Successful Organic Vegetables

Basic Principles

• To successfully raise organic vegetables, you cannot simply follow a set of rules. Rather, you need to understand this gardening system that places higher value on long-term crop stability than short-term maximum production. Two areas that distinguish organic from conventional agriculture are methods of soil fertilization and pest control.

Soil Management

• The first step to successful organic vegetable gardening is healthy, fertile soil. A common saying of organic gardeners is "feed the soil, not the plant," which means to create sufficient nutrient reserves in the soil to feed growing vegetable plants. Organic gardeners do this by adding abundant quantities of organic matter, such as animal and plant manures, compost and lime, to the soil.

Pest Control

• Successful organic pest control is a twofold process. First, plant disease-resistant varieties and vegetables that suffer little damage from pests, such as beets, chard, onions, peas, spinach, sweet potatoes and turnips. If vegetables suffer an infestation, organic controls are available, including rotenone, pyrethrum, neem, kaolin and hot pepper sprays.