Organic Gardening

The modern trend is towards "convenience gardening", and a whole industry has developed to service this market. Instead of raising plants from seed and cuttings, for example, we are generally encouraged to buy young plants from the garden center or nursery - all we have to do is plant them.

For the organic gardener, however, there are some very sound reasons why this "convenience" method is not good enough. First and foremost, if you are interested enough to adopt an organic approach to gardening, you are likely to want to do the whole thing from start to finish. Second, it can be difficult to find plants that have been raised organically - very few commercial growers can guarantee that their produce has been raised in organic soil without the "benefit" of chemical sprays or fertilizers. So, as an organic gardener you have no alternative but to raise all your plants yourself.

By following a few simple rules and taking sensible precautions, your success rate with home-raised seed, even using the minimum of equipment, will be gratifying; and by using other methods of propagation, such as division, cuttings, layering, budding and grafting, you can make sure of a constant and inexpensive supply of organically raised plants for the entire garden.

From Seed

The best way to ensure that everything in your garden has been cultivated organically is to grow as much as possible from seed. Either sow directly into your garden, or start seeds in the greenhouse or under fluorescent lights. Prepare the soil well for sowing outside and use a good mixture if sowing in containers.