Monthly Archives: August 2009

Chemical-free fruits and vegetables are not just pesticide-free. They taste better, too. Now there’s evidence organic produce also has more vitamins than their non-organic counterparts. A single organic apple-a-day is 30 percent higher in antioxidants, bursting with vitamin C and other healthy things.

But growing these is not as simple as switching to organic fertilizer and laying off dangerous pesticides. Here’s what you need to know this year to get the most out of your organic vegetable garden:

1. FULL SUN LOCATION. It takes a lot of energy to transform nutrients into vegetables. If your vegetable patch is short on Sun, you CANNOT MAKE UP FOR IT with fertilizer, or water, or anything else. Make absolutely certain your plot gets as much Sun as you can find. It’s the only way to succeed with a vegetable garden.

2. AMEND YOUR SOIL. Organic matter is the key to nutrient-rich Soil. That’s because organic gardens do not by definition use chemical fertilizers. Instead of spoon feeding vitamins to the plant, you can build up the microbes in the Soil; it’s these miracle microbes that pour out nutrients. Chemical fertilizers are bad for them.