Growing your own vegetables organically has many benefits. The most obvious is that you avoid using pesticides that are harmful to us and the environment. Organic gardeners prefer to use natural and organic materials and methods, rather than synthetic chemicals that may be detrimental to our health or environment.

It's Not about Size

You don't need a large piece of property to grow your own vegetables. Even if your piece of paradise is a small apartment balcony or deck, you can enjoy fresh produce by growing veggies in containers. For example, salad greens can do very well in a window box. There are many varieties of vegetables bred especially for containers and small space gardens. If you don't have any space at all to garden in, many of our cities and municipalities offer residents allotment plots for a small fee or even for free. Wherever you garden, remember that for a successful harvest, most vegetables need to be planted in full sun.

Getting and Keeping Good Soil

Poor soil conditions are a major reason that plants don't thrive. Most vegetables prefer a "˜loamy' soil that is rich in organic material and that doesn't drain too quickly. Wise gardeners amend their soil with decomposed organic matter (compost) such as kitchen scraps, manure, leaves, grass clippings or straw. Compost improves the structure of the soil, aids in necessary microbial activity, attracts beneficial earthworms, and retains nutrients that are slowly released throughout the growing season.

Pest Control

Exposure to pesticides has been linked to a long list of diseases and health problems. Pesticides contaminate the air, water, soil, plants, and animals around us. Plants tend to thrive in an organically-rich environment, which helps them fight off pests on their own.

Learn which insects are beneficial in the garden. Some of these garden-friendly bugs include praying mantis, lady bugs, damsel flies and dragon flies. They all have voracious appetites and consume large quantities of "bad" bugs such as aphids. Some insects lay their eggs in the bodies of others. For example, the parasitic wasp lays its eggs in the tomato horn worm. The wasp's larvae eventually destroy the voracious horn worms.

Companion planting is based on the theory that certain plants grown in close proximity to one another help each other thrive. For example, tomatoes when planted near crops such as cabbage and broccoli can repel the caterpillars of the diamondback moths. Other plants attract insects that prey on pests that would otherwise damage nearby plants. Beans, for example, attract insects that eat leaf beetles, a pest of the corn plant.

Commercial Fertilizers

Organic fertilizers contain nutrients derived solely from the remains or by-products of a once-living organism. In general, organic fertilizers release nutrients over a longer period of time than synthetics do. In addition to providing nutrients, organic fertilizers increase the organic content of the soil, improve its structure and increase bacterial and fungal activity which makes nutrients more available to plants. In general, synthetic fertilizers act more quickly than organic types. Be sure to read the label carefully and follow the label instructions.

The amount of fertilizer needed depends on the natural fertility of the soil, the amount of organic matter present, the type of fertilizer being used, and the vegetables you are growing. The best way to determine fertilizer needs is to have your soil tested. You can buy soil test kits at garden centres and through online and mail order catalogues.

Keep the Weeds Down

Weeds are a gardener's scourge and, admittedly, weeding is the most disagreeable job in the garden. But, to get a good return on your investment in time and money you have to eliminate the weeds. By far the best defence against weeds is to spread mulch (such as wood chips) between your plants. Eliminate weeds while they are young by pulling them or scratching them out as soon as you see them-and, don't let weeds go to seed!

The Vegetables

What you grow in your garden depends on what your family likes to eat. Salad fixings like greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are the most popular with home gardeners. Some vegetables such as lettuce and cucumber can be planted directly into the garden from seed after the danger of frost has passed. Others, like tomatoes or peppers are better set out as young transplants because they require a longer growing season to mature.

One of the best ways to decide what you want to grow is to check out seed companies that sell organic seeds. For a list of organic seed companies, check out the Canadian Organic Growers website: www.cog.ca/documents/SeedlistingWI06.pdf