Planning your garden? Why not go organic?

BDN - tomatoesIf you’re like the rest of us during these cold winter months, you are probably thinking about your spring and summer gardens, and you might even be thinking of doing something different this year.

If you haven’t tried growing your veggies organically, this might be the year to do that. Why would you want to go organic?

A number of vegetables and fruits often need so much pesticide sprayed on them that you wouldn’t want to even touch them let alone  eat them. Many of these chemical pesticides have been linked to different forms of cancers and other severe health problems.

So what are these berries, fruits and vegetables?

Strawberries are right up there on the all time covered with chemical pesticides list; spinach is another suspect, as are tomatoes – who doesn’t grow tomatoes in their veggie garden?  Cherry tomatoes – my personal favorite – are also pesticide villains as well as cucumbers.

Other veggies that many grow include kale, collards, potatoes, sugar snaps – don’t you love the fresh ones? – peppers, sweet and hot often need some sort of pesticide.

Those are the popular vegetables and berries. Some gardeners grow apples and peaches and both of those are often sprayed with dangerous chemical pesticides.

All of these according the Environmental Working Group’s Shopper’s Guide of Pesticides use heavy amounts of pesticides in their non-organic growing and may be dangerous to your health and the health of your family and friends.

Where can you buy organic seeds and plants?  Where can you find products that will take the place of the pesticides and chemicals?

We’ll look at that next time.

Bill Baker

About Bill Baker

Bill's interest in a clean place to live is rooted in growing up in the country – a cornfield across the road and fields, sandstone cliffs and hundreds of acres of woods where he spent many hours.