Pros and Cons: Organic versus Inorganic

Organic food is food that is produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetics inputs such as pesticides an chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation , industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.

The pros of organic food:

• Organic food contains more nutrients than that of non-organic.
• It does not contain poisons found from pesticides.

The cons of organic food:

• Critics say that organic farming leads to the risk of contamination with potentially dangerous bacteria and mold toxins.

Non-Organic food is food that uses pesticides and other things to help the plants grow and so they wont be attacked and destroyed by predators.

The pros of non-organic food:

• Non-Organic food is cheaper and more easy to make. Therefore, it is more easily available to others.

The cons of organic food:

• There are over 450 pesticides used in Non-Organic food, many of which are toxic.
• Non-Organic food is irradiated to kill bacteria; the radiation can cause diseases in humans. 

There are a number of pros and cons for both organic and non-organic foods. Which one do you think is better?

Soil and its pH

We continued to discover the connections between chemistry and gardens, and found out quite a lot about soil pH. At first, we didn’t think there’d be a way to take the pH of the soil, or if it was even important. After doing some research, we discovered that there are several different ways to take the pH of the soil, some of which are listed below.

• Use an inexpensive pH testing kit based on barium sulphate in powdered form. When a small sample of soil is mixed with water, the color will change according to the acidity or alkalinity.
• Use litmus paper. A small sample of soil is mixed with distilled water, into which a strip of litmus paper is inserted. If the soil is acidic the paper turns red, if alkaline, blue.
• Use a commercially available electronic pH meter, in which a rod is inserted into moistened soil and measures the concentration of hydrogen ions.

Now that you know what to use to discover what the pH of the soil is, you need to know why it’s important! Its main importance is that certain plants can grow the best only at certain pHs. A list of plant pH preferences is listed below.

• pH 4.5-5.0: blueberry, cranberry, orchid, blue hydrangea
• pH 5.0-5.5: parsley, potato, radish, ferns, sweet potato
• 5.5-6.0: beans, carrot, brussels sprout, peanut
• 6.0-6.5: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, tomato, strawberry
• 6.5-7.0: asparagus, beet, celery, lettuce, spinach, onion
• pH 7.1 - 8.0 lilac, brassica

To increase the pH of the soil (make it more basic), use a process calling liming. To decrease the pH of the soil (make it more acidic), use iron sulphates or aluminium sulphates, ammonium nitrate, decayed vegetable matter, compost, or stable manure.

Be sure to check back at our blog for more information on the incorporation of chemistry in gardens!

The Beginning!

Santa Monica!

We are students in AP Chemistry at Santa Monica High School. Our class has decided to take on a service learning project. In this month and next we will be turning gardening into a community effort. Our goal is to sustain a school/community garden at Santa Monica High School that can effectively make an impact on education and the school. In addition, we will incorporate Chemistry into helping the garden and growing produce.

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Thanks for the support and check back soon,

The Samohi Garden