Allotment Stuff > The Basics

organic, biological, natural, biodynamic??

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Piglet:
Ina, I was the one to declare myself a 'natural gardener' hence I will explain this one.

I was asking a question recently regarding dealing with whitefly as an organic gardener, which is how I would have previously described myself.  However, I was 'corrected' by the none organic gardeners as I could not say hand on heart 100% no chemicals went onto my plot i.e. in the manure or via tap water etc....  

I do not deliberately use any chemicals on my plot and will try anything to ensure it is a healthy environment therefore not needing to resort to chemicals i.e. companion planting, I try to encourage wildlife and believe that the beneficial insects i.e. the bees, hoverflies, ladybirds etc... will deal with the nasty insects.  There are occasions when you will get problems as i did with the whitefly but i dont feel it is always necessary to run for the nearest bottle of chemicals to deal with them as there maybe a non chemical alternative.  As a result feel I am working with mother nature - hence a natural gardener.  I am not introducing un-natural products into the garden.   I would rather a frog ate my slugs, than the slugs be poisoned by the horrid blue pellets, which look hideous.  

Hope this clears the definition of 'natural gardener'.

Piglet

ina:
Hi Piglet, that's about how I garden. However, the frogs in the canal don't seem to go onto my lottie to eat slugs. I bought some 'organic' stuff to get rid of them, very expensive and I love the name: escar-go.

Anyway, I posted this question only to find out what the different terms really mean. Still, it is interesting to read people's ideas about different ways of dealing with gardening problems.

Talking with other allotmenteers at the lottie complex I realized that the ones that use the most chemicals are often the retired, ex-commercial gardeners. I guess they know most about the stuff.

In defence of chemicals, I don't think it's always per definition bad to use them if you know what you are doing. After all, without chemicals, life itself would not be possible (I read that somewhere). It's the chemical poisons, herbicides, insecticides etc. that worry me.

I guess the soap I use for spraying lice on the broadbeans is not natural but I still use it.

gavin:
A few more labels for you, Ina.

My silliest buy in a long time - a treatise on the "bio-intensive method"; and then there's "no-till Fukuoka food-raising"; "French Intensive Techniques" etc etc etc.  There's pages of the stuff - I put it down to the levels of noon-day sun in California broil-brains myself.

Worse than a bunch of 1970's Independent Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire Trotskyists!  But give them their due - they sound a lot more interesting, almost sexed-up?

Not a great help in answering your question!

All best - Gavin

ina:
I think I'll stick with the 'if-it-grows-it-grows-and-if-it-don't-it-don't' system of gardening.

Piglet:
me too Ina,

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