A2 RW Ch8 L2 · Supporting Your Ideas

1¹Growing a garden involves more than luck—it takes a lot of knowledge. ²When I bought my first house, I was excited to grow my own food, but my first year was a disaster. ³Weeds were the only thing that did well. ⁴I realized that I knew nothing about growing a garden, but I wanted to learn. ⁵The first thing I did was talk to experts. ⁶I spoke with people at the local garden center. ⁷They told me what grew well in my area. ⁸They also told me to test the soil, which I did. ⁹I discovered that I needed to add nutrients, like nitrogen, to my soil. ¹⁰They also suggested some books, which gave me information about how to feed and water my plants. ¹¹According to these books, I wasn't giving my plants enough water, so I changed my watering habits. ¹²These changes led to amazing results. ¹³This year, my vegetables are beautiful. ¹⁴Some people might say I have a green thumb. ¹⁵But that suggests I was born with a natural ability to grow plants. ¹⁶In my opinion and experience, knowledge from expert advice is what helped my plants grow!

1In the 1960s, Jan Koppert was a cucumber farmer in the Netherlands. Pests were eating his plants. So like most farmers, Koppert used chemical pesticides to control them. However, when he became allergic to the pesticides, he realized he needed something else. He discovered that the pests that were eating his cucumbers had a natural enemy: the predatory mite. Soon his cucumbers were safe again.

2Koppert's story isn't unusual. Pests have always been a big problem for farmers, destroying crops and eating into profits. In turn, farmers have searched for a solution. When chemical pesticides arrived in the early 20th century, many people thought they were the answer. But that belief has changed in recent years. While chemical pesticides are great at killing pests, they can also kill other plants, pollute groundwater, and harm animals and farmworkers.