No matter how much you scrub, pesticide residues won’t completely come off of fruits and vegetables. But organic food at the grocery store might be out of your budget. What's a Mom to do? If you want organic food without paying high prices, start your own organic garden. You can have your organic and eat it too!

How To Start an Organic Garden

The best products to grow on your own are strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, greens like kale, and Swiss chard. These fruits and vegetables are relatively easy to care for. They will also keep producing year after year as long as you take care of them.



I remember my Mom coming in from her garden in the summer, red faced and exhausted. I hated helping her in the garden! All those bugs and the sweltering heat... but it doesn't have to be that way. An organic garden can be started outside or in your home. You could even start a container garden.

In your home, the seeds should be grown in large flower pots or containers to leave room for growth. Because the direction of the light changes indoors, make sure that your produce receives an adequate amount of natural light.  To do this, purchase a lighting device that will simulate the sun and provide the needed illumination when there is none inside, like this one.

Outdoors, you have several choices for how to start your organic garden. You can use containers to grow your garden outdoors with minimal fuss. Container gardening avoids the problems of grass and aggressive weeds growing between the plants and stealing the water and nutrients from the soil.

Another option is a “no-dig” raised bed garden. The advantage of this type of organic garden is there is no need to break up the soil or kill the grass that is already there. For those who have clay or other less than ideal soil, a “no-dig” garden is perfect.

Start off by edging off the area that you have chosen for your garden. Cover the soil with pieces of newspaper and/or plastic to kill off the grass and weeds in the area and to prevent them from growing up and choking out your produce. Next, layer the following: hay, stray, fertilizer (organic, of course), and compost. Basically, you are creating your own favorable growing environment for your food.

When planting outside, make sure that the last frost for the winter has passed. This won’t be as important if you are using a “no-dig” raised organic garden. You will, however, need to make sure that the plants you choose for your garden are right for the planting zone that you live in.

Once the garden has been established, experiment with other plants. Peppers are pretty easy to grow. Pretty soon you will only have to buy a few fruits and vegetables from the grocery store because you will have a thriving organic garden within your home or your backyard.

Organic gardening sounds difficult but it actually is not. A large space is not needed, either. Once the garden is set up to your satisfaction, you just have to remember to use all natural ingredients to keep it going. Tips on: organic weed control.