Organic Gardening Sources

[Guest guest]

I finally moved into a house after a two year stint in an apartment and I am

so excited about planting a garden. The last garden I planted a few years

back was " organic " but I did not have all the information back then that I

have now. I just bought some soil mix and plants from Home Depot and

watered.

I lookend on the Organic Gardening website and the sources seemed pretty

limited.

I am concerned about my soil and what it may be contaminated with. Also, I

have read that some hoses are really toxic and I am concerned in gerneral

with the quality of water I would use (I live in LA and the tap water is not

so great.) I'd like to put in some sprinklers but all the gardeners around

here use PVC and I know that is a no-no. Anyway, I could go on and on with

my concerns but basically I don't want to go through all the trouble to grow

my own food and then just end up contaminating myself and my family.

Does anyway know of a good group or maybe a good book?

Thanks,

Kim

[Guest guest]

Lenz Kim, Charlie and Riley wrote:

>

>

> Does anyway know of a good group or maybe a good book?

Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening:

Tiny Url: *http://tinyurl.com/5r7kc*

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0875965997/qid=1111575254/sr=8-1/r\

ef=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/102-1182856-0371360?v=glance & s=books & n=507846

Get a book on composting or vermicomposting, there are great resources

on the web:

http://www.howtocompost.org/

The basic idea is to start with your soil, very very important. You can

test your soil with your local agriculture extension, your town hall

will tell you where to test. Simple tests will look for phosphorus,

calcium, magnesium, and test for pH. More expensive and complicated

tests will look for contaminants, organic material, soil composition, etc.

Then using organic compost, rock dust etc amend your soil to provide

your plants with what they need to produce the best they can.

Best,

[Guest guest]

> Does anyway know of a good group or maybe a good book?

Kim,

I suggest you read Suze's interview with Rex Harrill in WT and join

the Brix list--sorry don't know the URL.

B.

[Guest guest]

Kim-

>Does anyway know of a good group or maybe a good book?

If you can find a copy of Seymour's _The Self-Sufficient Gardner_,

do. It's one of the best gardening books ever written. Otherwise, you

can't go too far wrong with Elliot 's books, though later on he

started advocating replacing real manure with so-called " green manure " ,

which is a terrible idea, and he was always overfond of rows.

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