Being Totally Organic

[MarkHackwell]

I currently am a person who doesn't use pesticides or insecticides or anything like that but since going to a Seedy Saturday event today and seeing a talk about bees and the effect all the fungicides can have on bees it's got me thinking of going totally organic (the seeds and compost too) as I'm a little worried what they put the seeds into when they package them. Is anyone totally organic and what sort of compost do you usually use and does it limit the varieties of vegetables you can use?

[veggiechicken]

IMO the only way to be sure what's in the compost is to make it yourself. I don't have a lot of confidence in the sources of prepackaged "organic compost".
Much the same with seeds - either buy some from a reputable company like realseeds or save your own. Either way, grow only open pollinated seeds.

[MarkHackwell]

IMO the only way to be sure what's in the compost is to make it yourself. I don't have a lot of confidence in the sources of prepackaged "organic compost".
Much the same with seeds - either buy some from a reputable company like realseeds or save your own. Either way, grow only open pollinated seeds.

I have been told about an organic compost but not sure what it would be like https://fertilefibre.com/blog/growin...alist-compost/

[seasprout]

Organic guidlines

The link I have supplied is part one of the Organic Guidelines as produced by Garden Organic...... Might be useful for you.

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/site...es-part1_0.pdf

Hope it works.....

[Potstubsdustbins]

Hi Mark followed your lead and have to say it's a very good advert for their product. By organic they mean peat free and made with coir whether it would meet other organic principles is not made clear.

As VC has posted above the only true way to know is to produce your own garden compost anything imported might not match your principles.

I am not an organic gardener by the way, I just try to be sensible in my efforts.

[Guest]

Whilst I am another person trying to be sensible rather than organic. I feel that if you thought everything through on an organic level you would send yourself bonkers. As a way of life we rely on things to come from other sources and you can not control everything at every point unfortunately

[Scoot]

I love to try and be organic as best i can but i know that i am not totally. Like has been said, I try and be sensible about it.

[rary]

Hello Mark, when I was a boy there was no choice of compost, if gardeners used compost for seed sowing it more than likly was leaf mould and river sand, with the river sand being sterilized with boiling water, the same with soil if that was being used. I think we have become to dependant on composts, in the wild a seed falls to the ground and if lands on bare soil it germinates and grows, I think I will stop or I will be told to go to the rant thread, why dont you just try sterilized soil and course sand for some of your seed and let us know how you get on

[Kirk]

I would say that one question is "What is organic?".

You can likely find that "organic" includes a selection of items that many would consider inorganic. I see often people saying to use soapy in water to attack aphids as it is "organic". Asking how often does it rain fairly liquid and has anyone seen the processing plants to make washing up liquid I personally would never consider that as "organic".

So first what is "organic" and what do you consider to be "organic" ?

I would never believe any stamp on the side of a packet or container, these days that aspect seems to be down to how much the producer will pay for the "stamp of approval".

For compost I would actually suggest a council source where they produce their own. They are the most likely I guess to simply have large piles of stuff that composts down naturally.

[Snadger]

Even peat is an organic material, but its use is (rightly so) frowned upon. Sustainability is the way to go. Airmiles among a host of other things need to be considered.

I like to think of myself as 'Planet Friendly' and a localist, rather than organic.

We should be buying and using planet friendly materials , locally IMHA!

[Lisasbolt]

Good luck with trying to go the whole way, it's almost impossible for me. Never sprayed or put anything down, once it's in the ground it's my eyes and the watering that the plants get but my seeds are not organic unless I have saved them myself, I buy compost and plug plants, and I am pretty sure they won't be organic.

[Thelma Sanders]

For compost I would actually suggest a council source where they produce their own. They are the most likely I guess to simply have large piles of stuff that composts down naturally.

Be careful of council compost - our council had difficulty passing the tests for heavy metals in the finished product, so we can't get it now God knows what they do with the stuff from garden bin collections now!
It can also contain clippings from lawns which may have been sprayed with weedkiller

[Snadger]

Be careful of council compost - our council had difficulty passing the tests for heavy metals in the finished product, so we can't get it now God knows what they do with the stuff from garden bin collections now!
It can also contain clippings from lawns which may have been sprayed with weedkiller

If you have any diseased material on your garden or plot, what do you do with it? Put it in the Councils brown bin? And where does it go? I rest my case!

[Bigmallly]

You would hope that the intense heat would kill any nasties but you never know. As long as you are happy with your own personal approach, that's all that matters.

[Scoot]

Just to add another thought, think of all the oxygen you create in your garden by planting out all those plants, whether they be veg, flowers or whatever. Green leaves = oxygen.