The Tremendous Benefits of Organic Gardening

Posted by steve mcguffey at 5/22/2007 7:57 AM
Categories: Organic Farming

The Tremendous Benefits of Organic Gardening
By Carol Stack

The art of organic gardening is simply growing food in an environmentally and health friendly manner. Because an organic garden is produce without the use of pesticides and commercial fertilizers you are not only providing yourself and your family with healthy foods, you are also helping the air, water, and soil within our environment.

Organic gardening carries many benefits that you may not be aware of. This article will help you identify the benefits of an organic garden and determine whether organic is the way for you to go.

When you produce organic foods, you are producing all natural, safe, and much healthier foods. These foods will have a greater amount of nutrients and minerals within them than those grown with the help of commercial products. You are reducing your family's risk of ingesting harmful additives and pesticides, and increasing their nutrition at the same time.

Let us have a look at some of the other health benefits of organic gardening. One important benefit that research has discovered in organic foods is the fact that by eating foods grown organically, you are building your body's immune system, thus giving it the ability to fight of many different types of diseases, one of which is cancer.

Organic vegetables have been proven to contain a higher concentration of nutrients. A team from Rutgers University did a study comparing produce from a grocery store and the same items grown organically.

While the Rutgers team expected the organic food to show a slight increase in minerals compared to the non-organic, they were astounded by the results of the tests. The organic produce contained much greater amounts of essential minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium.

Non-organic spinach had only three percent of the iron contained in organic spinach. Non-organic tomatoes had only a tiny fraction of one percent of the iron found in organic tomatoes. What was more surprising was that many essential elements were completely missing from the non-organic produce.

Not only are organic foods higher in vitamins and minerals but they also lack the harmful chemicals found in non-organic foods. Thanks to the lack of chemicals within organic foods, you are reducing the amounts of toxins such as fertilizers, hormones, and pesticides in your body. Furthermore, while reducing the harmful instances, you are increasing the amounts of healthy minerals within your body such as vitamins, phosphorous, magnesium, and iron.

Another great benefit of organic gardening is that the foods you produce will have a longer shelf life and taste a whole lot better. Research has shown that without additives and other such elements, organic foods can be stored better and longer than foods with chemicals and processes.

Furthermore, without the chemical additives, the foods from your organic garden will simply have a better taste, which is delicious. The taste of a fresh, organic tomato is far superior to a tomato bought at the local grocery store which was probably pulled from the vine weeks earlier when it was still a bit green.

These are some of the great benefits to growing your own organic produce. There is also the benefit you get from working in your garden, out in the sunshine and fresh air, reducing any stress from a day at the office. Organic is simply better for your overall health.

Carol Stack enjoys writing articles. She lives with her husband and three children in the United States. Find more tips about organic gardening by visiting Carol's garden site at http://www.freegardentips.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carol_Stack
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Tremendous-Benefits-of-Organic-Gardening&id=359712

 

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