Organic
Gardening
Basic
Info
Gardening
for Maximum Nutrition
Composting
Rock Dusts & Sea Solids
Lawn Care
Liquid Fertilizer and plant
boosters
Pest Control
Soil
Microorganisms
Explore further
Where to ask questions
Fruit growing
Permaculture
Pruning
Seed Sources
Soil Testing
Weed
Identification
Basic Info
I'm sure there is
lots of good info about organic gardening on the Internet, but doing a quick Google
search on 'Organic Gardening' yielded a lot of very commercial sites, mostly
very disappointing. Unfortunately this is the direction that 'Organic' is
taking, hence the search for new descriptions - beyond
organic, eco- farming, sustainable ag, authentic
food. For more in depth information about this topic check out Eco-Ag
Resources above.
®
Gardening
for Maximum Nutrition - Most produce, from store
or garden, organic or not, is not as high in nutrition as it
could be. Kris outlines the steps to boost the nutrition
in your garden produce.
®
The Invisible
Gardener - Andy Lopez - "Alternatives
to Chemicals for the Natural Home, Organic Gardener, Organic Farmer and Organic
Professional" You have to join to get info from this site, but Andy
will answer your questions if you do.
®
The
Garden Gate Into the Garden and Beyond...
"The Garden Gate is a non-commercial service provided for the enjoyment and
edification of recreational gardeners everywhere."
®
The Dirt
Doctor , especially http://www.dirtdoctor.com/faq.php?letter=A
"For those who have realized that toxic chemistry is not the answer,
welcome to the Natural Way. If you have made the decision to change, I can
help. The answers are here in these pages. The key is for you
and your family to garden, work, play and live with organic
techniques to have better landscaping, better health, more
cost effectiveness and more enjoyment of life."
®
This site from Tasmania (Yes, that's
southern hemisphere!) is quite good:
Backyard Organic Gardening
"Originating from Hobart, in Southern Tasmania, this is the grassroots
e-source for information about the basics of backyard organic gardening."
®
Basic
Information from OrganicGardening.com, has some good simple information,
although the site is pretty commercial and I don't always agree with their
recommendations. Journey
to Forever gives an international flavor to organic gardening
recommendations. There is some fascinating information there.
Other sources of basic information:
®
The Rodale Institute
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/farming/home.shtml
Click on Soil Regeneration
®
Mother
Earth News Gardening site
®
The
Dirt Gardener's Gardening Journal - Includes a section on gardening by
phases of the moon.
®
Bio-Control Network -
Bio-Rational Solutions for an Ever Shrinking Planet. www.biconet.com
®
Lawn
Care - www.safelawns.org
Getting your questions answered:
®
If you are serious about organic gardening I'd
recommend getting Rodale's
All-New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening: The Indispensable Resource for Every
Gardener . It has been my bible whenever I have
gardening questions, although that left many questions unanswered.
Other
reference books that can be helpful.
So, in addition, I joined the Organic
Gardening mailing list. There have been some experts on this list who have
faithfully answered all kinds of questions.
This is how you join the Organic Gardening mailing list:
Put nothing in subject line.
In body of message write:
SUBSCRIBE OGL [your name]
Send to: LISTSERV@LSV.UKY.EDU
®
And for those of you in Northwest Ohio there
is
The
Northwest Ohio Organic Forum.
®
Organic Gardening
Discussion Forum at Dave's Garden may
be helpful, but there is a subscription fee for full access:
http://davesgarden.com/forums/f/organic/all/
®
The Invisible Gardener http://www.invisiblegardener.com/
®
GardenWeb, The
Internet’s Garden Community
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/organic/
This is the Organic Gardening Forum page
®
Composting
Here are some
good composting sites:
Florida's Online Composting Center
MasterComposter.com
Web site
– lots of info about composting.
Cornell
Composting Web site -
"Everything you
ever wanted to know about composting, but were afraid to ask?
- Not quite, but we do
hope we've assembled some useful information."
WormWoman.com
- Mary Appelhof's Site for Worm Composting Resources
Worm
Digest - Worms Deepening Our Connection
to Food and Soil
The
Humanure Handbook - A Guide to Composting Human Manure
®
Organic Fertilizers (More
info)
Rock Dusts & Sea
Solids
Complementing compost, which is recycling local materials, is the
use of mineral rich rock dusts from elsewhere, sea
solids, and sea weeds, which can be rich sources of trace minerals essential
to excellent plant and animal life.
How
to Improve Topsoil from ChampionTrees.org
Lots of info here about rock dusts, their benefits, and sources.
Rock Dusts for Human Nutrition by Harvey Lisle -
no longer available, but here is his book on the topic:
The
Enlivened Rock Powders
by Harvey Lisle
More info at Gardening
For Maximum Nutrition - Fertilizer Sources
®
Pest Control
A well managed organic
garden will support healthy plants which do not invite much attack by insect
pests, but if you need help with a pest problem this site may be useful:
http://www.invisiblegardener.com/
Sorry, this site is now available only to members. An on-line membership is
$14.95. You may find it useful. There is lots of info on using herbal infusions
for pest control.
®
Weeds
Good site for identifying
weeds:
http://www.ppws.vt.edu/weedindex.htm
Weeds and what they tell about your soil.
http://www.uas-cropmaster.com/weeds.htm
Weed Libary by YardCare.com
http://content.garden.org/toro/weedlibrary/
®
North
American Fruit Explorers
http://www.nafex.org/
NAFEX is a network of individuals throughout the United States and Canada
devoted to the discovery, cultivation and appreciation of superior varieties of
fruits and nuts.
Recommended source of potted fruit trees
Edible Landscaping - http://eat-it.com/
The
Apple Grower by Michael Phillips
®
To explore
further where sustainable agriculture is going check out these resources:
®
Cultivating
Our Garden
By John Jeavons
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC42/Jeavons.htm
From In Context, A Quarterly of Humane Sustainable Culture
"Using resources more efficiently - doing more with less - allows us to use
our personal energy more effectively... [T]he world is on the verge of a
major new discovery - that there are major economies of small scale, such as the
miniaturization of agriculture. The sophisticated low-technology techniques and
the approaches involved in this kind of food-raising will make possible truly
sustainable agricultural practices globally."
®
Four Season Farm,
the home page of Elliot Coleman, of Four Season Harvest fame.
http://www.fourseasonfarm.com/default.html
®
Don’t Panic, Eat Organic
http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html
An Organic Grower’s Homepage
Dozens of links to all kinds of info
®
Journey To Forever is
a fascinating Web site.
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html
This is the library page that has links to the text of
many landmark but out of print books on sustainable agriculture and related
topics. And the menus show lots of other very informative pages.
®
Pruning
Tree Amnesty
has good information about
pruning, especially what not to do.
5
REASONS TO STOP TOPPING TREES
DON'T TURN YOUR VALUABLE COMMUNITY ASSETS INTO
LEGAL, AESTHETIC AND ECONOMIC LIABILITIES!
Permaculture
Plants For A Future http://www.pfaf.org/
A resource centre for rare and unusual plants, particularly those which have
edible, medicinal or other uses. Lots of links to permaculture sites.
|