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Organic is a term you hear a lot about lately. Organic food, organic gardening, an “organic lifestyle,” are all terms that are being bandied about frequently.

Why be organic? Perhaps because everything we do affects us in some way. Using harmful chemicals to kill weeds and insects will come back to haunt you or your descendents — the substances do not just “go away.” They remain in the soil, the air, seep down into the groundwater, kill beneficial insects, harm birds, and eventually become part of us.

If you decide you want to be more eco-friendly and you want to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals in your environment and in you — go organic this year. Here are the basics — enough for a beginning to your organic garden.

Attitude

To go organic you must be a little more accepting of a few weeds here and there, and stop thinking that your yard and garden must be “bug-free.” When you spray for insects you are killing both good and bad insects. This upsets the balance in nature – there are far more beneficial insects than harmful ones.

Soil

The basic tenet of organic gardening is “Feed the soil, not the plants.”

When you build good soil, it helps your plants be healthy and beautiful. Stressed plants living in poor barren soil actually attract pests and disease. Healthy plants in healthy soil are able to fend off most disease and insect pests.

How to build your soil organically? First of all, stop using chemical fertilizers such as Miracle-Gro — it actually harms the soil. Stop using chemical weed killers and fungicides. Stop rototilling — tilling disturbs the delicate structure of the soil and causes it to retain less water, brings weed seeds to the surface to grow, and is extra work that is not needed.

Add organic material to your garden every chance you get. Here are some free soil amendments: Shredded leaves, coffee grounds, vegetable and fruit peels, wood ashes, grass clippings, and rabbit or guinea pig manure. Chop up fruit and veggie parts as small as you can to help them break down faster. Other good things to add are organic compost (only labeled organic) and alfalfa pellets (very cheap at a feed store).

Many experts don’t recommend bagged cow manure any more. Cows are fed antibiotics and other drugs and it remains in their manure and can suppress growth in your plants. Add all these amendments right on top of the soil, make shallow holes to put it in, or slip it under the mulch — this is all called “sheet composting.” If you have room, start a compost pile.

Mulch

Mulch everywhere in your garden — it conserves water, helps maintain even moisture, and keeps your plants’ roots cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Shredded hardwood mulch works very well for any ornamental garden areas. Lay down six to 10 layers of newspapers before you lay down the mulch to suppress weeds. It will all eventually break down and be part of the soil — then you just add more newspapers and more mulch. In a vegetable garden, use straw, grass clippings, alfalfa hay, or just newspapers and cardboard for mulch. Mulch after you have planted or pull mulch aside and plant.

Planting

Use as many native plants in your landscape as you can. When selecting plants, pay close attention to what they like; sun, shade, etc.

Fit the plant to the location. If you plant a sun-loving plant such as a rose in a shady area, the plant will never perform the way it should. “Mix things up,” or in other words, plant a variety of things, so that if one plant gets attacked, there are others than are fine.

Also, mix herbs and flowers in with your vegetable garden to attract beneficial insects and pollinators. Marigolds in particular repel harmful nematodes in the soil — plant them all through your vegetable garden.

Plant things closer together so as not to leave room for weeds. If a plant is constantly having a problem, get rid of it – there are plenty of other choices in the plant world!

Fertilizers

When you use chemicals it creates the artificial need to fertilize constantly because the soil is barren and dead. If you keep adding good organic materials to your soil every year — creating a “living” soil — little or no extra fertilizers are really needed. For extra-hungry plants such as tomatoes, peppers, other veggies, roses, and annuals in containers, use the following mixture about every two weeks. For each gallon of water put in 1 tablespoon fish emulsion, 1 tablespoon seaweed powder or liquid, and 1 tablespoon of molasses. For tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and roses also add 1 tablespoon of Epsom salt. Mix well and water your plants.

Weeds

Hand pulling is the basic way of getting rid of weeds. Always try to pull weeds before they produce seed. Weed right after a rain when the ground is softer. Chopping them off at the base with a long-handled hoe is good too if they don’t have long taproots like dandelions. If they don’t have seeds yet, lay the weeds right on the soil surface or just under your mulch. Weeds are full of nutrients for your garden, so think of them as free soil enrichment. This also gives sowbugs and slugs something to eat other than your young plants. For sidewalks and driveway cracks boil water in a kettle and pour it on the weeds — they will die immediately. A blowtorch used on weeds works well too. Strong vinegar (10% or 20%) in a spray bottle will work just as well as Round-Up.

Lawns

Leave the clippings on the lawn to break down and add nitrogen to the soil. Use corn gluten in the early spring and fall to prevent weeds from sprouting. Corn gluten works somewhat like Preen – it prevents seeds from sprouting – but it has the added benefit of fertilizing as well. You cannot use too much and it is not harmful to animals or people. Corn gluten looks a bit like rough corn meal and can be put down easily with a spreader. It is sold under various brands.

Ildiko Sherman is a local gardener and columnist. Contact her with gardening questions at Ildiko5@earthlink.net or write c/o The Journal, 52 S. Broad St., Middletown, OH 45044.