Any organic farmers or gardeners out there?

We have just signed up with ICEA to get our olive farm certified as organic. We are now 'in conversione' for the next 3 years and have to abide by their organic rules. They are not too onerous and fairly obvious but I am planning our orto for the autumn and now need to find a source of fruit & vegetable plants that are alos certified organic. Does anyone have any contacts or ideas?

I wasn't planning on growing from seed initially but if plants are hard to source then I may have to.

Good luck, it's a great way to go... Think it might be hard to go down that route without using your own seed for your veg.  Things like squash, zucchini are ideal for seed as they sow direct no problem. Toms and peppers are also ok, but more difficult if you want early crops. We've found our yield not quite as good as out friends who use "blu" in abundance, but it's early days as yet as we've only just dug the 2 l'orto's in the last 2 years and got started on our own compost (which we now have a good supply of..). Strawberries this year are wonderful, as were the fennel and now zucchini...

Maybe, if friends with Ian Mcarthy on FB you could talk to him.....not sure if he is going for organic status or permaculture / bio-dynamic but he may know of a list of organic suppliers of plantsand the like.  Because of the distances involved maybe best, as Steve says to sow some organic seed quick.

Forgot to say, there must be a directory published by the ICEA of certified organic suppliers, if they don't publish one, they should be able to tell you who does Darcy Dog...

We do all our gardening Organically, and must say the biggest problem is dealing with the slugs and bugs. I know we should encourage bug predators into the garden but this I think is an art. 
Any tips gratefully accepted.

Flip, have you tried pheramone traps to attract bugs....and nematodes for the slugs....I expect you may have......both are sort of organic....We have huge colony of snails living in the garden, keeping fingers crossed the thrush like birds keep the population down !

Thanks for responses. I have found out there is a local comune (this time I mean alternative community rather than local council) near us who are certified with the same organisation so I think I'll contact them. Rather excited actually as they do some great courses too!

.. would be interested to know if you find somewhere selling organic veg plants. If there is one in your region, then there is a good chance they have one here... We've bought plants here the last 3 years as we found it surprisingly difficult to get some seedlings to grow. Of course time was another factor as we were always behind while trying to start 2 new veg patches (a lot of double digging). Most seeds we've sown direct have been very successful Zucca, zucchini, fennel, spinach and melons. Oddly tomatoes self seed everywhere and are like weeds, but the only year we tried to raise plants from seeds they were very poor and slow to grow....

My issue is time too. I am in an appartment at the moment with nowhere to grow from seed. We move in September and then it will be different but I want to get the orto going asap in the Autumn. Our area is absolutley full of vivai because of the climate (same as Sicily) so there probably are places - it's just finding them.

Flip wrote:We do all our gardening Organically, and must say the biggest problem is dealing with the slugs and bugs. I know we should encourage bug predators into the garden but this I think is an art. Any tips gratefully accepted.

Organic control of slugs and snails requires lots of patience; however, I do not like the use of pesticides and pellets. This Australian link is good Organic slug snail control
Alternatively, start a snail farm and eat them!  With a nice sauce, they are delicious!

Gala Placidia wrote:

Flip wrote:We do all our gardening Organically, and must say the biggest problem is dealing with the slugs and bugs. I know we should encourage bug predators into the garden but this I think is an art. Any tips gratefully accepted.

Organic control of slugs and snails requires lots of patience; however, I do not like the use of pesticides and pellets. This Australian link is good Organic slug snail control
Alternatively, start a snail farm and eat them!  With a nice sauce, they are delicious!

Thanks Gala good reading have tried the copper tape in UK and seemed to work OK especially around the Hostas and Dahlias in pots, but can't seem to find it here, in dry weather I use ashes or we have a bag of rock salt for the winter so a line of that keeps the little sods away.

I keep all the egg shells from cooking, wash them and crush them into a pot. Then once a year, when I put out tender plants like small lettuce, I surround the plant with crushed egg shell and have never had a slug problem - might need to eat a whole lot of eggs though if you have a big Orto!

... another good reason for a wood burning stove...

Looks like you could be on to a winner with the oil. I've always wondered when China would wake up to it!
Liquid Gold

I saw that Steve. The local farmers unions are trying to have billboards erected at the motorway exits to extoll the virtues of Taggiasca Extra Virgin Olive Oil n the hope that tourists will ask for it in the restaurants and from there will drive an increase in demand.

On the subject of organic seeds and plants I did find some suppliers online in the end:

Organic Seeds
More Organic Seeds
Organic Plants for the Orto - these will ship (9.60) or you can collect. They are near Rome.

I will be trying the last one this Autumn unless I can find a local supplier