Some days I think we need another amendment to the Constitution for Freedom of Gardening. For a gardener to whisper that he might be questioning any organic gardening mantra is to call down the Organic Inquisition. And lest you think I am over reacting, there is a growing swell of voices calling to make a certain politically correct version of Organic Farming or Gardening the only legal way to grow things. Just think about all the times people call for something to be made illegal or want to sue a merchant over things that have been declared unhealthy (but no one forced them to buy). It comes close to being a religion, and woe to you if you disagree! I’m not saying that everything associated with so-called organic gardening is wrong, but neither is everything associated with so-called conventional or chemical gardening. Too much of the organic “wisdom” is hyperbole, passed around like old-wives tales and sold like the fountain of life. As such, I shun the designation organic in favor of the description intelligent. Let us be intelligent gardeners, engaged in Intelligent Gardening.
It is very easy to find gobs of information touting organic methods. It is not so easy to find information questioning basic organic premises. Even if someone offers an alternative evaluation with cool rationale and logical expose of the facts, people have been so inundated with the organic guilt that they discount contrary data, possibly for the sake of their own social comfort. Still, I offer this list of links to fan the flames of intelligent gardening. There are some organic gardening assumptions and conclusions that just don’t stand up to real scrutiny.
1. What is Organic Fertilizer? There is also good information in the comments, as the author responds to people’s concerns.
2. Science Debunks the Organic Fantasy Garden. Nobody believes anybody else’s studies that are referenced, as a matter of principle, but this article has some that are harder to ignore.
3. More Compost Tea Stuff by some of my favorite authors, The Garden Professors.
4. 9 Garden Myths Demystified This is a great list of “common wisdom” that might not be so wise.
5. Busting Garden Myths Several useful work and money savers in this list.
6. Dispelling the myth that organic pesticides are less harmful But he still says he tries to use “organic” ones. It’s not clear to me why.
You can feel free to disagree with their conclusions, but just know that there is a lot of organic information being passed around that is popular simply because it is popular. Stuff often grows in spite of our gardening!