, my mom uses my cat's litter (feline pine) in the compost, and pretty much puts everything she can think of into compost. The result? A garden plot that continues to be more than bountiful year after year.

To cut down on weeds, my mom uses grass clippings from the mower, and spreads the clippings throughout the walking paths in her garden. She also uses wood chips that her and my dad make themselves for any fire wood that they don't use in the winter by running it through a chipper. She also plants certain kinds of flowers in her garden that are natural bug repellants. She is huge on planting hyssop to keep her garden "protected", and that is planted all around the perimeter. To keep certain bugs off of plants and fruit trees, she takes a spray bottle of water and puts in some organic citronella oil and sprays this on her fruits and veggies, or around the plants on the ground. A sprinkling of salt around plants if you have a slug problem is also a good repellant.

When the garden is done for the year, a lot of our fruits and veggies are frozen or dried for the winter. She also cans some of her veggies, too, but that isn't conducive to the raw diet. Nothing tastes better than her vegetables straight out of the garden!

Hope this is helpful, and congratulations on your pursuit of organic gardening.

Aubrey