Why Garden Organically?

If you’ve never asked yourself this don’t feel like you’ve been left out of the loop. After all, the question itself is only a mere 100 years old! This sprite, young query was brought about around the year 1909 when German chemist Fritz Haber discovered the ability to “fix” nitrogen making it synthetically viable for not only production of explosives but plant consumption as well. Before this time there was no choice other than to farm or garden organically. All nitrogen fertilizer before this discovery was created by means of various manures and composted human waste products along with a grouping of plants specified as legumes which, with the aid of soil bacterium, naturally fix nitrogen in the soil such as peas, beans and alfalfa.

The dawn of these synthetic fertilizers allowed the worlds farmers to feed their crops more thoroughly and consistently with a product that seemed to deliver a stronger end result. And it’s no surprise that it caught on so swiftly with more rapid vegetal growth leading to greater yields in less space, let alone the fact that it was the American government who first began manufacturing and supplying these chemical fertilizers made of excess nitrogen left over from WWII weapons facilities. All may seem good and well when the grocery store shelves are chock-full of cookie-cutter produce and the government is forced to pay the farmers to suffice for overproduction but something under the surface isn’t quite up to snuff.

It turns out that the increased growth rate achieved with chemical fertilizers is not a reward lacking cost. In an organic garden the soil is teeming with an assortment of beneficial bacteria. These bacterium form symbiotic relationships with other bacteria residing within the roots of nearby plants and assist them in properly utilizing available nutrients in the general area. With the help of these fungi plants are able to process such nutrients at a controlled pace, allowing the plant to grow at it’s own rate. When synthetic fertilizers are added, such as Sulfate of Ammonia, the affected bacteria are killed off and the nitrogen, along with any other added elements, force their way into the plants system causing spurts of growth and, if too much is added, possibly burning of roots and leaves. These unnatural growth rates, at best, leave plants weakened, right down to each individual cell.

Over-stimulated cell production brings an overall reduced quality in cell structure, lending the force-fed flora more readily to a gamut of disease and infestation. Not only does this create the need for a more consistent feeding schedule but also a more strict pesticide treatment program, adding further toxins to the already chemically induced crops. And what have we at the end of the line but an army of replicant vegetation, all waxed and polished, waiting to impart it’s chemical rich blood into the digestive tract of the next hungry shopper.

Why then, given the above information, would anyone not want to garden organically? A common argument is that organic fertilizers simply aren’t as effective as their chemical clones. This, however, is only partially true. Farmers who switch from a chemical to an organic feeding schedule will undoubtedly experience a drop in their productivity for the first few years. This is because the bacterium required to fully intake these nutrients have been flushed from the soil as a result of years of synthetic feeding. It will take time for such fungi to re-establish themselves but once they do, harvest quantities will be more than comparable to inorganic plots and the quality will be undeniable.