Resources
Flow into Fall

Flow into Fall

Maintain Your Fall Garden

It’s time to enjoy your garden!

Growing flowers and even your own food can be a transformative experience. Whether you live in the city or the country, have a window pot of herbs, or have a garden, growing your own food organically is worth a try.

If you want to grow your own vegetables/fruits to eat or flowers for pollinators, make sure that your seeds and plants are free from harmful pesticides. Often, seeds and plants in many garden centers across the country are grown from seeds coated with toxic fungicides and bee-harming neonicotinoid pesticides or drenched with them. Ensure a pesticide-free garden by planting organic seeds and plants!

Art Page submission "Wild Reishi Mushroom" by Kari R. from Williams, OR, right.

Table of Contents

Helpful Infographic Resources for the Fall

Residential Gardening
Why Organic?
What Chemicals Should I Avoid in My Food and Garden?
What Chemicals Are Safe for My Food and Garden?
Planting and Buying Organic
Other Garden, Lawn, and Pesticide Resources

Community Gardening
Parks For a Sustainable Future
Additional Resources

Art Page submission "Forest Floor in Fall" by Marcia K. from Pensacola, FL, above.

We welcome you to share a photo or artwork of your garden, favorite bug, plant, flower, animal, or nature scene for a chance to be featured in Pesticides and You, on social media, or the Daily News Blog!

Share Your Art!

Helpful Infographic Resources for the Fall

Organic Gardening 101: Residential

Synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides lead to undesirable conditions that restrict water and air movement in the soil. High-nitrogen fertilizers can disrupt the nutrient balance, accelerate turf growth, increase the need for mowing, and contribute to thatch buildup.

Why Organic?

To Protect Yourself, Your Family, and Your Pets

Pesticides have many uses in homes and communities without comprehensive public knowledge about the harm that they cause. A growing body of evidence in the scientific literature (documented in Beyond Pesticides' Pesticide-Induced Diseases Database) shows that pesticide exposure can adversely affect neurological, respiratory, immune, and endocrine systems in humans, even at low levels.
Children are especially sensitive to pesticide exposure because they (1) take up more pesticides (relative to their body weight) than do adults, and (2) have developing organ systems that are more vulnerable to pesticide impacts and less able to detoxify harmful chemicals.
Furthermore, pets encounter pesticides by digging, sniffing, licking, and eating unknown objects. Toxic chemicals in insect sprays and baits, rodent poison, flea collars, weed killers, disinfectants, and more are also hazardous to our companion animals.

Art Page submission "The Leaves of Violet" by Catherine S. from Northborough, MA, above left.

To Protect the Bees, Butterflies, Bats, and Other Pollinators

As bees, butterflies, bats, and other pollinators suffer declines in their populations, we urge people and communities to plant a pesticide-free habitat that supports pollinator populations. Learn more about how and why in our BEE Protective Habitat Guide and the What the Science Shows on Biodiversity and Benefits of Bats webpages.
Become a Beekeeper: Backyard Beekeeping:
Providing pollinator habitat one yard at a time!

To Protect Birds, Especially Song and Migrating Birds

Neonicotinoids are a class of insecticides that are systemic and resemble the effects of nicotine. Neonicotinoid seeds and plants are most common. However, birds can mistakenly eat seeds as a food source, causing many adverse effects, including effects on reproductive function and egg formation, and even death. See the Birds page for additional information on the impacts of pesticides on bird species. For more on the dangers of neonicotinoid-coated seeds, see Beyond Pesticides’ short video Seeds That Poison.

To Protect Beneficial Organisms and Microorganisms in and around Soil

Wildflowers, native shrubs, and trees, as well as urban green spaces, provide good habitats for beneficial organisms (e.g., worms, ants, beetles, etc.) and microorganisms (e.g., bacteria). Both organisms inhabiting soil or loose-leaf litter may encounter synthetic fertilizers and toxic pesticides that threaten the survivability, reproduction, and distribution of essential nutrients. Thus, adopting organic land management practices like planting pollinator-friendly plants and cover crops, using organic mulch for weed control, and adding compost to gardens, lawns and farm fields, helps to protect biodiversity. See Daily News coverage on soil health here.

There are alternatives to pesticides (The Safer Choice) for effective management of insects, rodents, and weeds without exposing yourself, your family, your pets, and the environment to harmful toxic chemicals.

Chemicals to Avoid

Petroleum-based synthetic pesticides harm health and the environment with both immediate and long-term effects. To know what chemicals to avoid, the “40 Most Commonly Used Lawn and Landscape Pesticides” factsheets make the science on pesticides hazardous to people, pets, and the environment accessible and easy to understand. Additionally, the herbicide analysis, created by Beyond Pesticides and Friends of the Earth, is an extensive document of 100+ non-organic (conventional) and organic products with related health and environmental effects. Chemicals of concern include: 2,4-D, Carbaryl, Dicamba, Fipronil, Glyphosate, Malathion, Mecoprop, Neonicotinoids, Pyrethroids, and Sulfoxaflor.

Safer, Least-Toxic Alternatives

Now you may be wondering what products are safe to use. Well, following the organic/OMRI label helps guide an individual to the least-toxic products: Products Compatible with Organic Landscape Management. This List of organic products applies two established lists of materials and products: (i) the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA), and (ii) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s list of exempt pesticides, Section 25(b) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA).

Some of the products you may need for your garden include seeds, potting soil, mulch, tools, fertilizer, and compost. (See here for Fertilizers Compatible with Organic Land Management).
For most small-scale gardeners, pest problems can be contained with removal (scout the insects and remove). If you decide to use a product to eliminate pests, don't be fooled by products labeled as “safe” insecticides.
In general, unless you can find these products on the Organic Materials Review Institute’s (OMRI) list of approved substances (often, products approved will say “OMRI approved” on their labels), they do not meet the organic standards. Sometimes it is because they contain non-organic inert ingredients that may be toxic.
This same caution applies to fertilizers and potting soil as well. One of the great things about gardening at home on a small scale is that you can often create all the fertilizer you need yourself through simple composting of kitchen and yard scraps.

Plant Your Own Organic Garden or Buy Them Straight from the Source

Want to plant your own organic garden? Beyond Pesticides offers a guide on how to “Grow Your Own Organic Food,” including a resource page on steps to take before planting: Grow Your Own Organic Food — Beyond Pesticides. Companies and nurseries that grow and distribute organic seeds and plants can be found here: Seed and Plant Directory Brochure.

Have a problem with weeds taking over your yard and garden?
Beyond Pesticides' guide on how to “Read Your Weeds” allows people to identify weeds in their lawn and suggests non-toxic or least-toxic solutions. Additionally, Beyond Pesticides’ webpage on Ecological Management of Invasive Species is a great resource for broad weed management.

Many plants that are considered weeds have beneficial qualities. Try to develop a tolerance for some weeds in your garden. For instance, clover is considered a typical turf weed, but it thrives in soil with low nitrogen levels, compaction issues, and drought stress. See Taking a Stand on Clover: The benefits of clover to bees, soil biology, and water quality to learn more.

Art Page submission "Post-Pesticide Paradise" by JoAnne F. from Cascade, WI, above left.

Buying organic produce whenever possible is always a great option. To learn how to find and purchase organic, visit Beyond Pesticides' pages Buying Organic and Eating with a Conscience. Organic doesn’t mean expensive. Beyond Pesticides offers a guide on buying organic on a budget: The Real Affordability of Organic Food.

Other Garden, Lawn, and Pesticide Resources

Keeping Organic Strong with priority issues for the Fall 2025 NOSB meeting
Gateway on Pesticide Hazards and Safe Pest Management
Herbicides, Genetically Engineered Crops, and Pest Resistance
Safety Source on Pest Management Providers

Organic Gardening 101: Community Action

Urban areas have community gardens where you can get your own plot if you do not have land by your residence. Community gardens in some urban environments have transformed the landscape and the community itself. Read about some successful community gardens in New York City from Beyond Pesticides' Pesticides and You journal. If you want to get your hands dirty but do not have the space or the desire to start a garden, see if there are any community-supported farms near you that could use your help with weeding or other projects.

Parks for a Sustainable Future

Does your community have a pesticide-free park managed with organic practices? Do you wish it did? The time to take action to protect those parks and create new ones is now.

Beyond Pesticides is partnering with major retailers like Natural Grocers and Stonyfield Organic, and dozens of communities across the nation to create organic communities where local parks, playing fields, and greenways are managed without unnecessary toxic pesticides and synthetic fertilizers.

Our Parks for a Sustainable Future program provides in-depth training to assist community land managers in transitioning two or three public green spaces to organic landscape management while aiming to provide the knowledge and skills necessary to eventually transition all public areas in a locality to these safer practices.

With YOUR help, we can achieve our vision. Become a Parks Advocate today!

Parks for a Sustainable Future Program by Beyond Pesticides

Additional Resources

Learn about the local and national efforts to prevent exposure to toxic chemicals on the State Regulations and U.S. Pesticide Reform Policies webpages.
Failure-to-Warn webpage and fact sheet: Protect the Right of Farmers, Consumers, and Workers to Hold Pesticide Companies Accountable for Their Harmful Products.
Action of the Week offers one concrete action that you can take each week to have your voice heard on governmental actions that are harmful to the environment and public and worker health, increase overall pesticide use, or undermine the advancement of organic, sustainable, and regenerative practices and policies.

Banner Image Credits: "Fall 2024 Green Mountain, NC" by Margaret H. from Orlando, FL and "Patch Perfect" by Sara G. from Denton, MD