Comparison between organic gardening and regular gardening

This is a comparison between organic gardening and regular gardening. The difference between these two methods refers to the ideology and methods used to raise the plants.

Organic Gardening
Organic gardening is basically growing and cultivating plants without using any synthetic or chemical means of pest control, weeding, or fertilization; instead, organic gardeners use only natural methods to care for their crops.

Benefits of Organic Gardening
Good to the environment: Organic farming uses all natural methods that does not harm the environment with artificial fertilizer or pesticides. These techniques actually improve the quality of the soil and the ecosystem in general and therefore produce crops that are healthier. One of the most notable difference is that organic vegetables do not taste bitter as opposed to conventional vegetables.

Better Nutrition: It is a well known fact that organic produce has more nutrition compared to their conventional counterparts: A 2001 article published in the Journal of Complimentary Medicine found that, compared with conventional crops, organic crops had significantly higher levels of all 21 nutrients analyzed, including vitamin C (27% more), magnesium (29% more), iron (21% more) and phosphorous (14% more).

Financially efficient: In organic farming, cost is effectively lowered as fertilizer and pesticide is made using material that is already available: plants around the gardener. Organic produce sold elsewhere is often many times more expensive than conventional produce, and growing them yourself can save a lot of money as the costs of growing them yourself is nowhere near what organic vegetables are being sold for.

Disadvantages of Organic Gardening
Too much effort and time: Organic farming requires a lot of time and effort to create and maintain. It is labor intensive as the gardener will have to take the current ecosystem into consideration, rotate crops, remove diseased plants and weeds on a regular basis as well as mixing and making the organic compost. All of these actions take a lot of time and hard work, but not for the enthusiast who will find these activities relaxing.

Less produce: Organic crops will produce less crops when compared to regular produce as organic fertilizer releases their nutrients slowly and thus have less nutrients for the plants, which means less produce. Also, since organic ways of controlling pests are not as effective as synthetic methods, there will be some losses there due to pests as well.

Conventional Gardening
Conventional gardening uses chemicals to enhance plant growth for better yield and harmful chemical pesticides to control pests effectively. It produces more yield but with less nutrients.

Benefits of conventional gardening
Less effort and time: The usage of readily made fertilizer and pesticides means crops grow with less problems and not using compost means that the gardener does not have to wait for the compost to be ready. Fertilizers used may also be mixed with other additives that causes the plants to grow more within a shorter period of time.

Better yield: Conventional gardening gives more produce when compared to organic gardening as synthetic fertilizer provides all of the needed nutrients faster to the plant compared to organic compost. There is also less diseases and pests as synthetic pesticides tend to be very effective.

Disadvantages of conventional gardening
Environmental pollution: Synthetic pesticides and fertilizers contain harmful chemicals that can easily leak into the environment, destroying the ecosystem and disrupting its balance. This can result in environmental disasters like landslides and deformed fauna.

Health risks: According to the EPA, pesticide exposure can lead to nerve damage, cancer, and birth defects. A 2003 study published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that women with breast cancer were five to nine times more likely to have pesticide residues in their blood than those without the disease. Overconsumption of vegetables and fruits with too much pesticide will result in vomiting, diarrhea, excessive drooling, disorientation, seizures, or even death.

Fewer nutrients: It has been proven that conventional vegetables does not have as much nutrients as organic vegetables. Furthermore, pesticides also limit the absorption of nutrition.

This is a brief comparison on the differences between organic farming and conventional farming to show the differences between the two. From here, we can see that organic farming has a lot more benefits compared to conventional farming.

How to make organic fertilizer

Unlike conventional fertilizer made from chemicals, organic fertilizer or compost is made of natural ingredients. The best organic fertilizer is one made by ourselves as we can precisely control what goes in it. This gives the gardener full control on how the crops will turn out as the compost can be adjusted by adding different ingredients to it for additional nutritional needs. Organic fertilizer is also rich in beneficial bacteria which means your plants will be healthier, stronger and more nutritious as the bacteria makes the plants more resistant to disease while providing more nutrients as they break down organic matter. However, making organic fertilizer is a slow process and several months can pass before it is ready to be used.

To start making organic fertilizer, you’ll need to gather the ingredients — weeds, grass clippings, leaves, mulch, discarded vegetables, discarded fruits and leftover food. Animal manure is also perfect for compost. It is also vital that diseased plants/vegetables/fruits are not used as this will cause the compost to spread the disease. Ingredients can be added to it over time to add nutritional value or to increase the amount. Some gardeners would also add earthworms to the compost bin to speed up the process and also to make the compost more even as the earthworms help to mix them. All of these compost ingredients should be placed in a waterproof bin, called a compost bin. When that is done, mix some loam soil into the mixture, sprinkle some water over it and cover it to discourage flies from visting it. Leave the mixture alone until the rest of the ingredients are dissolved into the soil. This should take at least a month or more.

Organic fertilizer is applied the same way as normal fertilizer but works so much better than standard fertilizer as it contains beneficial bacteria, besides supplying all the necessary nutrients to the plant.

What does organic gardening mean

Organic gardening simply means gardening without synthetic pesticides that may poison the environment or additional chemicals that may alter the natural state of the plant and its ecosystem. It is the use of all natural methods to plant crops without destroying the delicate balance of nature. Organic gardening is the practice where the gardener does not only view the garden as a piece of land, but rather part of a larger ecosystem. This means that the gardener has to choose plants that are in harmony with the rest of the ecosystem so that it will not disrupt the ecosystem. It also means not using chemical fertilizers but organic fertilizers made from compost as opposed to chemicals.

In organic gardening, pests are controlled by planting plants that repel pests, or insecticide/repellent made from herbs or other plants to repel and quell pest invasions. Soil adjustments are achieved by using organic compost made from grass cuttings, mulch, and leftover vegetables and so on instead of chemical based fertilizer. To harmonize the soil and confuse pests, crops are diversified to make sure that there is a balance, and also regulate the nutrients in the soil to make sure they are not depleted.

Organic gardens do have less output compared to a normal one, but the fruits and vegetables taste sweeter and contain more nutrition than their more conventional counterparts due to lack of additives and pesticides. This makes organic produce the better choice these days.

Benefits of organic gardening

There are many benefits of organic gardening. Organic gardening can be a very pleasurable hands-on experience, as you get to enjoy the fruits of your hard work the natural way. It is also very therapeutic to plant your own produce!

Organic gardening does not use any chemicals or pesticides. This makes the produce as healthy and natural as it possibly can be. This also makes organic produce safe for human consumption as pesticides and chemicals may build up over time in the body when taken over long periods of time. This makes organic food a lot healthier. Since organic food is also devoid of preservatives or any other unnecessary additives, they taste a lot better and more natural compared to their non-organic counterparts.

Since you are the one growing them, you know exactly what are in the vegetables and fruits. It is also very cost effective to grow your own vegetables as opposed to buying them as organic vegetables can cost a lot these days due to their low yield and the amount of work that needs to be put in to produce. There is also the satisfaction factor of seeing your food grow from the ground and respond to your care and effort that you place in them.