Advantages & Disadvantages of Organic Gardening

Series Summary

Organic gardening is more than just a hobby. Today we know that many of the pesticides, fertilizers, and treatments used in commercial and home agriculture are hazardous to the environment. Whereas at one point in history it was okay to drain all the nutrients from the soil and poison any insects living there, rendering the land dead and stagnant, and then simply move on to fresher pastures, today people are concerned with their ecological ‘footprint’ and recognizing the damage our gardening products (like weed killer and pesticides) have on the environment and human health. Cattle are often treated with hormones to produce more milk or larger muscles, and many of them are bombarded by pesticides and chemicals from the grass and feed they eat regularly. Organic gardening is part of the counter-movement, a small step in the right direction that teaches people to trust nature and the natural ways food, flowers, and herbs are produced. In this free video series on gardening, gardener Yolanda Vanveen discusses several gardening tips for planting and maintaining different types of flowers. Vanveen begins by explaining the advantages and disadvantages of organic gardening. She then reveals the different methods for growing and developing a variety of different plants. Vanveen explains how to care for bamboo, design a rock garden, grow strawberries, plant canna bulbs, propagate sunflowers, take care of roses, prune lilacs and even how to grow false spirea. Watch these free videos and learn more about gardening today.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen from vanveenbulbs.com and in this segment we're going to learn about the advantages and disadvantages of organic gardening. We all know why we should organic garden, we don't need to be using chemicals or pesticides or anything else that's going to hurt our environment in the end so we're all trying to garden using no chemicals at all. So, obviously, the advantages are that we still have beautiful flowers. I've got this gorgeous calla lily, I've used no chemicals on it, there's been no fertilizer and no insecticides, I haven't killed any bugs and, luckily, the slugs haven't seemed to want to eat these, they're kind of off the ground, so it doesn't seem to be the problem. They're growing wonderfully, organically with absolutely no chemicals or fertilizers or insecticides. The advantages are that we have a wonderful clean environment, we're not killing all the bugs, we're not killing all the caterpillars that are turning into butterflies, we're not killing any of the beneficial lady bugs, so that's a great advantage. You're letting all the other different insects work on the bad insects. Another advantage is we know we're not leaving anything behind, we're not polluting the environment, we're not leaving insecticides, we're not leaving fertilizers, which go into our water ways, which grow algae, which hurt all the animals in the end. So, there's a lot of advantages to organic gardening because it's a good thing to do, it's something that's very healthy and it's something that's very rewarding. So, there's a few disadvantages. I have this beautiful Cleopatra Canna Lily and it's growing wonderfully in this pot but as you notice there's little holes all over it and the problem is there's slugs getting into it at night and it's eating the leaves. So, yes I could put down different types of slug bait to kill them or I could just deal with it. It hasn't gotten my whole crop, it's just a few of them that the slugs have continually been a problem for. Eventually, I've noticed too, they'll just keep growing and as they get taller it doesn't seem like the slugs get to the top leaves and eventually they look good and I can sale them. In the end, for me too, it's about the bulb so I'm not so concerned about the slugs. That is a disadvantage though because it's not going to look really healthy when you have some bugs in there, sometimes, you have some damage. Just like the apples that you buy organically, sometimes they have spots on them or sometimes they have little worm holes, the products is still good, it's still a wonderful product so it shouldn't stop you from planting them at all or growing them or buying them. Another disadvantage that I found, is that when I'm working out in the greenhouse or working out in my gardens and we're using no chemicals, there's a lot of bugs, there's a lot of spiders, there's a lot of ants, there's a lot of little bugs everywhere and sometimes I get spider bites and that's not a very fun thing but it's part of the deal and I deal with it and it doesn't happen very often. So, to me, the disadvantages are not nearly enough to out weight the advantages. So, I get stuck in spider webs and I'm finding that there's bugs crawling on me and I want to take a shower every night but that's part of the deal and that's the way people have gardened for centuries and I'm not going to stop just because I could use chemicals because we don't know enough about them, they really hurt the environment. Another disadvantage that I have found is when I'm not using any fertilizers at all, the foliage never really colors up. I've got compost but it's kind of compacted and it doesn't have a lot of nutrition so the foliage never seems to color up as good as it does in the dirt out in the ground or is I'm using a little bit of fertilizer. It's wonderful to garden organically but there are some disadvantages, just like anything else in life, you just kind of roll with it and you enjoy your garden. Once in awhile you might have a problem with a plant here and there but I've found that when I did use chemicals, I still had problems here and there so it didn't really change anything and I have an organic garden that I can enjoy and know that I can enjoy."