Planting and Fertilizing an Organic Garden

Gardening Expert Tonya Ashworth talks about planting an organic garden and then fertilizing it. Unless you are selling your produce to others, how you define organic is totally up to you. There can be a lot of confusion around organic seed. Organic seed is produced from plants grown under organic conditions. Heirloom seeds come from plants that are open pollinated. Heirloom seeds are not necessarily organic. There are also treated seeds which have a fungicide applied to the seed to keep it from damping off and dying when the plant is young. A hybrid seed is a seed from a mother plant that has been crossed with another plant to try to breed for desirable characteristics. A hybrid seed can be organic. A hybrid seed is not a GMO seed. Most transplants you can get from a store are not organic but organic transplants are becoming more common as demand increases. If you are going to buy a transplant to grow organically make sure you have a healthy weed free plant. You want to avoid bring any diseases, insects, or weeds home with you.

As for soil preparation get a soil test. This will tell you how much nutrient you need to add to makes sure your plants are healthy. To add nutrients you can use compost, bone meal, grass clippings, leaves and other things. You can buy these at the store or make your own amendments. Tonya recommends that if you are new to organic gardening that you plant extra plants. Yields may be lower or you may have more insect damage than you expect.

The publication Tonya referred to is: Selecting and Using Organic Fertilizers
For more information on organic gardening see the Family Plot organic gardening information page

Related Resources:
Organic Fertilizers
Organic Vegetable Gardening Techniques
Growing Vegetables Organically