Environmental Benefits of Organic Gardening

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General Environmental Benefits of Organic Gardening

Many organic gardeners work tirelessly to spot pollution, erosion, dwindling water supplies, and other man- made natural disruptions that pose a serious threat to food and water supplies all over the world. Their goal is to improve the situation by working the land in a way that does as little harm to the environment as possible.

The means you choose to grow food and to maintain the landscape can have a significant impact over the quality of the soil and water helping shape the world in a much more positive way than you could possibly expect.

Wildlife Protection

Organic gardeners strive take great effort to create a balanced ecosystem in which all creatures, even those considered garden pests, play an important role. By relying on nontoxic techniques,such as repellents, and row covers they´re able to manage pests, not eradicate them. By allowing the presence of some of those pests, gardeners also encourage the pests’ natural predators to take up residence, creating a balance between pests and predators where everyone wins.

Organic gardeners may choose to use pesticides sometimes seeing them as a last resort. When they do it, they should remember pesticides not only kill pests but also can harm innocent bystanders as well.

Organic gardeners should select specific products that affect only the pest they’re trying to control. Since most organic pesticides break down quickly into harmless substances once they’re exposed to sunlight, water or air they are the best choice for dealing with pests causing as few side effects as possible,. Synthetic pesticides, on the other hand, are specifically designed to keep killing long after their original purpose has passed. Besides their continued killing of pests, these long-lasting pesticides can harm animals over a long period due to their accumulation in their bodies of animals, DDT is one of the best known examples, after it was banned in the United States in 1972 when it was discovered the chemical accumulated in rodents, fish, and other animals.

Helping pollinators

Pollination is the process when pollen moves either within flowers or from one flower to another of the same species thus leading to fertilization and successful seed and fruit production. Around 20 percent of all plants are pollinated by wind. However, the 80 percent remaining of the world’s crop plants, including blueberries, alfalfa, apples,melons and cotton, rely on insects or other pollinators to transfer their pollen. According to the North American Pollinator Protection campaign, 30 percent of the foods consumed in the USA need the presence of a pollinating insect.

Although concern for the welfare of pollinating insects has been increasing among the scientific community for decades, it wasn’t until the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) during the winter of 2006-2007, that U.S. beekeepers reported losses of 50 percent to 90 percent of their hives. The cause of this phenomenon is still undetermined, but many think that a combination of disease-related and environmental factors may be involved.

This crisis has created awareness on our utter dependence on the honeybee a non-native species that was imported from Europe centuries ago.Before their arrival, plants relied on native pollinators, such as bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies, beetles and wasps. Unfortunately, the use of pesticides has caused the populations of these native pollinators to dwindle dramatically.

Hope lies in using organic growing practices to reverse this trend. By growing diverse plants specifically chosen to attract and feed pollinators, while also minimizing pesticide use, home gardeners can play an important role in replenishing the population numbers of pollinating insects.