In the recent years gardening came into a new perspective, today it is an integral part of healthy living. Nevertheless if gardening is anywhere a serious hobby it is in the United States, where The National Gardening Association has more than 12 million members consisted of private home and property owners. The association is dedicated to the organic treatment of our surrounding and with it’s members it works on creating and maintaining organic gardening. While the awareness for the importance of organic gardening is growing, it is still a balancing act for many enthusiasts fresh to the field. Most of us have limited space. That is why indoor gardening is also growing trend. You can find everything you need for your organic garden from online retailers such as Growace. In the rest of the article we will focus on gardening in an outdoor space and communal gardens.
For more on Organic Gardening and our conversation with expert Horticulturalist Eunmi Lee continue reading:
The Health Aspect of An Organic Garden
Endless green is what comes to our mind when we think of a serene garden, however growing our own vegetables is today an integral aspect of home gardening. Many home owners, who have the space for growing their own vegetables are aware of the importance of a home grown produce. The benefits of your very own organic garden are vast for you as well as all of your family members.
This multifaceted benefit of having your very own garden is becoming important part of a daily routine for countless of home owners. Even if you are living in a large building or an apartment block, the often abandoned roof tops are a great starting point. Many are already rapidly turning into genuine gardening plots. Therefore, If you like many of us do have a flat roof and no place to garden, perhaps this is something you and your neighbours might enjoy setting up. Undoubtedly the most popular do-it-yourself gardener in the states is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. One of the youngest Members of the U.S. House of Representatives who comes from New York’s 14th district. This young superstar of politics is known for her incredibly honest approach often going beyond the dealings of the every day politics. AOC is also in the spotlight for spearheading the much talked about Green New Deal, taking the plan from macro to a micro scale. Ocasio often points out the small scale starts in our own homes, in her case it started with taking on a rooftop community garden plot in her Washington DC building. Alexandria took to twitter in April to announce her very own 4×4 rooftop garden plot, sharing to this day with millions of her followers the progress in her garden. Alexandria also uses her social media to point out to eco-friendly Twitter and Instagram educating the community in eco-awareness.
Just like AOC, throughout the US and Europe number of people working on gardening their own vegetables is growing by the hour. What many of us building up such gardens find important is the absence of fertilisers and chemicals, which when used are actually polluting the food we are growing. Not only is not using them much better for the environment, which if we took care of will award us bountifully, but it is also strongly beneficial for our every day health.
Preserve The Weeds
Firstly, for everyone gardening it’s important explaining what weeds actually are – simply said weeds are ‘wild‘ plants out of place, usually growing around and in between our vegetables or in our grass land. Common lawn weeds are normal occurrence when it comes to growing non-chemically treated fruits and vegetables, if anything having the occurrence of weeds is actually a positive sign. While in industrial farming chemicals are often used to destroy the weeds, more often the side-effects of using such chemicals are taken out of consideration. As the number of population interested in purchasing organically grown fruit and vegetables is growing, so is the need to educate ourselves on growing such plants ourselves.
That said, weeds are more than beneficial when working in our own garden. You may ask yourself exactly how? We talked about weeds with horticulturist Eunmi Lee who shared with us: “Weeds growing in your garden could benefit the plants in your garden, certain types of weed will only grow on particular types of soil. However there is no need to worry, bounty of weeds clearly say everything is going according to plan.” Mrs Lee continues: “Mother nature itself is the biggest expert and for eons she herself produced all the fertilisation our soil ever required.” Emily adds before the end of our conversation: “Forming a large organic garden is an expensive process, therefore I would warmly recommend doing a detailed soil analysis before starting one. The opinion of a skilled horticulturist is to lead you in the right direction, and save you money. End of the day ‘the good soil’ is the most important part of growing organically. “
Another important part of an organic garden is the actual location, a good amount of sunlight throughout the year, natural rain fall and fresh air all come into effect.
The Organic Growth
Research in urban areas also indicates a growth of interest in organic gardening, this awareness is also resulting in the growth of the new organic food industry. No doubt in the recent years we’ve all noticed the growth in simply said availability of organic products on our shelves but we also gained knowledge of their importance in consuming the same. After all, we are all working hard on handling those tips on our way to a more organic lifestyle.
A growing number of experts stands firmly with the need of switching to organic, using organically produced food lowers the levels of toxins in our body which may cause chronic disease, cancers and nerve damage.
Words by DESIGN SCENE Magazine’s Beauty and Health Editor Juliette Picard
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