Is An Organic Garden A Vegetarian Garden?
Although you might have a tendency to lump anything natural and organic as being favored by vegetarians, organic gardens do not have to be vegetarian in order to be organic. Many organic fertilizers, for example, are made with animal products, which would make vegetarians quite unhappy.
The only thing that qualifies a garden as being grown with organic methods is when it is grown without any synthesized products. You don’t even have to use organic seeds or plants in order to have an organic garden. However, you can't use genetically modified seeds or plants as these would have been synthesized.
Is It Animal Friendly?
Gardeners, even those who have an organic garden, are not necessarily best friends with the local wildlife. There are even people who keep lawns by organic methods. However, they are furious when local wildlife grazes on the or lawn. Although they do not use synthesized chemicals and pesticides which would definitely enter the food chain, don't be surprised to see an organic gardener chasing a rabbit away with a rifle and a dog.
Isn't It Natural?
Organic gardens are often thought of as natural gardens. But gardens, no matter what kind of gardens they are, are technically artificial. You are growing whatever plants you decide to grow as opposed to just letting nature do its thing. These technically aren’t organic gardens – but are usually referred to as "wasteland".
A really natural garden would be full of weeds and wildflowers and bugs. Also, the completely natural garden would be at Nature's mercy for water. Therefore, you have to assert a certain amount of unnatural growing methods in order to assure you get the crop you want.
Is It Cruelty Free?
Although even vegetarian farmers will do all they can to scare away or repel animal nibblers, they usually won't kill the animal or even, sometimes, insects. But they will certainly encourage them to go elsewhere. They will also be sure to use products not made with any animal parts, such as leather, bone or fish oil.
In this way, they look for products that are "cruelty free" as opposed to "animal friendly". They have to read all of the ingredients to be sure there isn’t any animal product at all in it. In vegetarian organic gardens, you often see a lot of other plants – even weeds – mixed in with the desired crop in order to help repel pests or break up the soil to let water go further down.
Remember, although there are such things as vegetarian organic gardens, not all organic gardens are necessarily vegetarian (or cruelty free).
By Bob Taylor
|
