A genuine method of organic farming will use organic fertilisers, mulches and weed-killers.

It is important to remember that when you use plant food and organic lawn fertilisers, the results will take a little longer but they are longer lasting and healthier.

Some examples of naturally occurring organic fertilisers include manure, worm castings, slurry, seaweed, sewage, and guano. Specially grown green manure crops can also be used to add nutrients to the soil.

Naturally occurring minerals such as mine rock phosphate, limestone and sulfate of potash are also considered organic fertilisers.

The modern organic fertilisers include high humus content and slow release fertilisers as well as traditional soil amendments. There’s also a new approach using biofeeds. Many organic fertilisers have also been specially developed to suit specific plants or particular garden and seasonal needs.

A range of manufactured organic fertilisers is available today and includes compost, bone meal, seaweed extracts, natural enzyme digested proteins, fish meal, and feather meal.

The key to successful organic fertilisers is the right application and use. Especially with inorganic liquid feed, timing, quantity and composition are critical.

If not used in the right manner, it may result in hard thin growth on leafy vegetables, poor flowering, increase in plant disease and micronutrient deficiencies.

The most important advantage of using organic fertilisers is that they are free of toxic chemicals and are biologically active, while artificial fertilisers inhibit or destroy soil microbial life.

That’s one of the main reasons compost is preferred over many other products. Once anything has been packaged in plastic and stored for any length of time, the biological activity dies off. If you intend to use commercial fertiliser products, you can try to mix it with a bit of good compost so that microbial life is stimulated.

Fertiliser made from municipal sludge (sometimes called ‘biosolids’) may be sold as organic fertiliser, but should usually not be used in the organic garden since sludge contains heavy metals that contaminate the soil and the food grown in it. You can either buy only certified organic fertilisers, or make your own.

Using organic mulches is also an important part of organic farm production. Many inorganic mulches may seal the soil from the elements keeping out moisture and oxygen, depriving soil micro-organisms of their life support system. Some organic types of mulches to consider are garden compost, autumn leaves, grass clippings, woodchips and bark, corrugated cardboard, and Hessian-backed woollen carpets or rugs.

Organic farming is a holistic approach of growing plants and producing genuine organic consumer products.

And with a pure organic approach the plants can usually get the right proportions of nutrients: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), the big three nutrients required by plants for good growth.