NYBG Organic Gardening

Positives

• Students will learn about the benefits of some insects that students may otherwise see as pests.
• This article mentions specific fertilizers that gardeners can use for organic gardening.
  

Additional Prerequisites

• Students may need composting defined before reading the article.
• It may benefit students to understand the environmental impact of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides.
  

Differentiation

• Students can use this article for an informative essay on sustainable gardening methods.
• This article can supplement a classroom activity where students investigate different gardening and agricultural strategies and compare them based on environmental impacts.
• This article can enhance a classroom discussion on conventional agricultural/gardening practices and how they affect biodiversity.
• Advanced students can use this article to complement lessons about regenerative agriculture, eutrophication, dead zones, or genetically engineered crops that are made specifically to encourage more herbicide applications (which make up a large portion of crops in the United States).
  
• Students can start a class garden and use the organic strategies detailed in the article.
• Students can consider what pesticides are used at their homes and discuss alternative methods.