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Organic vegetable gardening

Growing your own fruit and vegetables is a healthy, sustainable and highly productive activity. Not only will you exude a healthy glow from spending time in the great outdoors, you’ll potentially be saving money on your grocery shopping too.

Garden organically however, and you and your family won’t be the only ones to benefit – the environment will profit too.

Organic gardening, in its simplest form, means gardening without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers. Beyond that, it means working with nature to produce a healthy garden, focusing largely on increasing the natural health of the soil.

Below are a few organic gardening dos and don’ts, courtesy of Garden Organic (also known as the HDRA, the national charity for organic growing). Follow their advice for the very greenest of gardens:

	Commit to managing the whole garden organically, not just your fruit and vegetable patches.
	One of the best ways to look after your soil is to make compost. The benefits of good compost are numerous – you’ll be cutting down on your household waste, saving money on fertiliser and helping your plants grow stronger all at the same time. Cardboard, tea bags, vegetable scraps and old flowers are all ideal for composting – visit the Garden Organic web site for further compost advice.
	Use organically grown seeds as far as possible, and avoid any genetically modified varieties.
	Consider the environmental implications when choosing decking, fencing and landscaping materials. Avoid preservative-treated wood if possible.
	Stop using slug pellets – there are a number of ways in which you can organically control slugs in your garden. These include laying traps, constructing simple barriers or creating a wildlife garden to encourage natural predators such as hedgehogs and birds.
	You can save energy and water simply by collecting rain fall, and using that to water your plants.
	Control weeds without chemical weed killers. Dig the weeds out with an old kitchen knife or similar, clearing as much of the root as possible to prevent re-growth.
	More hints and tips can be found at www.gardenorganic.org.uk