Every time we walk into the grocery store it seems like more of the meat, dairy, and produce bear labels proudly proclaiming that the product was grown in an organic garden. This sticker invariably leads to the question, what is organic gardening?

A Growing Trend

Each year more and more people are becoming more conscious of what kind of damage things like pesticides and growth hormones that are being used on the foods that we eat. We are starting to worry about what affect those kinds of man made products have on are own bodies after we consume the food. Since many of these products are relatively new we don’t know what kind of harmful side affects they might have. In an effort to preserve their health many people are turning to organic products. The problem with foods that are organically grown is that they are considerably more expensive then products that are not certified as organically grown. The high price of the food is enough to make people wonder what is organic gardening and why is it so expensive?

Organic Gardening

When people are told a meal is grown in an organic garden, many of them wonder exactly what an organic garden is and what is organic gardening? When farmers are able to produce food products without using the benefit of commercially produced pesticides, fertilizers, and growth hormones they are said to be growing their produce in an organic manner. If a farmer is committed to organic farming is can go through a series of test and inspections and eventually be certified to advertise their produce as organically grown.

If a person were to look up what is organic gardening they would find that the literal definition of organic gardening is a method for growing a garden while using materials derived from living things.

Tools Of The Organic Gardener

When a person knows what is organic gardening they will be able to identify if they are in the home of an organic gardener just by looking for a few key things. One of the things to look for is a compost heap. An organic gardener needs to have a way to fertilize their garden, and according to the laws of organic farming that fertilizer must be derived from living things, the best way to get that type of fertilizer is to build their own compost heap. Not only is the compost heap an excellent way to create fertilizer for an organic garden it is also a wonderful way to dispose of table scraps. Another tool to look for when you are around an organic gardener is a pitchfork. The pitchfork will probably be kept near the compost pile. Organic farmers use the pitchfork to turn their compost heap.