Start gardening: even beginners can reap plentiful pesticide-free produce - includes related article on making compost and list of resources

Vegetarian Times, April, 1995 by Ellie MacDougall

WHEN I STARTED GARDENING organically 25 years ago, most people weren't even sure what the term "organic" meant. Growing food without chemicals was considered quite radical. Despite the occasional odd glance, however, I persisted. Over the course of two decades, I went from growing my own tomatoes on the back porch of our city apartment to having a home garden to farming organically for profit. It was a concept that just plain made sense to me--growing food using Mother Nature's ingredients rather than concoctions born in a chemist's laboratory.

The principles of organic gardening are so simple that it would have been difficult for me to fail, even in the beginning. And no matter how little you know about gardening, by following a few simple guidelines, you too can successfully grow pesticide-free produce.

Planning Your Plot

YOUR FIRST TASK is choosing where to plant your garden. The site should receive at least six hours of direct sunlight daily, and the soil should drain well, with no standing puddles. The area should receive adequate air circulation, yet be protected from strong winds. (Your house or a thicket of trees can act as a shield from the wind.)

After choosing your site, decide how large you want to make your garden. Beware of beginning too ambitiously; tending a plot that's too large can quickly become a chore. A plot 10 feet long by 10 feet wide is large enough for some tomato plants, lettuce, a bush variety of cucumber plant (which won't send out sprawling vines), radishes, an endlessly productive zucchini plant, herbs and some flowers.

Once you've chosen your site, draw out a garden plan; this plan will ensure maximum productivity by giving each plant room to grow. Measure the dimensions of the plot and draw a scale model on graph paper, using, for example, a one-inch square to represent one foot.

As you draw your plan, keep in mind each plant's space requirements at maturity--the little tomato plants you put out in the spring will take up three feet of space by the end of summer. Consider laying out your garden design in blocks instead of the more familiar rows. Because you don't have to allow as much space for paths, this will enable you to plant more.

Blocks containing a variety of plants encourage mini-gardens of vegetables, herbs and flowers, and are more diverse than single rows that alternate just two plants. Single crops crowded together are more susceptible to disease, so the diversity of blocks can mean healthier plants. Make each block just wide enough so you can comfortably reach the middle from each side.

The layout of your garden depends in part on what it is you want to plant. Some crops, such as lettuce, radishes and spinach, mature quickly and will be short-term residents, unless you plant and harvest them several times during the summer. Other plants, such as tomatoes, eggplant and peppers, will grow over the course of the entire season. Perennial herbs and flowers will remain in the same spot year after year, requiring an increasing amount of space each year.

Be sure to save your garden plan to use as a reference for rotating crops next year. Besides depleting the soil of nutrients, leaving plants in the same spot each year encourages disease and soil-borne insect predators. No annual plant should go in the same spot two years in a row. Waiting three years before putting a plant in the same spot works even better.

Feed the Soil, Not the Plants

PROPER SOIL PREPARATION is the key to successful organic gardening. The goal is to feed the soil, which in turn will feed your plants. Begin by testing your soil to find out precisely what you've got to work with. Contact your local Cooperative Extension Service (most counties and some universities have one; look in the phone book under "Cooperative," "Extension" or your county name) to find out what is required for a soil test. (Home test kits are available at garden-supply stores, but their results are not as accurate or complete.)

A soil test will measure pH, the soil's acidity or alkalinity. The recommended pH for a vegetable garden is 6.8. The test results should include guidelines for adjusting the pH, for example, how much lime to add to acid soils or how much sulfur to add to alkaline soils. (Both are available at gardening centers.) The test also should analyze the amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium and other elements in the soil that are critical for healthy plants. The testing agency may suggest nutriments to balance these elements; when you mail off your sample, be sure to enclose a note stating that you intend to garden organically so the tester does not suggest chemicals.

Some of the nitrogen sources the tester may suggest can be problematic, especially for vegetarians: Bonemeal is a slaughterhouse byproduct, fish emulsion is a fish-processing byproduct, cottonseed meal is subject to heavy pesticide use and urea, or crystallized animal urine, is so processed it can no longer be considered even remotely natural. If nitrogen is a problem for your soil, and you are opposed to using animal byproducts, your best bet may be to plant a nitrogen-fixing cover crop this first year and start your vegetables the next. In my garden, I plant a patch of legumes, which fix nitrogen into the soil, then plow them under and plant vegetables in that spot the next year. If you have an organic growers' association in your state, you may want to become a member; these associations can help locate esoteric organic nutrients.