Most good organic gardeners will tell you that they don't grow plants, they grow soil. Essentially the more organic material you can add to your soil the darker and richer it will get and the happier your plants will be. The two main ways to create this deep, dark, rich soil is through 1. composting and 2. cover crops. We will cover the use of both in future articles.

In the meantime, a great way to start is to have your soil tested to see what nutrients (nitrogen, phospherous, zinc) it might be missing. One lab that does this is A&L Laboratories West. For more information, visit their Web site at http://www.al-labs-west.com/