Grow

Every spring, whether northern or southern hemisphere, many people begin to think about gardening. Some have been gardening every year since they were old enough to help in the family garden back of the house. Others have begun gardening only recently. Most have questions, though.

How to make an organic garden is a question that arises more frequently these days, as people become more concerned about health issues. They want to know that the produce they are eating is good for their health and safe for their families to eat. They want to begin an organic garden.

The marketing machine of the conventional pest and fertilizer companies would have gardeners believe that without chemicals, the garden battle is lost before it even begins. However, there is no hippie voodoo required to grow a productive plot full of organic flowers and vegetables. The basics of natural gardening aren’t sophisticated, and are within reach of every beginning gardener.

When Jim Tripp sends a Valentine's Day bouquet to wife Lauren, he makes sure the flowers are grown locally.

"It's important to support organic farmers and make a conscious choice about where our money goes," says Tripp, Aramark’s general manager for sports, entertainment and conventions at the Anaheim Convention Center. "Every time I pull out my checkbook, I can make a difference."

Every year in Indonesia, thousands of rural poor migrate to big cities in hope of finding a better life. But for many of them, the dream never comes true. A private charity, the Learning Farm, is taking the opposite path: teaching former street kids how to grow green, it gives them a chance to succeed in rural communities.

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I had the privilege of spending my last semester of Colgate University on a study group in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One component of this Native American Studies program, which I participated in from August to December of 2009, expected each student to volunteer on a nearby Native American pueblo (or village) for the course of the semester. With my passion for organic agriculture and sustainability in mind, it should come as no shock that I jumped on the opportunity to work on a local organic Indian farm.

Few people spare a thought for nitrogen.  But with every bite we take—of an apple, a chicken leg, a leaf of spinach—we are consuming nitrogen. Plants, including food crops, can’t thrive without a ready supply of available nitrogen in the soil.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear an appeal by Monsanto
(NYSE: MON) concerning one of its genetically modified crops, despite
opposition from within the US government.

Geertson Seed Farms and the Center for Food Safety (CFS) sued the US
Department of Agriculture in 2006 over the department's approval of
Monsanto's modified, round-up resistant alfalfa seed. A federal
district court blocked the sale of the seed until an environmental
review was conducted. Monsanto has twice appealed the ruling and lost.

Growing organic vegetables at home is often touted as
the perfect way to save money on food bills. In these rocky economic
times, people are growing (or attempting to grow) their own organic
vegetable gardens in record numbers.

To read the full article, click here.

Life is hard for the thousands of organic cotton farmers in India, but it's much harder for the millions of genetically engineered (GE) cotton farmers in the country. These farmers in India continue to amount huge debts in order to afford the expensive GE seeds and the chemicals that come with them. And as we travel along the cotton growing regions of Andhra Pradesh, we also find many organic cotton farmers who rely on cheap, locally available resources - instead of GE seeds and chemicals - making a better living with less debt.

Late January is a great time to get garden beds ready for spring and summer by adding organic matter to help build a healthy soil.

Peat moss and pine bark mixes are commonly added to garden soil to increase organic content, but other materials, such as yard waste and manures, can also be used. Yard wastes and manures generally give favorable results when used with ornamental plants.