Going organic in your yard is easier than you think.  When you garden, you establish a bond with the earth, its cycles and seasons, its demands and gifts.  The deeper you dig the more you learn about the life of the soil itself.  There's a world of busy beings down there--earth-worms, microorganisms, and good fungi and bacteria--that makes a garden thrive.  When you choose an organic approach, forgoing chemically formulated fertilizers, pesticides andherbicides, you take your place in an already successful natural system.

GROUND RULE:  Covering soil between rows with a mulch of compost, shredded leaves, or other organic matter provides more than neatness.  Such a layer also holds moisture that plants need, hinders weed growth, and, as it decays, nourishes roots.

By making compost--high-quality decayed organic matter--and feeding your soil with it, "you become part of the earth's natural process of birth, death, and resurrection."

You can encourage this rebirth when you mow the law, too, by leaving grass clippings where the mower scatters them.  Besides recycling material that would otherwise get bagged with the garbage, you're fertilizing the lawn with the nitrogen it needs.  Chemical fertilizers tend to create lifeless soil, which lacks the billions of unseen helpers that allow it to replenish itself.  And because fertilizer is soluble, any runoff containing chemicals contributes to groundwater pollution.  And chemical treatments such as pesticides and herbicides can be extremely bad for you, your children, or your pets, as well as for the beneficial bugs, worms and soil components that plants need to be healthy and disease-resistant.

Fortunately, one of the most compelling reasons to do without these types of treatments involves pleasure rather than guilt or deprivation.  Your vegetables will taste better and your garden will be more beautiful.

13 KEYS TO SUCCESS

• ALTER YOUR THINKING.  Instead of drawing battle lines between yourself and garden "enemies," such as leaf-eating insects, set out to appreciate nature's "elegant design."  If there are elements you believe have been "mean" to us, maybe we don't understand the whole picture.  It's essential to see the garden in terms of good health--not disease--and to aim to nurture a vital ecosystem rather than eliminate specific problems.
• BEGIN COMPOSTING.  To make compost, build or buy an enclosure that is at least three feet square, and then pile in alternating layers of nitrogen-rich "green" and carbon-rich "brown" waste.  The green layers, which include kitchen-vegetable scraps and lawn clippings, should be one to six inches thick; the brown--straw and shredded leaves--ought to be about three inches deep.  Spread a scant inch of soil on top of each green layer.  Cover the pile, and keep moist but not wet; turn with a garden fork every few weeks to speed decomposition, or simply leave the pile alone.  In a few months to a couple of years you will have the desired result:  a dark, crumbly, sweetly fragrant substance reminding you of fudgy cake.  Until your homemade mix is ready, buy commercially available compost that's labeled "100 percent organic."
• ENRICH THE SOIL.  Soil with a nearly neutral pH (6 to 6.8) constitutes the ideal growing ground for most plants, and this is best achieved by adding compost.  It supplies a broad range of nutrients; supports the soil's fertility, moisture retention, aeration, beneficial structure, and stable temperature; and helps neutralize soil pH, a contributor to plant health.  Mixing in rock powders (rock phosphate, greensand and Azomite--all available at garden centers and nurseries) ensures that along with the major nutrients plants require, you're providing a full range of micronutrients in a slow-release, as-needed form.  Shovel a few inches of compost onto the soil's surface, dust on rock powders and till these materials into the soil to a depth of six to eight inches.
• CHOOSE THE RIGHT PLANTS.  The right plants might be a tomato bred for resistance to wilt, if that's a problem where you garden, or a variety that the leaf beetle doesn't eat.  Or, if you live in an area visited by hordes of cabbage moths, you may simply have to stop growing cabbage.  This also includes picking a lawn variety suited to your climate:  Bermuda grass or tall fescue, for example, in dry, hot western valleys; Kentucky bluegrass or perennial rye in the cooler, wetter North.
• SPREAD MULCH.  Soil that has been covered with a layer of shredded bark chips or leaves, and other quick-to-decompose organic debris (including hay or compost), holds moisture better, supports fewer weeds, maintains temperatures more evenly, and grows richer over time as the mulch decays.  This is how nature works, feeding from the top down.  Tom and I use straw to keep the weeds down between rows.  The straw is also used in the chicken nests so they give us a nice "fertilizer" back for the garden.
• USE NATURAL FERTILIZERS.  Once you have worked to create a good, well-structured soil with plenty of beneficial bacteria and microorganisms, you may need no additional fertilizer other than an annual springtime surface application of an inch of compost.  Also adding dried seaweed or alfalfa meal contain every trace element.  Alternatives include bone meal and composted manure.
• LET AIR INTO THE SOIL.  Healthy soil is 25 percent air; from time to time we need to replenish the air that is lost through settling, compaction, and root growth.  But rather than using a rotary tiller or cultivating deeply, which can damage soil structure, use a garden fork or old-fashioned broadfork to make holes eight inches deep.  This sends down air in selective spots, instead of churning up all the soil.  Aeration is especially important for laws and annuals, such as vegetables, which do not develop the deep, extensive root systems that many perennials establish. 
• USE NATURAL PEST CONTROL.  Insect pests signal plant stress, and you can shrink their numbers by giving plants what they need.  A timely mulching of potatoes, say, can head off the Colorado potato beetle.  Other plants may even act as pest magnets:  For example, nasturtiums draw pesky aphids, which, in turn, attract aphid predators, such as ladybugs.  So consider planting some nasturtiums near your aphid-prone roses.  For larger pests, such as Japanese beetlesand squash bugs, handpicking can help prevent a small problem from getting big.
• ROTATE CROPS.  When you grow edibles, rotate planting locations annually.  This prevents roots from leeching excessive nutrients out of the soil and discourages the buildup of plant-specific pest populations.
• STAY ON TOP OF WEEDS.  Cultivate between plants with light hoeing, uprooting weeds while they're still small enough to dry out and die on the soil's surface.  From then on, use the mulch with organic material, to discourage new weed growth until plants are big enough to cover the ground.  To head off weed growth on lawns, sow grass seed over bare spots as soon as they appear. 
• DON'T OVERWATER.  Healthy, well-placed laws act as environmental filters, trapping runoff from roofs and paved surfaces and absorbing pollutants that otherwise flow into storm drains.  Laws improperly treated with chemicals, can contribute to the runoff problem when overwatered.  Excessive watering also encourages harmful plant fungus in the garden.  Use ground level drip tape and soaker hoses instead of sprinklers, which wastefully spray water into the air rather than directing it to roots.
• BE OBSERVANT.  The caterpillar you want to banish from your herbs might turn into a swallowtail butterfly, which, besides being beautiful, can help pollinate plants.  The more aware you are of complex, ongoing life cycles--of creatures flitting in and out, playing their natural roles--the more horrified you feel about spraying, dusting and drenching them to death.  And the likelier you are to tolerate a few harmless holes in your dill and fennel.
• SET REALISTIC GOALS.  An attractive lawn need not be a weed-free emerald carpet.  The rewards are many by giving up some vegetable space for flowers.  In addition to providing color in the garden and cutting looms for the house, a variety of plants will draw beneficial insects and birds, making your yard a more enjoyable habitat for everyone.

REMEMBER, THE BEST REASONS TO DO WITHOUT CHEMICAL TREATMENTS IN THE GARDEN INVOLVE PLEASURE AND BEAUTY!!