Everyday you read about green building, greening your home, non-toxic home, non-toxic personal care products, alt energy, carbon footprint etc, but what about a green lawn and garden. No I don’t mean color. Take the chemicals out of the yard and garden. Did you know that each year millions of gallons of toxic chemical fertilizers and pesticides runoff into our ground water, rivers, lakes, and oceans contaminating them with toxic chemical waste? These chemicals are destroying the aquatic life as well as the purity of the water. Furthermore, science is linking chemical fertilizers to cancer. Children and animals play in the yard on the lawn where 1000’s of pounds of these toxic substances are applied several times per year.

The chemicals that you add to your lawn and garden to help it grow is actually killing the most important part of their livelihood, the soil. Soil is living and breathing, like the cells in a human body. There are tiny micro organisms that breath oxygen, eat, need water and create the nutrients that are needed for healthy, productive plant life. These organisms are like the cells of our bodies and if you fed your cells chemicals what do you think would happen? Your cells would die.

The soil is the most important source of water and nutrition for plants. For millions of years mother nature has been doing fine without chemicals, why do we think she needs help? She makes her own compost, feeds her forests and sea with the nutrients they need to thrive, she even mulches. Wow smart lady. She knows more about gardening than most humans.

Furthermore, chemical fertilizers are like steroids for humans. They only feed the plant temporarily not the soil. They give a boost to the foliage whiling weakening the roots and the rest of the plant thus making it more suseptible to pests and disease and depleting the fruits and vegetables of vital nutrients and antioxidants. Moreover, the rush of nutrients from chemical fertilizers destroys the pectin in fruits and vegetables. Chemical fertilizers are also easily leached out of the soil by rain or watering leaving the soil depleted of necessary nutrients and minerals.

On the other hand, organic fertilizers do not change the chemistry of the soil and they don’t leach from the soil quickly. As a matter of fact they break down slowly feeding the plant a little at a time which is healthy for the plant and won’t destroy the pectin of fruits and vegetables. This slow release of nutrients gives fruits and vegetables their wonderful flavors, colors, sugars and they are loaded with antioxidants and vital nutrients. Organic fertlizers also promote the buildup of organic matter which plants just love.

Another form of organic gardening and farming is biodynamic gardening and farming. This method uses the principals that Mother Nature has been using for millions of years to grow healthy plants and food. How this works is that no chemicals ever touch your garden and lawn. Only compost, mulch and organic fertilizers like fish emulsion are used. Before planting the soil is tested to find out if it is acidic, mostly nitrogen, sandy, clay etc. Then the soil is amended with the necessary composts, lime, mulch and so on. Only real natural soil amendments are used to bring the soil back to health. I say back to health because most soil is out of balance or dead due to all of the chemicals that humans have added to it.

Once the soil is healthy the planting begins. Again planting follows Mother Natures principals. One example is using companion planting to optimize plant health, growth and to prevent pests. For example, planting basil and marigolds with tomatoes prevents nematodes that live in the soil. Pumpkin and winter squash do well planted between rows of corn. Dill is planted with corn because it helps prevent disease. Roots also play an important roll in companion planting. Plants that grow deep roots enlarge the feeding area of plants that grow shallow roots. The deep rooted plants plunge their roots breaking through and loosing compacted soil. Another example of companion planting is planting herbs with vegetables to enhance their flavor. Plant basil with Tomatoes to prevent tomato worm and condition the soil with nutrients that tomatoes love and need. Nasturtiums planted in the garden repel aphids and squash bugs as well as boost the flavor and health of the vegetables. Wow fantastic stuff gardeners and farmers. Working with Mother Nature

That is why I am suggesting that we add an exhibit to The MOG that illustrates difference between healthy soil and dead soil, really called dirt or dust. It is like an experiment where we grow edible plants (vegetables, fruits and herbs) and measure their growth, how much food they produce, the nutrient and antioxidant levels in the food, the taste of the food and whether less water is used for the healthy soil vs the unhealthy soil. We can also measure the pest levels too. Are the healthy plants attacked by pests?

What I propose is that we have 4 small glass aquariums, all filled with healthy soil that hasn’t been treated with chemicals, and has living, healthy microorganisms. We plant the same edible plants in all of the aquariums. One aquarium we use biodynamic methods for growing, the next one we use chemical fertilizers, the third one we use chemical fertilizers and pesticides and the final one is the control.

With the aquariums there are magnifying glasses so that museum visitors can examine the different soils or dirts up close. We can also measure how much water is needed for each aquarium and display this information. The biodynamic aquarium should require less water by far. Then we have scientists measure the nutrient and antioxidant levels of the fruits, vegetables and herbs that are grown and that information is displayed with the exhibit. Furthermore, we an compare the colors of the various edibles that were grown. There is also a blind taste test of the vegetables, fruits and herbs that are grown. It would also be interesting to measure the costs to grow for each aquarium.

I see this as a true experiment of chemical gardening and farming vs organic/biodynamic methods that Mother Nature has been using for years.  Thats all for now.  If I think of anything else or anyone has other suggestions go for it.