Garden and greenhouse enthusiasts across the US should take a more organic and sustainable approach to their activities, it has been claimed.
According to the Crossville Chronicle, growers can often get lazy and turn to chemicals to make life easier.
It noted that shoppers often opt for perfect looking apples that have been sprayed up to 14 times with pesticides, rather than take a better tasting, cheaper organic fruit that has a few blemishes.
The article stated that it is often the food that looks imperfect which is the freshest, healthiest and tastiest as it has not been subjected to nasty chemicals.
It also noted that while chemical controls need to be repeated and compounded, pests rarely build up a tolerance to biological alternatives.
"While we have the gardener downtime of winter ahead of us, it may be a good time to examine our own role in the scheme of gardening ecology in nature," the newspaper advised.
It asked growers who feel compelled to use chemicals to follow the instructions to the letter to ensure that any damage to the environment is minimised.
Meanwhile, garden expert Tony Fulmer recently gave WGNtv.com viewers some tips on autumn gardening.