Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
water, and promotes good drainage. Compost serves as food and nourishment for all the organisms in
your soil. It's the most essential ingredient in organic soil.
As you build your garden program, be sure to think about how gardeners can add compost to their
plots. Is this a program you'll offer through on-site composting, or will they be encouraged to bring
their own amendments? If so, how often? Work with a team of volunteer experts to determine a soil
health plan, and share it with your gardeners so they can be stewards of the soil, too.
Soil will stay fertile and won't require chemical or synthetic fertilizers, so long as it is nurtured. And
the healthier the soil, the less likely your gardeners are to encounter pests and disease in the garden.
Still, unwanted guests might pay a visit from time to time. Organic approaches to pest and disease man-
agement are effective alternatives to using pesticides and herbicides that can kill good organisms as well
as bad ones.
Crop diversity—that is, growing the greatest variety of plants possible—helps create and sustain
a healthy garden ecosystem. Each plant (non-edibles included) creates habitat and food for different
creatures. The more varieties grown, the more opportunities for complex interactions to take place. In a
community garden, this variety seems to happen naturally. As many families grow their own combina-
tion of annuals, perennials, and non-edibles, there's plenty of variety to help support a good ecosystem
and healthy pollinator populations.
OMRI: ORGANIC MATERIALS REVIEW INSTITUTE
When you're working with many people, standards are a good thing. You can't be with all of your
gardeners when they're shopping for fertilizers or mulch or pest control. Make your gardeners aware of
what to look for by encouraging them to check for the OMRI label. This means the product has been re-
viewed by the Organic Materials Review Institute, ensuring compliance with USDA organic standards.
Your gardeners need not choose OMRI products exclusively; this is merely a way to help them make in-
formed choices. You can also check for OMRI-listed products online at
www.omri.org
.
SEEDS AND HOW TO PLANT THEM
Seeds, like soil, are a foundation of the vegetable garden—and seed
varieties abound. There's often
confusion about which varieties are best and what the terms surrounding them really mean. GMO hy-
brid, or heirloom, seeds don't make any sense unless your gardeners have a basic understanding of these
and other terms before they set out to buy seeds. Many gardeners are confused (and sometimes scared)
about the differences between seeds and their crops. This information is good to share with them in
the spring, when they are shopping for seeds, which also provides an opportunity to connect with the
gardeners during the winter months.
The terms GE (genetically engineered) and GMO (genetically modified organism) are often used
interchangeably, but do not mean the same thing. Genetic engineering is the scientific practice of in-
corporating genes directly into an organism by way of recombinant DNA techniques. GE plants do not
occur in nature, but are a product of human intervention. GE seeds cannot be purchased in consumer
seed catalogs or garden centers. Presently GE techniques are used only in large-scale agriculture, and
are the subject of ongoing ethical debate.
