Backyard Gardening
What I Learned about Organic Vegetable Gardening from WWOOF, Part II
By Carol Lugg
In my last article, I wrote about how organic farmers in Europe create communities of individuals who prioritize ecological farming practices known as WWOOF, Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms. If you’d rather stick closer to home, you can plan to integrate organic gardening practices in your own garden. Here are some examples:
- Sites for successful vegetable gardens should have at least six hours of full sunlight a day, good drainage to reduce the opportunities for plant diseases to develop, and, preferably, soil that is already fertile. Soil tests from Clinton County’s Penn State Extension will help you determine soil fertility.
- Identify sites that offer organic seeds. The term organic simply means growing vegetables without pesticides and herbicides. Many farmers choose organic seeds that have not been coated with fungicides. GM or genetically modified seeds have been altered using DNA technology, where certain desirable traits, such as pest and disease resistance, have been injected into the seed.
- Improve the structure of the soil through the use of green and fresh manures and organic composts. Adding green manures to your garden involves adding young, fresh green plants to your soil. According to the University of Massachusetts, green manure is often called a “cover crop”. It includes plants such as clover or oats.
- Organic gardeners also practice crop rotation. Crop rotation involves rotating plants that add nitrogen to the soil, such as beans or peas, with crops that require nitrogen, such as lettuce or corn. Based on Penn State recommendations, rotating plants that require differing levels of nitrogen or phosphorus enriches the soil, and plants benefit from the nutrients left behind from the prior crop. It also helps prevent the buildup of disease and pests.
- If you are a sports fan, you’ll understand this analogy of pest management for organic practices; playing offense is important. Traditional gardening methods treat pests after they’ve taken hold in your garden (defense), while organic gardeners will use strategies to mitigate the opportunities for pest infestations. The offensive game of integrated pest management involves having a variety of plays in your playbook. The basic play involves selecting cultivators resistant to pests, which can be identified with home research before making seed or plant choices. If purchasing plants for your organic garden, purchase only healthy plants from reputable suppliers.
- Appropriately space plants to encourage good airflow through the planting bed, preventing the spread of disease and rot.
- While the amount of rainfall may be difficult to control, gardeners have control over good practices when sanitizing tools and garden equipment. University of Missouri Extension recommends cleaning tools to prevent pests from traveling through your garden as you work in your garden beds. Soaking tools in a hydrogen peroxide solution will help sanitize and keep your tools from passing along unwanted bacteria or disease.
- Keeping the garden weed-free through handweeding is another way of pest management within the gardener’s control. Gardeners should use organic straw or chips if they’d like to use a mulch to help with weed control.
For the home gardener, growing organic vegetables ensures you know where and how your vegetables are grown. For more information on organic gardening practices, see:
https://ag.umass.edu/home-lawn-garden/fact-sheets/what-is-organic-gardening https://wwoof.net/ https://extension.psu.edu/soil-testing https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic/organic-seal https://ag.umass.edu/fruit/ne-small-fruit-management-guide/general-information/crops-green-manures
https://extension.psu.edu/growing-an-organic-garden-the-fundamentals
https://extension.psu.edu/growing-an-organic-garden-the-fundamentals https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g6220)
Carol Lugg became a Penn State Extension Master Gardener in March 2022. She can be reached at clintonmg@psu.edu or the Clinton County Master Gardeners of Clinton County Hotline at (570) 858-0198.
