Repeating Decimal wrote:

I like hydroponics. Is it less green for the world as to use simple
inorganic chemicals than to use oodles of ever more difficult to get
water?

The water cycle works just as well as it always has. There is still plenty
of water. The difference is that now we have to filter the human manure,
pesticides and industrial by-products out of it before we can drink it
again. Ask the citizens of India what they think of the idea of using
Lindane in their fields just now.

My compost does not, so nearly as I can tell, contribute to the befouling of
our water supplies. Indeed, since it can hold up to 900% of its weight in
water (vs 2% for sand, 20% for clay), it can be argued that it represents a
major conservation of it. A heavily composted soil retains water better
than a strictly mineral soil and makes nutrients much more readily
available to the plants than a mineral soil. I have added nothing to my
soil this year. Nothing, that is, except compost as a mulch and water as
needed. It is mid-August and I have one bed that has been hose watered only
twice. The others recieve weep irrigation (at a rate of about 1 pt. per
foot per day) using Irrigro tyvek lines (now on their second year). That's
actually more water than I think they need, but it's difficult to adjust
the pressure to less since the city supply line pressure fluctuates quite a
bit. I think they could get by on about 1/2 the amount they are getting.

Grow your garden anyway you want. I don't consider myself 'chemically
deprived'. If anything, it is the users of chemicals who are deprived. I'll
match my yields and flavor against anyones and then we can compare the
costs of production per unit. My wallet doesn't feel deprived at all.

Adobe succombs to post-hole composting in which a series of post holes are
power augured and then backfilled with compostable material (horse manure
is only one of a long list of possible materials: see
http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html ). When the holes are nearly
full, they are capped with adobe, making, over time, a raised bed that is
actually quite fertile and parsimonious of water.

Organic gardening in the desert requires more thought. Not more labor. I
have never waded through horse manure while following a rototiller and I
wouldn't suggest that anyone else do it, either. If you live in horse
country, someone has an augur to lend / rent. Put 6" dia. holes on 12"
spacings (offset the rows for a 12" diagonal spacing) as deep as you can
get the augur to go. The soil critters will drill through the adobe to get
from one posthole to another ... and leave their tunnels behind. You could
'seed' the first hole or two with a handful of local earthworms if you
don't think you have enough in your own soil.

Bill
--
Zone 5b (Detroit, MI)
I do not post my address to news groups.