ORGANIC OR NOT

[Compo]

I thought that this would make a good discussion topic and help people to stay green and avoid chemicals. I dont use chemical fertilisers or weedkillers on my plot. But I don't buy organic seeds, I buy organic compost for my seeds and make my own organic compost. I use manure from a local stable but not sure if the animals eat organic.

So the question is am I organic? I think I am probably semi organic, how could we improve? what do others do?

PS Hot tip, horse bran is available in large cheap quantities from farm supplies, sprinkled around plants it keeps snails and slugs at bay, it dries them up and they hate it. Needs topping up every 4-6 weeks.

Answers on a postcard....................

[peter]

Not again!

[Compo]

Sorry I have only been visiting here for a week, and did not realise this was an old topic, but please do not be shy to post an opinion Peter rather than just sighing out loud!!! (wonder if he has a shed!!!)

[peter]

Either check the archive or wait for the regular opinions to be aired, again.

Comes up every month or so and some opinions are like celery, well en-trenched.

[Compo]

Sure Peter, your view may be valid, but if others want to reply to me with the same opinions why not let them instead of trying to block off the thread before it gets going, if I see a TV channel that is repeating a prog I just skip over it and go to the next one.....

[Allan]

Compo, try a search of the archive (you will find the box in the header), if you have further questions after that do please come back.
To quote a sage of the Brains Trust on radio many years ago
"It depends what you mean by Organic" (or organic), it's a quirk of the English language that nothing stays clearly defined forever, there is always somebody ready to twist the meaning in spite of any "legal definition"
Allan

[p.r.]

isnt plain eco-friendly a better term for the average gardener with "organic" asperations? (anyone has a better idea, fine) So much time and effort is spent (wasted in my opinion) agonising over this organic issue. most are just gardeners doing the best they can to produce and eat good wholesome fresh vegetables for themselves and their families.Nobody is going out of their way to drench their produce in pesticides & insecticides or impoverish their soil by only incorperating concentrated fertilizer from a bag to the exclusion of organic matter. To anyone who is totaly "organic" I say well done but the rest of us are just doing the best we can....paul.

[David]

Compo you should really go and read the archive before jumping on us. We are all pleasant folks not really wanting heated argument but this topic always produces it, thats why we try to avoid it - we like calm.

Please read the archive and then I think actually our guests reply above is a very sensible attitude.

Thanks

David

[Lyn]

Compo -
Many thanks for the tip about horse bran - I'm definitely going to try that one.
Cheers,
Lyn

[Tigger]

And me - thanks Compo.

[Cider Boys]

A very interesting topic Compo, I think that you may have touched a raw nerve though. I am also a newcomer (greenhorn rookie) to this site and was wishing to discus the big 'O' but reading the replies I'm pleased you raised it before me.

However, if it's any help I have an old agriculture book from when I spent 4 years (hard labour) at an agricultural technical school (over 40 years ago) at it says that 'organic material contains the element carbon and has been produced by a living organism. Inorganic substances, by contrast, are present as components of the soil and air and provide the raw materials for the production of organic matter. Although I did (just) pass the examination in Rural Science I never understood what it meant.

I also do not understand why certain associations seem to have a monopoly on the word Organic.

Barney

[oldherbaceous]

P.R Guest. Paul actually there are people out there that over use weedkillers, pestisides and fertilisers, and one of these people has an allotment next to one of mine. He sprays weedkiller at twice the strength it should be between rows of growing veg. And he never uses anything organic.

Kind regards Old herbacous.

Theres no fool like a old fool.

[p.r.]

well its easy to generalise, but i would say he was probably in the minority these days (although this argument has been going for the 30 odd years that i've been gardening seriously,) i too went down the fanatical path when first bitten by the organic bug (crusade?)the next thing i knew i was agonising about what food and drugs the animals that provided my manure were being given. was the manure organic if the horse hadnt been fed on organic hay? AAAAGH life is too short. Do the best you can and be sympathetic to natural cycle of things and keep peeing on your compost heaps...paul.

[Beccy]

Oh well I suppose the rest of us can just ignore the thread, but I think it's rude to join a forum and post quetstions with out checking whether they've been covered before.

And I found bran useless as a slug deterrant, though the rats liked it.

[Chez]

For goodness sake, what is with the new censorship team? So because you may have read this topic when it was previously covered, it shouldn't be covered again in your time on the forum - bit precious don't you think? You don't know how many new members have joined since earlier posts and these new members may wish to discuss this very topic. There is no need for them to make do with earlier threads by established 'regulars'. As new members continue to join the site, topics previously covered may well have quite different outcomes with fresh input from newer members.

If you don't want to participate in the discussion, why not move on instead of sabotaging the thread for those who are interested? I am not one of them, but think new input (on old topics or not) is what stops forums becoming stale, insular and non-progressive.