Oil-Free Gardening Tips (PHOTOS)

From Cristina Santiestevan of Organic Gardening Magazine:

The disastrous BP oil spill reminded the world that drilling comes with a heavy cost. But oil is a fact of modern life. Gasoline powers our cars, plastics encase our lunches, and asphalt paves our streets. Petroleum shows up in our organic gardens as plastic mulch, vinyl fences, polypropylene row covers, and PVC hoses. But if synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are not welcome, why embrace oil-based products? Here are a few ways to root out the worst petroleum offenders from the garden.

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Ditch Plastic Weed Barriers

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Plastic mulch blocks weeds, but it can also prevent water and nutrients from reaching the soil. Switch to paper-based alternatives, such as newspaper or cardboard, topped with grass clippings, leaves, or straw.

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Plastic mulch blocks weeds, but it can also prevent water and nutrients from reaching the soil. Switch to paper-based alternatives, such as newspaper or cardboard, topped with grass clippings, leaves, or straw.

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Total comments: 48 | Post a Comment

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This Oil-Free Tip

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Comments

[beauley]

08:43 PM on 04/20/2011

The way to become independent of surroundings and the seasons is to visit:
How to Grow Tomatoes And Peppers Under Indoor Lamps
http://www.ehow.com/how_5842073_grow-peppers-under-indoor-lamps.html
How to Construct Your Own Inexpensive Indoor Grow Lamp
http://www.ehow.com/how_5447264_construct-inexpensive-indoor-grow-lamp.html

[captainkennedy]

09:17 AM on 03/13/2011

good post and helpful information. Its good to try lots of different varieties to see which ones have the best affinity for your particular location. I have grown some tomatoes for 30 years and have found a couple heirloom varieties that seem to like my spot and stay disease free. It also helps to move the types of crops around a bit in the garden so you don't plant the same thing in the same spot every year.

[ProudGreenHome]

05:35 PM on 03/08/2011

Loving all the ideas to have an oil-free garden. Oil and dirt just don't mix. Here's some other good green gardening tips I found: http://goo.gl/y9JSF

[Genders]

11:14 PM on 03/07/2011

Go Carbon negative: Bio Char. You can do it in your wood stove.

[GirlFriday123]

05:05 PM on 03/07/2011

Those are great ideas. You can also use lettuce which is a good companion to almost everything and makes a great, fast-growing, living mulch. The other one I love is winter squash - pull it up at the end of the summer and you have a bed that's ready for planting.

[butchcliff]

06:29 AM on 03/07/2011

Good article, good tips. See too many people using pressure treated wood for raised beds.
& walls. This wood also contains trace amounts of arsenic.

[mzrecycle]

08:50 AM on 03/06/2011

I use newspaper under mulched leaves for a weed block in my garden. I go to the recycling center and pull out the pristine unread papers. I find they layer better. At the end of the season, they stay on the garden, continuing to prevent weeds. In the spring, they can be tilled into the soil, or added to the compost pile. Great stuff.
I recently discovered a "green" all purpose kitchen cleaner (a national brand sold in supermarkets) kills and discourages ants. It's made of "plant based biodegradable ingredients".
One use of a petroleum based plastic: The plastic bag that onions can be sold in can be filled with dog fur and hung for the birds to use in building nests. If you don't have a dog, any pet groomer establishment can supply you with some. Get it up soon.
Dog fur can also be used around tender lettuce plants and other such that rabbits find delicious. My dear Midnight has already crossed the Rainbow bridge, but I've saved several bags of her soft undercoat for the birds and my tender chard sprout protection.

[KarlaElisa]

02:18 PM on 03/06/2011

Those are some great ideas you're implementing there, mzrecycle. I also go to the recycling station and take newspapers and cardboard boxes people have broken down and use that to layer over areas I plan to plant in the future. I lay that stuff in the chicken pen too, so when I lift it out the chickens have a nice time catching worms underneath and they work up soil so I can plant crops they like to eat.

You're right about the dog fur as well. Great way to make use of what's a nuisance!

[butchcliff]

06:26 AM on 03/07/2011

True enough about dog hair. Used to just collect my collies hair, then lay it on the
ground in the open near my feeders, in the spring. The crows seemed to like it best.

[Judson Wallace]

02:11 AM on 03/06/2011

If you live in Florida look up "Sunshine Mimosa" or "Perennial/Ornamental Peanut" ... you can replace your lawn, never have to mow or fertilize again, and provide flowers for native species.

It looks really stunning too.

[Judson Wallace]

02:13 AM on 03/06/2011

University of Florida Info on native Sunshine Mimosa in the lawn and its economic and wildlife benefits: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep343

[cabinetmaniac]

01:11 PM on 03/07/2011

I'll have to try that.

I've been looking for a ground cover.

☮

[Judson Wallace]

01:59 AM on 03/06/2011

Typical Huffpost Filler material.

Plant NATIVE SPECIES that DON'T REQUIRE the pesticides! DERP
Native plants don't usually need a lot if any extra water/fertilizer. You can usually plant a yard with very attractive low maintenance native species.

The added benefits include butterflies and bees.

[lbsaltzman]

04:43 PM on 03/06/2011

That was useful advice that many gardners don't know, I don't know why you are so critical of the advice. Natives have a place, but in our yards we should be growing as much food as possible to further reduce our carbon footprint

[Judson Wallace]

01:22 AM on 03/07/2011

Exactly. You would be shocked at how many fruit bearing natives there are in this country. If you're interested Elderberries (sambucus nigra) and American Groundnut (apios americana) grow across almost all of the united states naturally. The Groundnut grows wild, has twice the protein of potatoes, and also has beans with a protein content higher than soy. It was one of the foods at the first thanksgiving.

Most people don't realize they have the ground nut growing in their yard... I thought it was a weed until I looked it up on line (I thought it was poison ivy at first) and realized it was actually edible!

Plastics are one thing, but this article really omits the biggest culprits: nitrogen based fertilizers, actually mowing your lawn (using gasoline), the environmental impact of growing non native/invasive species... several things I think should be central.

[VoiceofV]

11:30 PM on 03/05/2011

An important post. Thank you.

FYI to everyone: The World is facing not only an oil crisis, but also a phoshate crisis (used for fertilizer) that makes the oil crisis seem trivial.

Without cheap phosphates our current factory-farm based food chain collapses. At current rates these will start running out in a little over 20 years.

Start now learning to grow your own food using your own compost and other sustainable fertilizers and soil amendments.

You will be healthy, more secure, richer, and so will our planet.

Don't wait for the crisis to hit to start making the necessary changes, because then it will be too late.

Change now to avoid the crisis; start building the better world of the future today.

And all it takes is a pack of seeds to get started.

Enjoy my friends.

[Judson Wallace]

02:02 AM on 03/06/2011

Really this doesn't have to be a problem. Human waste is an excellent fertilizer. Urine in particular. Processing facilities could eliminate our need for fertilizers fairly easily.
According to research at the University of Florida, one person puts out roughly enough fertilizer to take care of enough plant mass to feed themselves in one year. So one year of pee = one year of food.

[mzrecycle]

08:21 AM on 03/06/2011

I think twice about using urine as fertilizer, as these days, the great amount of drugs in human urine. Estrogen (not just birth control pills, but bio-identical hormone replacement), cholesterol drugs, anti-depressants, etc. are just a few of the drugs in human urine.

[KarlaElisa]

02:19 PM on 03/06/2011

LOL...it's true. Been trying to train my husband to pee in the compost pile!

[KarlaElisa]

02:45 PM on 03/06/2011

I just read both 'The End of Food' and 'The Coming Famine' and both, especially the former, speak to the Phosphate issue and you are correct. I am also a strong proponent of backyard gardening and encourage others to get serious about learning how to garden and produce something on their own in whatever space they have. For people with small spaces vertical gardening can really go a long ways, as can container gardening.

There's a saying 'Old person, young Gardener' and it's true. It takes years to figure out what works best for your own circumstances and these are very important tools to have been refining prior to disaster striking.

And using your household waste to make your own compost/fertilizer reduces the amount of trash you toss out and eliminates the stinky in your trash while it sits in the house waiting to be filled.

Lastly, saving seeds from crops you grow is a smart move as your seeds have 'memory' and will respond to the environment you are in and the soil your using better. So many things seed in one season it's possible to save everything you need to grow your own salads quite easily.

I started seed saving a couple years ago and I am now able to reproduce nearly all my own seed and do not have to buy it each year. Perennials are are a smart move: berries, asparagus, rhubarb, medicinal herbs, edible flowers for salads and fruit and nut trees.

[KarlaElisa]

09:52 PM on 03/05/2011

i'm actually recycling a lot of petroleum in my garden by virtue of having brought in dozens of old tires to make raised garden beds. we cut out the walls on the tires and fill them w/ our dirt cocktails and use the rings to border plants and trees out in the landscaped areas. everything is actually working out really well. the tires heat the soil up faster and are easy to weed and maintain.
not to mention it doubled my garden space for no money investment at all. i'd like to use the tires to make a retaining wall next and then someday build a barn with them.

[mlaiuppa]

08:52 PM on 03/05/2011

I don't use weed barriers or borders. I have worms to make compost but they don't make enough or fast enough. But I deal because I prefer the cold vermicomposting to they hot way you have to turn. Not a lot of oil in my garden. I prefer natural materials; wood, concrete, stone, glass, metal, tile. And plants of course. I'm surprised fertilizer and chemicals were not mentioned as they contain petroleum products. I don't use fertilizer either. I have the compost and the worm tea from the vermiposting.

[garystartswithg]

08:03 PM on 03/05/2011

I think I am way too urbane or something, The only plastic I can accept in a natural setting are lawn flamingos. That plastic border from w-world just isn't that cute. If you put down garbage bags to kill your weeds you end up with a yard full of garbage bags. Seriously -- what were you thinking?
If you go to your local park and admire the landscape then take note of the materials they use -- and I don't know many that embrace plastic. Take that home with you.

[Coronakid]

08:01 PM on 03/05/2011

Yea! Plant your garden on the moon.

[NWBrunette]

07:33 PM on 03/05/2011

I'm on board with all of this. Every time I notice plastic in my yard, my home, my garage, I look for ways to get rid of it. The only plastic in my yard anymore is the compost bin and some hoses.