Garden handbook

People who sell us pesticides for the garden and home never tell us about the side effects, the dangers of their uses, writes Daksha Hathi

There may be more than a million reasons for creating a safe, non-toxic garden
There may be more than a million reasons for creating a safe, non-toxic garden

FOR most people who own gardens, the rose is a hot favourite. Tragically, this is also the flower that coaxes gardeners to use several chemical pesticides in the garden since many pests attack it.

Everybody who wants to start gardening or is already enjoying it, must read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, the Bible for all those interested in plants, health, animals, birds, life itself. This book can give you more than a million reasons for creating a safe, non-toxic garden. This is the very first of many books that your garden library must have.

Two common pesticides were used in the USA for many farms (and it is used here very rigorously, but we won’t even know it, as it may be sold in many other names) and it killed many cats, dogs, hundreds of birds of many kinds, squirrels, etc.

The irony was that one of these had been applied at the rate of three pounds to the acre for getting rid of the Japanese Beetle, a pest, but it also killed innocent wildlife and domestic animals who were using the same soil and water. It made even the people living in these areas sick.

Another common pesticide, a favourite of most gardeners, used heavily in India, causes severe muscular weakness, affects the nervous system and should never be used in any garden. These chemicals will also be sold under many other names, so you will never know. Rachel Carson says in her book that the people who sell us pesticides for the garden and home never tell us about the side effects, the dangers of their uses.

The very first time you decide to garden, you should keep Silent Spring in front of you.

Wildlife toxicologists warn us that songbird poisoning from lawn-care products is becoming a worrisome issue.

There are several safer alternatives available in India: such as Bevusol– India’s first 100 per cent water soluble neem insecticide. MycoStat – India’s first 100 per cent water-soluble fungicide. Jaivik Shakthi – horse-manure based enriched organic fertiliser. Neem soap and pongamia soap – insecticides developed by Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, IIHR, Bangalore. PlantFeast – enriched organic manure formulation. Ask for these when you go shopping for gardening materials. NeemFeast – oil rich neem cake available in many gardening centres.

High potency vermicompost produced with manure from zoo animals.

Silent Spring gives us a very useful tip for dealing with pests that attack roses. A city in Holland was dealing with a terrible infestation of nematode worms attacking their roses. Scientists of the Dutch Plant Protection Service did not recommend the use of chemical sprays to handle this. Instead they advised that marigolds be planted among the roses. This plant releases an excretion from its roots that kills the soil nematodes. This advice was taken and the results were amazing. Roses with marigolds around them flourished while the roses without them were infested heavily.

Silent Spring has many such success stories and horror stories, both of which must be read to make the gardener alert and smart. It is available at many book stores, especially in used book stores. So look out for it and read a page daily.

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