All the Dirt on Gardening

Julia Laughlin Individuals making the gradual move toward organic gardening practices can look to Cuba for encouragement. The trade embargo and financial crisis led Cuba to convert to organic gardening beginning in 1989 since there was little money for fossil fuels or agricultural chemicals. Cuba’s food crisis led to restructuring its food growing practices. Large monocultures were converted to small, local, organic farms that used lower cost organic inputs. By 1994, 8,000 farms were being grown in Havana where front lawns, building lots, school and office gardens were converted to organic food production. By 1998 those plots grew over half a million tons of fresh, chemical-free, food for local residents. Practices they use to keep crops healthy and productive include inter-planting food crops with plants that attract beneficial insects, growing compost worms for the worm casting fertilizer they contribute, and leaving crop compost on the soil after clearing. Acco...