Data on the Importance of Organic Gardening
We know how great organic gardening is, but just in case you need a little backup we are listing some peer-reviewed scientific literature. Have a paper you would like us to list? Let us know! Comments are mine and mine alone. Anne Temple
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Habitat quality, urbanisation & pesticides influence bird abundance and richness in gardens
Basically what they are saying is that using pesticides is bad. Reduce the insects in your garden and the birds will stay away. Seems like a simple concept to understand since part of many birds diet is insects along with seeds, but I guess they needed a grant and then write a scientific paper to tell us.
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Gardening for health: a regular dose of gardening
“There is increasing evidence that exposure to plants and green space, and particularly to gardening, is beneficial to mental and physical health, and so could reduce the pressure on NHS services. Health professionals should therefore encourage their patients to make use of green space and to work in gardens, and should pressure local authorities to increase open spaces and the number of trees, thus also helping to counteract air pollution and climate change.” Occasionally the powers that be say something right — and we think it should be applauded!
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Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture
While this piece has nothing to do with the home gardener, I thought I would add it here – it is nice to see that these issues are being discussed on a larger scale. One thing the paper mentions that I disagree with is that we will need to increase agricultural production by 50% by 2050 to feed the growing popultion. We waste over 40% of our food. We need to improve the logistics to get the food to the people that need it and we need to find ways to keep the food out of landfills.
