When it comes to
being green, there’s no better place to start than in your own backyard. An organic garden can keep your
kitchen stocked with juicy apples, crisp lettuce and sweet tomatoes, all the while cultivating a healthier
and more sustainable world. By working with nature, rather than against it, organic growers are giving the
term “green thumb” a whole new meaning.
In recent years, more and more Canadians have rediscovered their inner home-based horticulturist. “Gardening
in general, whether organic or not, is probably the number one activity these days,” says Laura Telford,
national director of Canadian Organic Growers, an education and networking organization for farmers,
gardeners and consumers across the country. At the same time, the number of backyard gardeners who are moving
towards organic methods is on the rise, she says. “This is pushed not only by more awareness about the
environmental impact of fertilizers and pesticides, but also by the local pesticide by-laws that we’re seeing
across the country. So I think that’s causing people to rethink the whole chemical use thing.”
Though there may be new motivation and new technology available today, the foundations of organic gardening
are built on knowledge our great-grandparents would have possessed. “By and large the foundation for organic
farming has been there for generations,” says Telford. “It’s really resurrecting some old skills.”
So what exactly makes a garden organic? The answer can be divided into two parts. First is the set of things
you leave out, which includes anything synthetic — synthetic fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, even treated
wood. But even more important, says Telford, is the set of things you do. Organic growers use natural methods
to nurture the soil, manage pests and diseases, and increase production. It all starts, literally, from the
ground up. “You have to build the soil,” she says. “The point of building the soil is to focus on building
healthy plants with lots of nutrition that can have strong immune systems so they can fight off their own
battles without using the pesticides.”
Bylaws aside, there are other benefits to going organic. One is personal safety. “Not having to store and use
harmful chemicals is a big one for the backyard gardener,” says Telford. For many organic gardeners, it also
comes down to growing for their children’s children. “When you use synthetic you’re actually decreasing the
quality of the soil. You’re killing the micro-organisms that work with Mother Nature to help nourish
and grow plants,” says Telford. “When you garden organically you’re actually leaving the soil better than you
found it so that it can continue to produce food for future generations.”
Growing organically may also have financial perks in the long run. “I think what gardeners would find is
they’re going to pay a little bit more for certified organic seeds, but they’re going to pay less if they can
cut out the fertilizers and pesticides,” says Telford. “So overall you probably end up paying less.”
AN ORGANIC GROWER’S TALE
Gwen Simpson’s road to becoming an organic grower was a progressive one. As a child she grew up on a
dairy and horse farm in B.C. It wasn’t until the 1980s, when she lived in England, that her passion for
gardening really took root. “I’ve been gardening seriously since about 1987,” Simpson says. “This passion
continued when I moved to Alberta in the early ‘90s, although I had to learn to garden all over again in this
climate!”
But at the outset, her thoughts weren’t geared specifically toward the organic. “Up until the past 10 years,
I gardened ‘organically’ more through neglect — not using pesticides or herbicides — than through
dedication,” she says. Since moving to a 160-acre farm in Carvel, just west of Edmonton, in 1999, she has
experimented with different techniques and is increasingly convinced that gardening organically, or what she
calls “working towards ‘holistic’ gardening,” is absolutely the best way to grow. “[It’s] better for the
land, better for the bees, birds and butterflies, better for my health and the health of the crops I
grow.”
Simpson started small, with an herb garden just off of her kitchen. “I really believe that the way to start
learning about herbs is to actually have it quite close to your kitchen so you go out and try it,” she says.
“I had discovered that it was very hard at that time in the ‘90s to actually find a variety of herb plants,
so I started growing my own and then eventually started selling them.”
In 2005 Simpson launched Inspired Market Gardens from the family-owned farm. Her greenhouse and garden, which
now span a couple of acres, produce herbs, edible flowers, heritage cut flowers, and heirloom vegetables and
greens. “Everything is done with the long-term view of building up the soil, keeping the plants healthy and
encouraging nature’s natural predators,” says Simpson. Inspired Market Gardens also features a country store,
show gardens, and workshops on growing and cooking with fresh herbs and flowers.
Whether a novice gardener or an old hand, organic growers rely on certain tricks of the trade to ensure a
thriving and environmentally friendly garden. Here are some practical tips for creating your own green
paradise at home:
Rotate the crops. Each kind of crop uses up particular nutrients in the soil, and attracts
specific pests and diseases. The solution: crop rotation. Moving the crops around from season to season
restores the soil, prevents the build-up of pests and diseases, and even helps when it comes to the dreaded
“W” word. “[It’s] one of the key strategies that we use to manage weeds, which are a devil if you don’t have
chemicals,” says Telford. Some good rotations are growing corn after legumes such as beans and peas, and
potatoes after corn.
Feed the soil. Compost, manure and mulch are invaluable ingredients in good gardening. When
these organic materials break down in the soil, nutrients are restored, drainage is improved, and the soil is
kept damp and airy. “Everything in organic gardening begins and ends with the soil,” says Simpson. She
recommends using a liquid organic fertilizer, which absorbs more easily into the soil. She also stresses the
importance of mulching, that is, placing things like straw and grass cutting or leaves around the plant as it
grows. “That will actually hold in moisture and also suppresses weeds, and that makes a huge difference in an
organic garden.”
Consider transplants. For novice gardeners, starting seedlings indoors is a great safety net
as it gives them a head start on the growing season. Expert growers can also take advantage of this practice,
particularly in climates like those found around Calgary and Edmonton. “It’s a very short season and so we
have to start a lot of plants inside and transplant them,” says Simpson. Heirloom tomatoes, which generally
take a long time to grow from the seed, are an ideal crop for transplanting. Especially important for organic
gardeners, transplanting also reduces the exposure of your fledging plant to dangers such as insects and weed
competition.
Do companion planting. In lieu of chemical sprays, planting certain crops together is a
natural way to protect your garden. The flowers of some plants such as carrot and mint can attract beneficial
insects, while mixed crops and strong-smelling plants can ward off pests. Garlic, for example, repels some of
the rose’s worst enemies such as aphids, says Tina Burback, manager of Greenland Garden Centre in Sherwood
Park. “In companion planting,” she adds, “usually what that means as well is that you’re growing similar
plants — plants that prefer the same sunlight, the same soil conditions — so that they’re all growing healthy
and happy in the same place… With healthy and happy plants you’re less prone to having to use chemicals to
treat any insects or diseases.”
Weed wisely. Not all “weeds” are bad — some attract beneficial insects like bees and
butterflies, while others, such as clover, enrich the soil with nitrogen. Then there are weeds that threaten
your garden by attracting pests and taking light, food and water from your plants. Burback says even
non-organic gardens face this problem. “Traditionally it’s very difficult to use herbicides within plant
material or vegetable gardens, just because most of the herbicides we use are non-selective and that means
that they kill everything they touch.” Burback’s recommendations: mulching and hand-digging. One of her
favourite tools for the latter is the Canadian-made Garden Bandit, which cuts weeds off at the roots.
Use cover crops. The first kind of cover crop includes things like rye and grain that are
planted and plowed down, but not harvested, says Telford. Organic gardeners plant these as a way to keep the
soil covered at all times. In the spring they’re tilled back in the soil, which increases the amount of
organic matter there. The second kind of cover crop is legumes, which is how organic farmers get fertilizer
into the soil. “We capture nitrogen from the air through legumes and then they put it in the soil and put it
in a form that is made available to plants. So that’s how we avoid using the fertilizer in the bags,” says
Telford. “We get it from Mother Nature.”
Work with the weather. Organic gardening relies on working with your natural environment,
and that includes climate. Simpson kept the unique conditions of the prairies in mind when she started her
herb garden. “I created a little micro-climate, and by that I mean you enhance the current climate by putting
[the garden] on a sunny slope and enclosing it with wind breaks of some kind, which in my case were lattice
and wood and in other cases can be just trees,” she says.
Wildlife-proof. “One of the major problems that a lot of vegetable crops will have is
cabbage moths,” says Simpson. Her solution: placing a thin fabric known as a floating row cover over the
vulnerable plants. “It does let in water, it does let in sunlight, but it keeps the moths and the negative
insects from attacking your crops.” Another perk: up to four degrees of frost protection. Keep in mind these
covers even keep out bees, so they can’t be used on plants that need to be pollinated. To discourage slugs
and ants, Simpson also sprinkles wormwood around the garden. “Nature usually provides something — we just
have to discover what it is!”
