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Introduction
Until the advent of chemical pesticides, everyone grew produce naturally, using nutrient-rich
animal manures and other organic fertilizers to produce abundant harvests.
Decades before chemical pesticides made their advent, I was born on a northern Michigan farm and grew up under
conditions today regarded as organic. Our family farm and garden were no exception.
After World War II, factory-processed chemical pesticides came into use with startling suddenness. Their immediate
success led some growers to ignore proven methods. Neighboring gardeners occasionally smirked good-naturedly at
my refusal to use the new technology.
Today, despite persistent chemical pesticide use, the natural method continues to operate. Fertile soil still produces
sturdy plants capable of warding off insect damage.
Birds either eat or carry bug pests to their nesting young. Beneficial insects still have an appetite for leaf-chewing
bugs. Toads, spiders, and other insect-eating creatures consume unwanted bugs as part of their daily diet.
“Can I learn to grow produce naturally?” someone is sure to ask.
For more than eighty years, I’ve grown fruits and vegetables without using chemical pesticides. The process is
not at all difficult or complicated.
For natural gardening methods, return with me to a time when a barefoot farm boy learned how to grow vegetables
without using chemicals capable of leaving invisible and tasteless poison residues on food the family ate.
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Composting Miracle: Building Fertile Soil
Nutrient-rich soil, a vital first step, assures a successful natural garden. According to
a recent Missouri Station Report, a direct relationship exists between the number of plant-damaging insects and
a nutrient-rich soil. The less fertility, the more unwanted pests.
Adding compost (decayed organic wastes) dramatically improves plant growth. Anyone can make compost from available
organic wastes, including grass clippings (be sure they haven’t been treated with chemical herbicides), yard and
garden rakings, hedge trimmings, tree leaves, outer lettuce and cabbage leaves, melon rinds, kitchen scraps (omit
meat and bones), anything organic . . . even weeds.
- Gather wastes into a pile and mix thoroughly. Spread accumulations in a six-inch layer
approximately three feet (width) by six feet (length).
- Cover the mass with a sprinkling of dehydrated animal manure (the variety generally available
in a garden center will do nicely), or other natural nitrogen substance, to feed friendly microorganisms working
to decay the wastes.
- Cover each layer with garden soil, approximately one inch thick. Wet the layer thoroughly
but do not soak.
- Whenever other wastes become available, more layers can be added, until the pile is no
more than four feet high.
Decay, or composting, requires only a matter of weeks. To hasten the process, re-pile wastes
each week to permit air circulation throughout the pile.
After organic wastes decay, spread compost on garden soil or around growing plants. Until soil becomes sufficiently
enriched, use only available natural fertilizers, including dehydrated cow and sheep manure. Avoid using processed
fertilizers, even those labeled “organic.”
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Mulching Prevents Plant and Soil Damage
Mulching, a plant and soil-protecting method, also requires organic wastes. Whenever more
may be required, additional wastes, especially grass clippings, may be acquired from neighbors who periodically
send clippings to a landfill. Other organic wastes may be used, including ground corncobs, shredded tree leaves,
even well-rotted sawdust.
Begin a mulching program early, even at seed-planting time. Spread a light mulch over planted areas to help retain
soil surface moisture.
After seeds germinate and seedlings appear, add more mulch.
A mulch pad, possibly six inches thick, substantially reduces weed growth. Only a persistent weed requires removal.
After rain or irrigation, loosening soil around growing plants no longer becomes necessary. Mulching prevents soil
crusting, enabling plants to breathe freely without periodic cultivation.
During torrential rain, a heavy mulch prevents plant damage and soil erosion. A thick pad permits water to seep
slowly below the protective covering.
Mulch keeps vine vegetables, including cucumbers, melons, and squash, from making soil contact, eliminating fruit
mildew damage.
A heavy mulch, acting as an insulating blanket, keeps soil cooler during sultry weather. The pad also reduces soil
surface moisture evaporation, requiring less frequent irrigations during periods of inadequate rainfall.
From time to time, adding more mulch may be necessary. Earthworms, working beneath the covering, convert organic
wastes into soil-enriching castings. Microorganisms busily working to decay the mulch also add soil-enriching humus.
Mulching doesn’t cost; it pays rich dividends. Once a mulch pad is in place, the gardener has little more to do
than pull an occasional weed and harvest maturing produce.
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Beneficial Insects
“If insects didn’t damage plants, gardening would be fun,” a beginning gardener said, not
long ago. Unfortunately, the novice failed to understand how the tiny creatures help to produce a successful garden.
Most insects could be classified as “beneficial.” Even the so-called “pests” provide food for birds and other insect-eaters.
Female insect pests, laying eggs on growing plants, cause a great deal of the trouble. Plant-eating larvae become
the gardener’s nemesis.
To counteract and control plant-destructive bugs, beneficial insects, which harm no plants, eat only bugs.
According to environmentalist Lewis Regenstein, who wrote America the Poisoned, no more than one percent of all garden bugs damage plants. That is one in one hundred. The other
ninety-nine either pollinate flowers, help to decay organic wastes, or eat other bugs.
Applying chemical pesticides, marketed not long after World War II hostilities ceased, can be self-defeating. Chemical
poisons destroy insect life indiscriminately, including both pests and helpful bugs, as well as leaving tasteless
and invisible chemical residues on produce consumers eat.
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Companion Planting
Insects enjoy certain garden plants while other growths may repel the pests. Natural gardeners
intermix plants, which leaf-eating pests do not like, with other growth the pests prefer.
Plants naturally immune to insect depredations support the plan. Insects rarely damage strong-odored garlic, chives,
shallots, as well as a variety of aromatic mints and herbs, including easily-grown basil.
During my early vegetable-growing days, a gardening friend introduced me to companion planting. Aphids (leaf-sucking
insects) descended on my prize rose stand. My friend suggested interplanting chives among the tattered bushes.
A local grower thought I would be wasting my time. He suggested using a chemical especially formulated to deal
with the insect problem. I hesitated to use poison sprays and decided to try the interplanting plan.
A sizable chive clump growing in the garden provided sufficient starts. Dispersed among rose plants, chives thrived
in fertile soil. To my astonishment and delight, aphids soon left the rose plantings. The chive experience immediately
converted me to the insect-controlling method.
During years since the chive experience, I have used other plants to disperse insect pests. Planting dill near
tomato plants, for example, helps to control the hornworm problem. The ferocious pests seem to prefer dill to tomatoes
where they are easily seen and promptly dispatched.
After years of trial and error, I find all members of the onion family, as well as nasturtiums, marigolds, mints,
and herbs also repel pests. Even quick-growing radishes, planted in a circle around vine crops (such as cucumbers
and melons), help to keep leaf-chewing pests at bay. Over the years, my list of guard plants has grown. Give it
a try!
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Conclusion
Successful natural gardeners improve topsoil to grow sturdy plants repelling insect pests.
Encourage beneficial insects to live in or at least visit your garden spot to keep plant-damaging insects controlled.
Anyone determined to garden naturally, I wish you success. Hopefully you will enjoy gardening naturally and eating
safe, poison-free food as much as I have during my entire life.
Continue to learn more about the natural gardening process. During spare moments, especially during the off-season,
read books on the subject.
No one knows everything about the natural gardening methods that have been used for centuries. Your organic gardening
knowledge reservoir should continue to fill year after year.
Now in my nineties, I firmly believe that eating poison-free fruits and vegetables keeps me fit and looking forward
to more years ahead. I wish the same for you.
If you have questions or comments about this Web page or site, e-mail: mary@vanmeer.com
© 2002 Leo VanMeer
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