What is organic gardening? Simply put, it means using organic fertilizer and pest controls

There are varying degrees of what is considered organic gardening. At its most basic level, it is using organic fertilizers and avoiding chemicals in the garden. To some people, organic gardening also includes managing the garden environment and looking at it as part of a whole system of nature.

There are different opinions of organic gardening. Merely using organic fertilizer may be all you want, or you might want to go further.

Organic gardening can also include managing the "eco-system" in your garden. You can compost your garden waste such as trimmings and plants that get thinned to make organic fertilizer. You can rotate your crops from year-to-year to help control pests, which helps to avoid the need for pesticides. You can make your garden a pleasant, enjoyable place to spend your time.

All these other factors can be a part of organic gardening. It might be as simply as a small herb garden or container garden. When you're growing a vegetable garden in your backyard, it's really up to you how far you want to go.

When you're shopping for seeds, most seed companies sell organic seeds. You can also save seeds from your own garden for your organic gardening the following year. If you do save seeds, using disease-free seeds goes a long way towards the ease of staying organic. If you start with disease-free seeds, you're a lot less likely to need to supplement your plants. You can also save things like kitchen scraps, grass cuttings and leaves throughout the year to make your own organic fertilizer.

Pest and disease control are a couple of the more difficult aspects of organic gardening. There are a number of things you can do to help avoid these things, including:

• Plant varieties of vegetables that are resistant to pests and disease
• Keep your garden clean – get rid of fallen leaves, fruit and other trimmings before they can start to rot in the garden
• Water early in the day so your plants are not wet through the night
• Remove diseased plants from the garden before they can spread to other plants
• Most garden supply companies sell organic weed control but removing weeds from the garden yourself regularly will keep them in check

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