Are you an organic grower?

[Veggielot]

I like the idea of being organic however I do use slug pellets and have occasionally used weed killers on very persistant weeds.

[Guykp57]

my make shift pond for wildlife on my allotment.

[Polytastic]

Pretty much everything in my garden is from organic seed and I never use pesticides or sprays. I do use seaweed feed for my tomatoes and can't always get organic slug pellets (though I make sure there are no nasties in the ingredients). There is a big advantage to gardening the organic way and that is that the birds seem to occupy the garden for longer periods and more fruitfully than other non-organic gardens. There are so many in my garden and so far have laid off my strawberries and raspberries. All are netted since the pigeon attack which saw off my first sowing of purple sprouting (it has managed to recover since the netting went up). They are mainly fascinated by the slugs and snails and the worms in the garden and I even had a juvenile robin tamely helping me with an ants nest.

To pot up I buy in compost which I cannot guarantee. Other than this I simply do everything the hard way and for digging in for the autumn my compost and fertiliser bins are still full of rotted grass clippings and nettles etc so the soil gets to have a good organic pep up.

I enjoy the taste of organic crops a lot better than other kinds and so all my kitchen waste (other than those fed as rabbit veggies) decomposes and goes as organic matter back into the ground.

The only real trouble I am getting is greenfly seems to be marching an attack upon the nettles growing in the garden (I eat these and dandelions so am not aggressive in removing them from the uncultivated areas) These greenfly, not content with simple nettle fare have begun upon the lettuces that the slugs don't seem to attempt. They can be troublesome to catch against a green background and so I am looking into getting lots of their nemesis 'the ladybird' I will let you guys know how these work out for me. Watch this space.

I see the process of Organic gardening and the Organic end result produce as the only way toward a progressive future with seeds seeding seed.

[Farrier]

Nettle fertilizer

Hi Everyone,

We have been discussing organic growing here in the GYO office and we were just wondering how many of you grow the organic way? What factors influence your choices?

Answers may be edited and published in the September issue of GYO.

Laura

I grow all organic here in France, most people may know about soaking nettles to make a. Great fertilizer , smells bad but works great, also I was told it is actually illegal to do so. Here in France , because the big company's had the hold on it , any body else heard this

[Farrier]

Sorry I should have. Wrote , knew here