Organic Gardening? I'm so confused.

[Nicos]

good link up there Bren!!

[Bill HH]

I spray my courgettes with diluted milk when the leaves look like they've got powdery mildew. seems to work as well.

I have tried milk and baking soda, neither worked for me Mildew actually kills my plants, so far this year 3 courgettes and a whole row of peas.

[Bill HH]

How did we get from gardening to antibiotics in milk?

I bet the OP in the USA is totally confused now LOL

Well I thought they were related, its all about the quality of our food is it not.

[marchogaeth]

I have tried milk and baking soda, neither worked for me Mildew actually kills my plants, so far this year 3 courgettes and a whole row of peas.

You need to add oil and soap to the Bicarb solution:-

Mix one tablespoon of baking soda with a teaspoon of oil and one teaspoon of insecticidal or liquid soap (not detergent) to a gallon of water. Spray on plants every one to two weeks.

This works for me but you do need to cover all the leaves and possibly repeat.

I'm also wondering if we should close this thread while we still pass "Pots' sensible test"??
(Also, cos don't start me on BSE and Michael ********* Joplin or John ******* Gummer.)

[veggiechicken]

Control yourself, Marchogaeth - we'll have no dirty names on here

[ButternutSquash]

I spray my courgettes with diluted milk when the leaves look like they've got powdery mildew. seems to work as well.

Since someone else has sugegsted using bicarb, why not combine the bicarb and milk, and throw in some flour and an egg, and the courgettes will be ready for frying when picked. Something tells me I will get a battering for this comment.

Nonsense aside, my courgette get spots of mildew, but it seems to do it no harm. Last year it was worse, maybe the Zuchini I have this year is more resistant? Sorry, I'm off topic.

[ButternutSquash]

The older I get the more I realize just how important high quality food is. It should be priority #1. The purpose of a country's economy should be all about providing quality food, health care, and housing to its citizens as opposed to making large corporations even richer.

True, but people need to eat. The reason for industrial farming is to provide food that people can afford. Many of us are lucky, as we can buy decent stuff, but not all can. Organic food (assuming it is organic) costs more because it costs more to produce.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Did anyone watch Country File ( a TV program for our overseas friends) on Sunday. They did a piece on organic farming discussing the changes over the last 20 years. Seems sales went up in the good times but crashed in the recession and have yet to pick up again.

Like a lot of others I could never be self sufficient for my veggies but I get a surprisingly long way down the road with just a few containers and very little effort.

IMO a major problem with produced food these days is that a lot of folks don't just want it for nothing they want it cooked and ready to eat as well. OH and ton's of it to help them swell.

[Alison]

True, but people need to eat. The reason for industrial farming is to provide food that people can afford. Many of us are lucky, as we can buy decent stuff, but not all can. Organic food (assuming it is organic) costs more because it costs more to produce.

It's not as simple as that though (is it ever), we have all got into the habit of being able to buy cheap protein in the form of mass produced meat. This is a relatively new concept and actually many meals involve far more meat than our bodies require. Eating a wider variety of cuts (many people only want the chicken breast, goodness knows why as they leg meat is tastier......) in smaller portions and less frequently would actually be healthier and definitely improve matters.

[Alison]

There's many things to consider, many environmental but also economic. I make most of my own feed using home made compost, comfrey / nettle tea, worm casts etc and they're all totally free with the only outlay being the wormery (you via make your own though) which was a birthday pressie from OH years ago.

[ButternutSquash]

It's not as simple as that though (is it ever), we have all got into the habit of being able to buy cheap protein in the form of mass produced meat. This is a relatively new concept and actually many meals involve far more meat than our bodies require. Eating a wider variety of cuts (many people only want the chicken breast, goodness knows why as they leg meat is tastier......) in smaller portions and less frequently would actually be healthier and definitely improve matters.

Speaking as someone who does not eat meat, I was thinking about fruit and veg. You are right about meat, of course. It is what people get used to, over salted, over sweetened fatty food, with too much 'meat' i.e offal, mechanically recovered meat etc. I do eat fish, and go for quality over quantity.

[Alison]

Speaking as someone who does not eat meat, I was thinking about fruit and veg. You are right about meat, of course. It is what people get used to, over salted, over sweetened fatty food, with too much 'meat' i.e offal, mechanically recovered meat etc. I do eat fish, and go for quality over quantity.

Actually we should eat more offal rather than throwing away perfectly decent bits of the animal ie eat all or none - although personally although I love liver I can't abide the rest of it so am somewhat a hypocrite.

There's issues with fruit and veggies too, if you buy local, seasonal stuff it's usually dead cheap but if you want stuff out of season it's tasteless and often expensive but we've been trained to want strawberries in January. Since I've started producing all my own veggies (if only I could do it for fruit too) I've enjoyed being in touch with the seasons and look forward to the first bean, carrots or whatever (although sometimes also look forward to the last bean or courgette )

[Jay22]

Rather than start a new thread I thought I would pop my question is here.

Has anyone heard of or used an orange peel (started off in boiling water and left for 24 hours) with added peppermint Castile soap as a pesticide? Looking for something organic but I imagine the soap is chemical?

[Kristen]

Looking for something organic

Neem Oil? (Although I mix it with [horticultural] soap as a wetting agent ...)

[Jay22]

Thank you Kristen, had a look at these and think I may try it. Two questions though...can I use it on fruit trees and what quantities do you use?