Organic gardening has always been my passion. As a young child, from about the age of 12 I grew vegetables for my family which was surprising as my mother, although a very keen gardener, didn't show much interest in growing vegetables.

Instead she had a beautiful, well-planned garden that drew people from far and wide, and her exquisite roses and orchids were her pride and joy. She was a great advocate of natural methods in producing those beautiful blooms, especially with the use of seaweed and barnyard manure. As an adult, and a mother myself, she had me traipsing around with her on the neighbor's dairy farm picking up cow manure to put around her roses.

But it was my great-grandmother, who was the true organic gardener of the family. She always had a brace of freshly trapped hares hanging up in her pantry. Her pantry shelves were lined with the summer's bountiful harvest, sitting snugly in their glass jars. The chickens in the backyard were kept for eggs as well as the pot and which she killed and butchered herself. She grew prize-winning organically grown vegetables, from the many fruit trees she made jams and jellies, she was a wonderful baker, and a staunch believer in organic gardening.

So I guess it is no surprise that I too am a believer of organic vegetable gardening. However, even if it were not in my blood, I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't want to grow organic food, or have a beautiful organic garden perfectly safe for good insects to visit, as well as being safe for your family.

Hundreds of years ago, everything was grown organically. No one grew mono-cultures, there was a balance in nature. The good insects ate the bad insects, and companion planting took care of the rest. Some crop loss was expected and tomatoes off the vine didn't have to be the same size and shape.

It was only our greed for more crops per acre that resulted in the use of artificial fertilizers. Suddenly, the balance of nature, was thrown out of kilter. These artificial fertilizers and the practice of growing mono-cultures caused an increase of damaging insects that then called for damaging chemical pesticides. And as the insects grew more resistant to the chemicals so the chemicals to fight these pests became more and more poisonous.

What is Organic Gardening?

• You need to work with nature, not against it
• You need to honor and practise diversity of nature
• Be a custodian to the native plants and animals in your garden
• Return to the soil what you take out of it
• Feed the soil, rather than the plant
• See nature as something that is holistic and symbiotic rather than items working in isolation

Website: https://www.countryfarm-lifestyles.com/organic-gardening.html#.Xl4m9Kj7SUk