Northern Gardening

The news about the BP Oil Disaster just gets worse everyday and it really feels like there is nothing we can do to stop it.  Yes, we can’t stop the BP pipe from gushing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, but there are many things that gardener’s can do to prevent another huge oil disaster in the future.

Gardeners can make a big difference just by making more informed choices about how we garden and where we buy our fresh produce. Think about it:  By buying from your local Farmers Market not only are you getting fresher produce that has less pesticides, but you are saving all the petroleum that trucks use bringing produce all the way across the country from California and other far away states. The less petroleum we use, the less new oil drilling–especially in difficult areas that are miles underwater like the BP blown well–and the less chance of another tragic oil spill.

Frequent Your Farmers Market

And buying produce locally is just the beginning. I asked my friend Clarence who is my go-to person whenever I have any questions about sustainability, to give me a list of ways we can garden to use less petroleum. Clarence came up with a bunch of ideas and most of them aren’t too painful. So give a few a try and who knows–gardeners may just help to save our world from the next environmental catastrophe!

The BP Disaster and Our Choices

Clarence Bischoff

The BP Disaster raises many questions. The most important one is: What can I do here and now to reduce my fossil fuel use?

A major factor in fossil fuel dependence flows from the way we landscape, garden, and make food choices. In these areas we can act now. We must be thoughtful with every expenditure choice we make. Our collective purchasing power is a major tool to bring about change.

With our gardens we can do the following:

• Discontinue tilling (with new areas it may be necessary but many have wonderful gardens without tilling).
• Use only organic fertilizers (the synthetic fertilizers are petroleum based and energy intensive).
• Mulch to avoid use of equipment for weed control ( several types of organic biodegradable mulches are available in addition to straw, sawdust, shredded bark, etc….).
• Mulch to avoid the need to water (and use drip irrigation where needed, do not use sprinklers when possible).
• Discontinue pesticide use (these are petroleum based and energy intensive, with planning and management they become unnecessary).
• Avoid bare soil (use cover crops for nutrient management and weed control thereby preventing the need for energy intensive options).
• Control weeds with a hoe, not a rototiller (cut the weeds at the surface when they are 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch) All weeds need sunlight so cutting the areas of photosynthesis kills the rhizomes, too. Tilling may fragment the rhizomes and increase the weeds.)
• Forget 10-10-10 and spray, spray, spray paradigm. This is archaic and has no place in today’s world.
• And, of course, compost yard and food wastes! The compost will reduce the need for fertilizers and watering.

With food choices:

• Buy local and organic! (Our current food system is very fossil fuel intensive. Our non-organic, non-local food system requires on average ten times the fossil fuel energy to produce the food than the energy provided by the food.)
• Think Quality (Children avoid fruits and vegetables until they taste fresh fruits and vegetables grown in humus rich soil. The practice of processing them into colorful cartoon shapes takes energy but is apparently necessary to induce children to eat tasteless food products.)
• Avoid foods with pesticides on them. (This is not well regulated and much is not known about impact on children.)
• Cook with fresh from the garden products. Avoiding processed foods and potentially harmful additives, sweetners, and pesticides is not difficult once thought is given to it. The highly processed foods are often energy intensive to produce, not to mention of little nutritional value, and may contribute to obesity.
• Know the carbon footprint of food choices (some meats may have to be reduced).

This is only a starting list. The important thing is to ask each day: What can I do here and now to reduce my fossil fuel use? If we do this, oil companies will not need to consider drilling 18000 feet below the sea surface for an oil supply that would only meet the current world rate of oil consumption for a couple of weeks.