Organic farming refers to the approach through which farmers cultivate and develop agricultural produce such as dairy products, vegetables, fruits, grains and meat. Organic farming is designed to promote water and soil preservation and lessen pollution and its effects on the environment. Farmers who cultivate organic products and rear animals do not utilize conventional techniques to prevent livestock disease, control weeds or even fertilize their soils. Organic farming refers to the process through which farmers grow their food, which is mainly done through the use of natural methods with no application of any synthetic methods.

There are various ways in which conventional farming differs from organic farming. For conventional farming, the farmers apply synthetic chemical fertilizers to improve the growth of the plants while an organic farmer would simply apply ordinary fertilizer like animal waste or compost manure to add nutrients to the soil for the plants to utilize. The conventional methods of farming advocate for the use of insecticides and pesticides to control pests and diseases while the organic method prefers the advantageous utilization of birds and insects or even disrupting the pests mating season or trapping the pests.

Conventional farming allows the use of chemical herbicides to control or eradicate weeds while organic farming recommends the rotation of crops, tilling, hand picking or mulching to control the weeds. Conventional farming techniques require animals to be given antibiotics and medicines to control disease as well as growth hormones to spur faster growth of animals. On the contrary, for organic farming, animals are given organic food. They also are given a chance to roam in the fields and the use of other preventative methods such as maintaining clean housing, a balanced diet and rotational grazing, which assist in minimizing diseases, are practiced.

Organic foods are gaining popularity as many people try to avoid the risks that are associated with conventional foods. Many people are concerned about the risks the pesticides sprayed on the crops to control pests and diseases may hinder their own children’s development. Studies have shown that organic foods reduce the risk of exposure of children to pesticides used in farming. Organic foods are also seen to be beneficial to not only the individual but also the environment as a whole. It helps by preventing pollution as well as preserving the ecosystem and the wildlife all together. Some farmers chosen organic foods because they believe they taste better, are fully flavored and juicy as opposed to the conventional foods, which only give a good psychological feeling when consumed.

The dispute opposing the consumption of conventional foods is based on their deficiency in nutrients. Studies have proved that the organic foods contain a wide range of nutrients and in various varieties. A study on organic milk discovered that there are 67 percent more omega 3 and 6 nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins than in conventional milk. Organic foods are also not modified genetically and do not contain preservatives or other additives. Organic farming is considered the best option by many people.

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If you want to make your organic vegetable garden a success, then you will have to have a long-term plan on how to do it. You will have to prepare the soil, enrich it and protect it from pests.

What makes an organic garden different from an ordinary one? There are two major differences – the use of pest control and fertilizers. How fertile the soil is depends on the amount of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus present in it. Nitrogen enhances the growth of flourishing shrubbery while phosphorus strengthens stems and roots.

The plant is protected from disease and cold by potassium, and is a requirement for each plant that is more than a year old. For traditional vegetable gardens, synthetic fertilizers involving a mixture of these three main nutrients are used to enrich the soil and enhance the growth of healthy plants. The same ingredients, however, are used in a different way for organic vegetable gardens.

Compost is a natural way to enrich soil. It can be produced easily in the backyard of your kitchen using refuse from the garden and the kitchen. Lawn cuttings, leaves, weeds, carrot tops, fruits and vegetables which are spoiled, pine needles and corn stalk are all prime candidates to form good compost. The decomposition of all the organic material in this compost heap helps to enrich the soil by producing certain bacteria and fungi which convert nitrogen to ammonia and nitrates, by a process known as nitrification. Natural deposits of phosphorous known as rock phosphates can be used as a part of the compost.

Substances such as wood ash, seaweed, rock ground potash, potash salts and tobacco stems naturally contain potassium. So you see, nature provides all three essential nutrients and this can be tapped in the form of organic gardening. A balanced amount of nutrients will go to the plants and make them healthy.

However, this organic material takes a longer time to decompose and thus it should be left for a while longer than synthetically produced fertilizer – about a fortnight beforehand is an ideal time. To raise the pH balance of the soil and make it less acidic, ground limestone can be used. Many soils don’t have magnesium, which dolomite limestone can provide. If you find that your soil is too alkaline, then use finely ground sulphur to make it more neutral and less alkaline.

The theory of pest control in organic vegetable gardening is that pests should not be completely eradicated but kept at a level where they can be managed easily. Gardeners also plant pest-resistant varieties of plants, and natural predators are used to keep the insect level manageable.

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Organic gardening is growing and marketing health foods that have not been treated with commercial chemicals. Only natural fertilizers and pest repellents are used to qualify for the higher, health food prices.

The primary equipment for health food growing is to not use the chemical fertilizers or toxic pesticides.

Natural and organically grown foods command higher prices because they cannot easily be mass-produced and generally require more TLC.

Not only are natural foods more expensive, they are mandatory for people who cannot tolerate many of the chemicals commonly used by the majority of growers today. There are also many people today who feel very strongly about chemicals and are willing to pay extra for all natural products.

The organic grower screens pests from the garden, uses insect repelling plants (like marigolds) and natural enemy insects (praying mantis, ladybugs) and natural, non-toxic pesticides to reduce crop damage.

Some organic growers confine their operation to green houses or shade houses, where control is easier.

Natural foods include fresh fruit and vegetables, dried, frozen or canned foods, as well as seeds, powders and juices.

They can be sold through health stores, directly from your garden roadside stands, or to markets in the area. It is also important to note that processed natural foods are equally as much in demand.

When advertising your organically grown produce, be sure to emphasize the ‘all natural’ aspects, which is one of your best selling points.

Setting up to grow health foods is very much like readying a normal garden, except that you take special care to avoid the use of ‘forbidden’ chemicals.

Fertilizers are restricted to barnyard products and natural plant left-overs which can be combined into an excellent (and low cost) garden fertilizer.

In the natural food garden business, you will soon develop a routine to make your own compost almost exclusively from waste products — plant trimmings, fruit hulls. All plant parts that are not otherwise used ( or diseased) are recycled into compost, along with other materials that you have on hand or can buy inexpensively.

The degree of isolation needed for an organic garden depends on its location. If you live in a hot area, consider a shade cloth enclosure to screen insects as well as the direct rays of a hot sun.

Greenhouse enclosures are often used in the more temperate areas where frost is a consideration.

If your garden is in a relatively insect free and not down wind from fields that are sprayed with commercial chemicals, you may need no special considerations other than some of the accepted insect deterring techniques.

Perhaps the most needed assistance for your organic garden will be compost, which is sometimes called (ironically) artificial fertilizer.

The purpose is to fertilize and simultaneously, add humus (decayed animal and plant matter) to your growing medium. Depending on the needs of your soil, it may be necessary to add specifics to attain the desired composition.

If you cannot test it yourself, take several small samples from different locations in your garden and have them analyzed.

State universities and some large (especially, chain) nurseries will often provide this service at little or no charge. Call your county agriculture agent to find other sources of soil analysis (and remedial actions that may be unique to your area).

In a commercial operation, you will undoubtedly want to generate at least some of your own compost. You should have at least two compost piles so you can be using one while the other is ‘working.’

One way to build an inexpensive compost box is to make an enclosure of wood and chicken wire, some 3 feet wide, 15 feet long and perhaps 4 feet high.

Use metal or treated for the four corners and re-enforcing posts every 3 -4 feet on the sides. There should be no bottom (just bare soil).

Add the compost materials: dry leaves, grass clippings, cotton hulls, straw, fruit peelings, sawdust, vegetables, and manure (clean sacked is fine) in one foot layers.

Kitchen scraps are usually avoided because they give off odors and attract flies, as are any diseased plant parts. Mix in a shovel full of regular garden soil here and there, along with some hybrid earthworms if available.

Between layers, sprinkle well with some 8-8-8 or 5-10-5 commercial fertilizer (about a pound per square foot of compost surface).

This small amount of commercial chemical doesn’t count as a directly applied chemical. It acts as a catalyst to speed the decomposing action.

Keep the compost pile moist and use a fork to turn and stir the material every few days to help foster decomposition. Add more clippings as the pile shrinks (decomposes).

When re-starting a compost pile always leave a couple inches of the old compost on the ground to acts as ‘starter’. Depending on the weather and how well you take care of your compost pile, it should be ‘ready’ in 6 to 8 weeks. Of course, if you heavier products, such as wood that has gone through a compost machine, it will take a little longer.

Tip: If you can’t afford a compost machine, put leaves and other small clippings into a clean metal garbage can and insert your weed-eater. This won’t work with larger pieces, but does fine with the light material.

Another idea is to mount a barrel so it can be turned daily. Have one made with a door and good latch so it can be turned without its contents falling out. The barrel can either be mounted on rollers or have axles welded on each end and fit into receptacles on a sturdy stand.

Organic gardeners learn which insects and garden denizens are helpers and which are ‘bad news’. Some may look bad but do a lot of good.

Examples are garden snakes that eat mice and insects, spiders and eat insects, wasps that each roach eggs and lay their eggs in insects, dragon flies, and ground beetles and caterpillars.

Other beneficial creatures may be more easily recognized: praying mantis (insects and aphids), lady-bugs (aphids, scales, spider mites), bees (pollination), lizards (large quantities of insects), frogs, toads (ditto), pirate bugs (mites, eggs and larvae of other insects), birds (worms, bugs), dragonflies (flies, mosquitoes, etc.).

There are also ‘organic’ pesticides that are used, but one must be very careful not to step over the line to toxic chemicals and lose their ‘organically grown’ label!

As you learn more and more about organic gardening, you will discover many other tricks that work in your area. Some are iron-clad rules; others may be debatable, but in the final analysis, what works for you is best for you! Some organic gardeners NEVER plant anything in the same row twice — to reduce the possibility of pests and disease.

For example: Tomatoes are especially sensitive to nematodes (root insects) as well as tomato worms. A crop of tomatoes may be followed by onions of cereal (not regular winter) rye for a winter green fertilizer (turned) under in the spring).

The latter is reputed to kill nematodes which become tangled in the thick rye roots. Many organic gardeners routinely place marigolds and other insect repelling plants between rows and/or 5 castor beans to help repel flies and moles.

By subscribing to a good organic gardening magazine, and trial and error in your particular locale, you will soon become an expert for the products you raise.