What does organic gardening mean? It's not a weird or alternative form of gardening - the term has been around for quite a few years now. Even the garden tabloids put out by the Extension Service have always had a section on it.

In a nutshell, it's just good gardening - without the use of chemicals. It's how we all gardened before getting sold on unnatural products that promised better yields with less pest damage, but quickly turned out to create some horrific and long-lasting health and ecological disasters.

MIDDLE GROUND

I don't need to get into all that, you are already aware of many examples. But gardeners quickly polarized into "organic" or "conventional" gardeners. Truth is, just like with politics, most of us are reasonably in the middle.

I will admit to being on both sides of the fence myself. I have had articles and a book published by Rodale Press (the Organic Gardening magazine folks), but I also occasionally use a little Miracle Grow and every now and then some Roundup. I'm not scared of chemicals, I just don't depend on or overuse them.

NO LIFE SUPPORT

Still, what I practice is reasonably close to organic gardening. I choose plants that don't depend on a lot of artificial life support (regular irrigation, etc.). I use homemade compost, mulches that decompose to "feed" the soil and natural fertilizers that encourage earthworms and beneficial microorganisms in my soil.

By the way, other than choosing good plants, caring for your soil is the key to good gardening!

BENEFICIAL BUGS

I let a few bad bugs slide, which in turn encourages beneficial critters to come around and keep them from getting out of control (can't have lady bugs without a few aphids). I can't remember the last time I used a pesticide spray. And I dare say my flowers look just fine (for the most part). I water wisely, use mechanical weed control (mulching and hand-pulling) and hand tools which are a lot less expensive, noisy and polluting.

Some folks fancy this up by calling it organic gardening, but it's simply what both my great-grandmother and Extension horticulturist Milo Burnham taught me: Good gardening is using improved plants and innovations that don't involve the excess use of chemicals.

Don't be intimidated by extremists or naysayers. You can be a moderate and still find ways to naturally garden smarter.

GARDEN TIPS