David E Ross has decloaked and given a pointer to his site:

http://www.rossde.com/garden/index.html
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_organic.html

I don't suppose it was a big secret but this is the first mention of that I
recall. Perhaps I missed it before. I bring this up because of the
philosophy that he espouses. Let me declare my position from the start. As
soon as I read it I thought "this could be me, I could have written this".

If you want to know what I mean go and read it rather than allow me to
mangle quotes from it. However to focus some discussion (hopefully) here in
my words are some things that jumped out at me from his philosophy mixed
with some of my own.

- Do the least harm. Weigh the long-term alternatives. A quick fix might
just get you out of trouble but it might cause you unending woe too. A good
year is when you didn't have to risk a QAD.

- Fit in with the climate and landscape, don't fight it. Use what you have
instead of mooning about what you don't have.

Closely related to this is: recognise that no matter what you do it will not
be 100% "natural" because we have been changing the landscape and the plants
for too long to ever go back. Probably the word "natural" is losing meaning
by the day, if the advertising industry continue slathering it on everything
this will be complete in my lifetime.

- Be flexible and practical, be prepared to ignore rules if it seems
necessary. Do what works in your situation. Find a local substitute. Give
up and start again if you have to, you will surely do better the next time.

Following from both of the above recognise that things that you can do
others cannot necessarily do, and vice versa. You will waste a lifetime if
it is a competition.

- Learn concepts and principles not recipes and rules. When it gets down to
details statements starting with "always" and "never" are probably wrong.

- Throw away perfectionism, bury it, burn it and stomp on it. You can get
80% of the result for 20% of the effort. The last 20% of result takes the
other 80% of effort. Neatness can become a terminal affliction, keep it
down and at arms length so that you can use it when you want to and it
cannot use you. Tolerate some losses, there is no-one keeping score.

- If you do all of the above and nothing else you will still wonder why.
Make sure there is time to smell the flowers, stroke the herbs and pull a
fruit from a tree just on a whim. And make sure you have somebody in your
garden to frolic with. And on a warm night do so.

David

PS
And here is the summation of a misspent youth from DER that is as relevant
today as 40 years ago

"When I lived with my parents, I would rather trip on a weed than pull it".

To be accurate some youths don't see this as an either-or situation but do
both. Some daily.

D

David Hare-Scott wrote:
David E Ross has decloaked and given a pointer to his site:

http://www.rossde.com/garden/index.html
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_organic.html

(snip of a well-written post, recommended)

His pages are well worth the time. He strikes me as a man with that
all-to-seldom seen commodity these days: Common sense.

I try to garden organically as much as possible. I would score myself
90% in that regard. I consider a really good year to be one where I
didn't have to spray for pests even once (I am primarily a vegetable
gardener, incidentally). But if it's a really bad year for insect pests
- and they happen sometimes - I'm voting for my crop against the
insects. My favorite tomato fertilizer is 100% organic. But my
favorite corn fertilizer, a bagged 10-10-10, isn't. I think I would
like David E. Ross very much. Common sense - yes.

Tony

In article ,
Tony wrote:

David Hare-Scott wrote:
David E Ross has decloaked and given a pointer to his site:

http://www.rossde.com/garden/index.html
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_organic.html

(snip of a well-written post, recommended)

His pages are well worth the time. He strikes me as a man with that
all-to-seldom seen commodity these days: Common sense.

I try to garden organically as much as possible. I would score myself
90% in that regard. I consider a really good year to be one where I
didn't have to spray for pests even once (I am primarily a vegetable
gardener, incidentally). But if it's a really bad year for insect pests
- and they happen sometimes - I'm voting for my crop against the
insects. My favorite tomato fertilizer is 100% organic. But my
favorite corn fertilizer, a bagged 10-10-10, isn't. I think I would
like David E. Ross very much. Common sense - yes.

Tony

There is something seriously wrong when "common sense" leads you to
damage the environment with needless pollution, and assaulting soil
organisms which produce the fecundity of the soil, and block the
intrusion of plant pathogens. You may want to look into "Integrated Pest
Management".
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

On 4/20/10 5:57 PM, Tony wrote:
David Hare-Scott wrote:
David E Ross has decloaked and given a pointer to his site:

http://www.rossde.com/garden/index.html
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_organic.html

(snip of a well-written post, recommended)

His pages are well worth the time. He strikes me as a man with that
all-to-seldom seen commodity these days: Common sense.

I try to garden organically as much as possible. I would score myself
90% in that regard. I consider a really good year to be one where I
didn't have to spray for pests even once (I am primarily a vegetable
gardener, incidentally). But if it's a really bad year for insect pests
- and they happen sometimes - I'm voting for my crop against the
insects. My favorite tomato fertilizer is 100% organic. But my
favorite corn fertilizer, a bagged 10-10-10, isn't. I think I would
like David E. Ross very much. Common sense - yes.

Tony

Thank you and David Hare-Scott for your kind words.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

In article ,
"David E. Ross" wrote:

On 4/20/10 5:57 PM, Tony wrote:
David Hare-Scott wrote:
David E Ross has decloaked and given a pointer to his site:

http://www.rossde.com/garden/index.html
http://www.rossde.com/garden/garden_organic.html

(snip of a well-written post, recommended)

His pages are well worth the time. He strikes me as a man with that
all-to-seldom seen commodity these days: Common sense.

I try to garden organically as much as possible. I would score myself
90% in that regard. I consider a really good year to be one where I
didn't have to spray for pests even once (I am primarily a vegetable
gardener, incidentally). But if it's a really bad year for insect pests
- and they happen sometimes - I'm voting for my crop against the
insects. My favorite tomato fertilizer is 100% organic. But my
favorite corn fertilizer, a bagged 10-10-10, isn't. I think I would
like David E. Ross very much. Common sense - yes.

Tony

Thank you and David Hare-Scott for your kind words.

Ross is also very helpful and knowledgable at creating web sites
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.html

So many like minds here!

--
Enjoy Life... Dan

Garden in Zone 5 South East Michigan.