Bum
Information Number Seven: Alarmingly, there are still
legions of gardeners in our enlightened society who are convinced that you
can't have a garden without a whole shelf full of bottles, bags and boxes of powerful, chemical pesticides. "You just
can't have a decent garden without killing every bug or weed in sight!" they
say. "Kill!," they snarl with a deep, throaty growl..."I
don't care what kinda bug or weed it is! Kill!" (That, of
course, is exactly what both the chemical industry and the retailers
who market artificially concocted toxins want you to believe!)
Another resounding "Baloney!" It is not necessary to launch an
all-out, frontal attack with pounds and gallons of highly toxic,
environmentally-disruptive, expensive, and possibly immune-system-shattering
chemical concoctions at the first sign of a weed, insect damage or mildew spot.
A few small holes in a pansy or lettuce leaf are
ok...really. A bit
of mildew is not the end of the world. Get used to it. With public interest
and outcry on the rise—not to mention widespread rapidly-increasing
pesticide resistance—fewer effective chemical pest control products are available to
both the high-production farmer and the home hobby gardener. Times are
changing. Even died-in-the-wool chemical aficionados, recognizing their
shrinking options, are beginning to look for other, safer ways to deal with
pests. Sadly, even fewer are coming to recognize and appreciate a vital and
beneficial physiological, psychological and ecological connection (almost
symbiotic relationship) between most members of the insect world... and us.
There are, in fact, a great many natural, less damaging and threatening—not to mention less expensive—alternatives for the control of bugs and plant
diseases for large and small tillers of the Earth. And many of them are
free!
