I have written before about why I don’t tink chemicals in the garden should be used, but I’m going to explain more about why today, as it’s important. While I work on a site of several hectares (not all gardens), the same principles apply to both a large site, a balcony garden and anything in between. The skills need are the same, no matter the size.

So many people that I work with say that you cannot manage a large site without these chemicals of all types for many different reasons. I completely disagree with this for several reasons. There are two main parts to this, that lead onto others.

What I see daily, and at every site that I’ve worked at since I started in this industry is plants planted in really weird places, some where no plant should be put or a plant that is completely unsuitable for where it is put. This means that the plant is going to struggle to thrive. One example is where plants are planted underneath some of building awning type thing. In this case, the plant doesn’t get as much light as it needs, and it certainly doesn’t get any rain when the rain arrives. Yes, you can use irrigation for this purpose, but the way irrigation pipes are laid means that only the soil around where the irrigation sits gets wet-the rest of the soil is dust as the rain can’t fall on it to soak it through.

Plant roots wont grow into dry soil, why would they? They wont be able to get any water from that area. As they can’t get any water from dry soil, they can’t get any nutrients either as they are taken up in solution with the water by the roots. With the smaller area to take up water and nutrients, it does mean the plant will struggle to grow beyond a certain point due to this. The plants will also be more prone to disease as they are not as healthy-just like us if we don’t eat enough nutrient dense foood. With less light reaching the plant due to these awnings, the plants don’t have the ability to photosynthesis as efficiently. Plants get their energy to function from photosynthesis, which reduces their vigour if there isn’t enough light for them. For those plants that need lots of light planted in such a situation, they grow ‘leggy’ in that they extend further than they should to try and reach the light-they never look as good as they should, as well as not being as strong and healthy. I’ll also mention that soil also has an impact on plant health, in that if it is compacted or lacking in nutrients, waterlogged, etc it will have impacts on plant health too-I’ll talk more about that soon.

How does all relate to chemical use? When plants don’t get the water, light and nutrients needed to be healthy and thrive, they become prone to pests and diseases. Many people, will go straight for the chemicals to treat the issue they perceive to be the issue (the pest or disease that has seen an opportunity) spray that and think its sorted-then repeat when these things reappear, never thinking to look at the underlying issue which is unhealthy plants.

The other main issue around chemical use is the soil, quite a broad topic here, as you will see. First up-plants need soil with good structure for the soil type they are evolved to thrive in (this varies by each species so do a little research before purchase about what the plant needs and what you have at home). Get this right and your plants can have a good start in relation to what I’ve talked about above.

This is where I get really angry with the way things happen at work all the time. So many patches of bare soil, of varying size are left to get colonised by weeds. The only solution that is banded about is to spray the weeds every time they ‘get out of hand’. This really does get me angry because this is the way nature works-the weeds move in, start improving the soil that then allows other ‘non-weedy’ species to move in. There really is a solution to this that will cost more money initially, but long term is cheaper. This is to get the area in question planted out with plants and allow them to grow and thrive in that area. Yes, they will need some care initially, including weeding around them, but over time, they will need little attention-especially if you choose plants that can be left to get on with it, rather than ones that need pruning, hedging or deadheading, etc.

As already mentioned, the solution is to get plants planted in bare soil and the issue will be reduced greatly, so you don’t need to get the chemicals out. As for soil structure, including compacted soil, you need to be adding organic matter, like compost and mulch (not one or the other-both are good). I also include the leaves that fall off trees in this-there are several reasons why they are good for the soil-they break down and add nutrients to the soil, the soil biota (think worms and good soil bacteria as two of many) take these leaves into the soil and improve the soil structure, water holding capacity (water stays longer in the soil, allowing more being available for plants), and reducing things like flooding.

There is a lot of argument over the use of chemicals in any situation. There are those that aren’t bothered as they just want ‘easy’ there are those that are dead against them and there are those that are so clueless about anything related to caring for gardens and the natural world that they will do whatever as long as they don’t have to think (utterly scary, they need sorting out).

The way I look at it is that there are so many chemicals out there getting used in all sorts of situations that we don’t know the full effects of all this. You can argue until you are blue in the face, but do we really know what the damage we are doing is or not? I would argue that we don’t.

I have the training and skills to manage without such substances-allow me to do so. Ask questions. Do your research. If i suggest something, if my bosses do, it’s because it will look better. Don’t see it as an excuse to have money taken away from you for no reason. Most of all, if you actually know jack shit about something, go and learn what you need to know before you say no to something-especially if you call in an expert, look into what they say and follow it-don’t just ignore them and treat them as fools!