How to Compost, Water and Plant an Organic Garden

Cultivate your soil to break it up and ready it for planting. Dig up and remove the top 6 inches of soil in your garden, then use a garden fork to pierce and mix the next 4 to 6 inches of soil. This aerates the entire garden and is a good organic tool for increasing root growth without using synthetic fertilizer.

Mix organic compost into the soil you dug up and removed to end with a mixture of half natural soil and half organic compost. The compost provides long-term nutrition and drainage for plants, and retains moisture around their roots. This soil amendment replaces synthetic fertilizers and plant food. Shovel your amended soil back into your garden site to build the bed up.

Broadcast organic fertilizer granules across the amended soil and mix them into the top 2 inches of soil with your garden fork, to further increase the long-term nutrition in the site.

Plant organic vegetable seeds or seedlings to ensure a truly organic garden. Read the labels on the seeds and seedlings when you purchase them to make sure they are organic, or purchase from an organic retailers. Give each seed or seedling its recommended planting depth and spacing.

Water the garden with 2 to 3 inches of water to settle the soil and help the seedlings establish, then add 2 to 3 inches of organic mulch to the soil to help maintain soil moisture and warmth. As the mulch breaks down, it will add more nutrition to the soil. Mulch will minimize weed growth and eliminate the need for synthetic weed killers. Maintain this mulch layer throughout the growing season.