The Advantages Of Growing Organic Vegetables

By Leslie Griffith


All over the world today, people have become more and more concerned about maintaining good health. The current global health conscious thrust has led to a renewed interest in growing organic vegetables. Expert and novice farmers alike have turned their attention to methods that help them to produce chemical free foods. This has become necessary to suit the needs of a growing market for these types of foods.

The soil within which the food will be planted plays a crucial role in its definition as having been organically grown. Care must be taken to ensure that the land selected for planting has not been contaminated by harmful chemicals. This often happens through industrial and residential dumping as well as chemical spills. Once the safety of the soil has been established, attention can be turned to preparing it for planting.

Preparing the soil for planting is the first step that an organic farmer must take. A great way to do this is by composting. This is essentially a method of allowing biodegradable waste such as peelings and leaves to decay and break down. When these are added to the soil they make the land more fertile and eliminate the need for harmful fertilizers.

All farmers are concerned about the havoc that pests can wreak on their farms. This coupled with the commercialized and consumption driven global economy has given rise to the popularity of a range of commercial pest control products. Many of these commercial pesticides are, however, harmful to those who consume the food as well as those who apply the pesticides. It does not have to be this way however, as nature has provided a number of solutions to the pest control problem.

A number of naturally occurring substances and items help to keep pests away from vegetables. Garlic, a common seasoning used in meal preparation, is known to repel certain garden pests. Ashes does a similar job with destructive snails. If it is sprinkled around the perimeter of the farm area, the snails will be discouraged from entering.

Using the tools that nature provides is a cost effective means of securing the plants in the garden or farm area. This is so because it lessens the need for the (often dangerous and chemical laced) pesticides that are sold on the market. Additionally, the health of the applier and the consumer get spared from exposure to the chemicals of pesticides that are laden with harmful chemicals.

Harvesting must also be done organically. This means avoiding chemical at this stage in order to ensure that the organically grown status of the crop is not compromised. If, for instance, preservation is needed, natural means of getting this done must be used. Using chemical preservatives, at this point would cancel out all the work put into cultivating the natural way.

It is quite obvious that growing organic vegetables has a lot of benefits. One benefit is the freedom that it provides since it removes the farmer's reliance on commercial items such as fertilizers.The food produced by these methods is safer and those who consume and provide the food reap health benefits.




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