Until recently organic gardening was viewed as part of a counter culture – something that “new age” people did just to be different. Today it is becoming a mainstream part of horticulture and its importance in the production of safe, healthy and chemical free decorative and edible crops is being appreciated. What this means is that we are now returning to times past when garden bloomed without the help of any artificial materials to promote their rapid growth, protect them from insects and, in the process, pollute them. Before that time there the gardener had to grow and nurture his crops with only that which was available from nature.

To know about organic gardening it is essential to understand what the word “organic” means in the modern contexts, as we use it today. Traditional organic gardening methods were slow and labor intensive which is not suitable to modern lifestyle and gardening demands so organic gardening now means using science to maximize the potential benefits of natural materials. Beyond this, understanding all about organic gardening means appreciating the philosophy of working to increase the natural health of the soils, planting only those crops which will flourish in the natural surroundings and climate and using nature’s own tools to develop beautiful and productive gardens.

For many generations, applying science to gardening meant firstly removing everything that nature has already given us to help in growing our gardens and then artificially creating replacements, with often dangerous side effects, to replace them. There are two specific aspects to organic gardening and they both must work in tandem to be successful. The use of chemical pesticides does not just kill of insects, many of which help the garden grown, but introduces the chemicals into our food supply to the detriment of our health. And then there is the matter of using organic materials to protect the plant from natural predators and disease without in any way adding anything artificial to these plants.

While all this sounds perfect, there are some issues about organic gardening that have to be taken into account. In the case of fruits and vegetables artificial methods have allowed for the creation of plants that are almost perfect in look and feel – something that is alien to nature where taste and nutrition come  first and perfect appearance comes last. The use of fertilizers has also lead us to expect unnatural growth rates and crop yields that are not what nature intended and which, by adding artificial chemical ingredients to the soil, do more long term harm than is often immediately appreciated.