Fortunately, we as a society have come to recognize the importance of eating organic foods.
Orange County, we are lucky to have lots of organic produce available
at local farmers markets. Our local supermarkets have added and
expanded organic produce sections, and other organic products are
getting easier to find.
The best part is that our children are
paying attention, and they want organic foods. Well, more accurately,
they want to avoid the pesticides and other toxins that they have heard
are on our commercially grown foods. "Go organic!" they say.
what does this mean to you? You grow fruit and vegetables at home, so
you might be thinking, "Isn't that safer than commercially grown?"
Well, it is better than traditional commercially grown foods, but, if
you are using nonorganic soil, compost and fertilizer, it could be
Luckily, it isn't that difficult. You can take baby
steps toward making your garden an organic wonderland, and the process
makes for a terrific learning opportunity for your kids.
off, a definition is in order. The word "organic" means having to do
with something that is or once was alive. So, organically grown
vegetables are grown without chemical fertilizers (no Miracle-Gro,
folks!), herbicides or pesticides, and instead, with compost,
hand-pulled weeds and natural pest deterrents.
There are several keys to a successful organic garden. Here they are:
soil is the foundation of your garden. For most Orange County
residents, this means that you will need to work with the soil in your
garden in order to have a fruitful crop. You don't have to use chemical
fertilizer or plant food if you take a few steps to make your soil
A great way to involve the kids in this is to have them take the lead on composting.
grounds, vegetable-based food scraps and lots of other stuff can go in
the compost bin. If your kid gets into it, you will just need to
provide two outdoor bins (one for fresh scraps and another to hold
composted stuff that is ready to be shoveled out into the garden), a
big bowl or other receptacle for collecting waste in the kitchen, and a
pointy, short-handled shovel that your child can use to chop, turn and
move the compost.
Compostguide.comprovides a comprehensive list of compostable items with tips for ensuring quality compost. Composters.comshows
a variety of types of compost bins. You can use this Web site to get
ideas to build your own, or you can purchase one from them or at large
It is easy to get swept up in all of the
products and ideas out there for composting. To keep it simple just
remember: Compost happens. Anything organic (that is or once was alive)
that doesn't stink when it rots (like meat and dairy products) can go
in the bin, or, if you don't want a bin, it can go into a pile (though
it might not be pretty, and it won't break down as quickly).
you and your kids find composting to be more that you bargained for, or
if you don't have the space for composting, bags of organic soil
amendment are available at garden stores.
Mix your compost or
bagged organic soil amendment into your garden plot until the soil is
black, crumbly and easy to dig into with your shovel. If your current
soil is hard as a rock, this will be a challenge.
crumbly soil should be at least eight inches deep to allow for most
vegetable root systems. As you accumulate compost, keep mixing it into
your garden plot to keep your soil full of organic nutrients.
of all, a few weeds won't hurt anything. Weeds are really only a
problem when they are big or numerous enough to steal sunlight, water
and soil nutrients from your vegetables. Common Orange County weeds
like cheeseweed, pigweed, milk thistle and dandelions can all take a
dent out of your garden's resources.
The simplest way to deal
with weeds organically is to avoid them in the first place. A layer of
mulch around every plant in your garden will keep weeds from popping
You can buy bagged mulch at the garden store, you can
make your own if you have a mulch attachment on your lawn mower, or you
can get a bale of straw (straw will have no seeds; be careful not to
use hay!) and scatter it about six inches thick on your garden.
Mulch breaks down quickly, so get the kids involved in maintaining the mulch layer in the garden.
other organic way to get rid of weeds is to pull them by hand. You can
tell your kid that this, traditionally, is a job for young people, and
then send him out to the garden (remember that weeds can go into the
Healthy plants will have natural defenses against bugs and other pests, but nearly every garden will have some pests.
you see bugs in your garden, watch them for a few minutes. Some bugs
eat other bugs, and some bugs pollinate the flowers on your vegetables;
these are good ones to keep around. Some bugs just have a tiny nibble,
and then fly away. Give these little guys a break. Others have a heyday
in your garden – devouring leaves, roots and entire tomatoes at a
sitting. These are the ones that you must keep out of the garden.
barriers like netting (available in garden stores) to physically keep
bugs from getting to your plants. You will have to lift up the net to
harvest and pull weeds, then replace it when you are finished.
You also can bring some predators into your garden to help you.
birds by hanging a bird feeder, installing a birdbath or by growing
sunflowers. Never remove spiders – they catch and eat lots of bugs.
Grow a border of California native bunch grasses like blue wild rye
(Elymus glaucus) or purple needle grass (Nasella pulchra) to make a
home for beetles and other creatures that will eat bugs.
snails are a problem in your garden, you can control them by plucking
them out by hand daily until they are gone. Drown them in a bucket of
soapy dishwater, then toss them in the compost. (The University of
California has a great Web site with ideas for what to do if snails are
you've seen ladybugs (also called ladybirds) and praying mantis egg
cases at your garden store and you are thinking about releasing them
into your garden, please reconsider.
Most commercial mantises
and ladybugs are from Asia, and they do not belong in a healthy
Southern California environment. Chinese mantises will even eat
hummingbirds if they get a chance to do so. Do your part to keep these
voracious, generalist predators out of Southern California.
check out the organic section of your garden store. Safer Soap and
other products are available to control things like aphids and scale
insects – both of which can ruin a carefully planned garden.
are lots of great Web sites and books that can help you to be a
successful organic gardener. One with lots of great ideas and many
links is backyardgardener.com. Also, your neighborhood garden store may
have an expert on organic gardening.
So, what do you do with
your old bottles of fertilizer and pesticides? Orange County Integrated
Waste Management has a list of household hazardous waste collection
sites at oclandfills.com/hazardous_waste.asp.
Kirk is director of the Outdoor Education Center, which specializes in
youth programs that foster knowledge and appreciation for the outdoors
and the environment. Go to www.outdooreducationcenter.org.