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If you grow vegetables for your family because you want the best tasting, most nutritious vegetables, chances are you also want vegetables free of pesticides. For the home gardener, organic gardening practices are easy to follow.

There are different definitions of organic. Some people believe a garden is organic if no pesticides are used on the garden. Others define organic more strictly and also ban the use of chemical fertilizers and use only seeds and plants that were grown organically.

It Starts with the Soil

In organic vegetable gardens, the soil plays a key role. A healthy garden requires healthy soil. Healthy soil creates disease- and insect-resistant plants. Any type of soil can be improved by generous amounts of organic matter. It may take several years to develop good organic soil, but you can work on it each year as your garden grows.

Organic matter includes things like manure, leaves, lawn clippings, compost, straw and even shredded newspaper. You can start the vegetable garden in the fall, by layering lots of organic matter on the garden site. You continue by adding more organic material in the spring and mulching around the vegetable plants with organic material.

A foot of organic material on the garden in the fall and several inches in the spring and around plants in the summer is excellent. As the organic matter is broken down, add more. Organic matter that is in the process of breaking down will use some nutrients, especially nitrogen; however, it will eventually add nutrients to the soil.

Good organic soil will not need tilling each year. You don’t even need to till in organic matter, if layered on top, worms and other soil organisms will do the job for you. Layers of organic material will help keep weeds and grass from growing in the garden. Each time you till you disturb microorganisms working in the soil, and they have to start all over again. You also decrease pore space that holds oxygen and water for plant roots.