Even though I know I should care more about what kinds of things my family eats, I have never been a big fan of organic food. To me, it was just an excuse to charge more at the grocery store and, when it came to the vegetable garden I grow in my backyard every year, I thought staying organic would be too much work.
This year, however, a friend of mine finally convinced me to give organic gardening a try and, even though I had plenty of doubts, I stayed away from the chemical pesticides and fertilizers and, instead, focused on staying all natural. After seeing the fruits of my labor, there are now three reasons why I plan on sticking with all organic growing going forward.
The first reason is the cost. Maybe it is just because of the store prices on organic food but I always assumed it would be more expensive to grow food naturally. As it turns out, it was considerably cheaper. Chemical fertilizer costs quite a bit of money but the compost I made in my own backyard was free. In addition, the all-natural pesticide I used was made from ingredients I already had in my house.
Secondly, I didn’t notice any sort of decrease in production. OK, to be fair, my garden didn’t produce quite as much as last year. But, I am chalking most of that up to the fact we had a pretty nasty drought this summer. When that drought is taken into consideration, the production levels were pretty much the same and, since I spent less money, it meant I got more value for my money.
More importantly, I was surprised by how well some of the natural pesticide recipes worked. I have a problem with Japanese beetles. I tried store bought pesticides last year and they still ended up killing my beans. This year, I used a homemade garlic spray and, even though it didn’t get rid of them completely, the damage was limited to just a few leaves.
The last and most important reason is the vegetables really do taste better. I had been told this before but never really believed people when they said it. However, the first time I tried some cherry tomatoes out of my garden, I could definitely tell there was a difference. They just seemed to have a cleaner taste to them that made them much more enjoyable and, when we picked other vegetables, I realized they were the same way.
I’m still not willing to spend more money to buy organic food at the store. But, because of the reasons above, you can expect to see nothing but organically grown vegetables coming out of my garden going forward.
