Cindy Taylor, age 11, of Bennettsville, So. Carolina, for her question:

What exactly is organic gardening?

The word "organic" has many meanings and all of them are related to living things. The cells and tissues of living plants and animals are organic substances. The molecules created by living plants and animals are organic chemicals. In this case, every. living plant in any garden must be organic. So it is. But there is a lot more than this at work in an organic garden.

Plants, as we know, need air and sunlight, moisture and suitable soil. In the wild, these basics are provided by nature and there is only enough for certain plants to grow in certain places. When we want to grow our own, we cannot depend on nature to provide suitable supplies for the plants we select to grow in our particular patch of soil. Gardeners have faced this problem since gardening began.

For countless ages, they copied and concentrated nature's methods. They enriched the soil with natural fertilizers, such as manure and decomposing leaves. Bacteria, mites, worms and a multitude of the other busy little bodies that belong in the ground got to work and broke these natural fertilizers down into chemicals that garden plants could use as food. Nowadays we call this method organic gardening. Its secret lies in a soil rich in decaying organic material and teeming with multitudes of busy little bodies just as nature intended.

Then came the Age of Science and everybody looked for new quick ¬and easy ways to perform their age old chores. Farmers and gardeners looked for easy ways to enrich the soil and to eliminate the bugs that attacked their crops. Scientists provided them with concentrated man made chemicals as fertilizers and more concentrated man made chemicals to wipe out insects and other pests.

These shortcuts saved a lot of backaches and for a while they seemed to produce bumper crops. Then it became obvious that at least some of those smart chemicals did more harm than good. Insecticides meant to kill pests also wiped out useful insects and destroyed multitudes of creatures that depend on insect food. Strong chemical fertilizers were too much for the teeming organisms in healthy living soil.

Certain old time gardeners believed, nature's way of doing things was the best way and refused to go along with the newfangled chemicals. Nowadays, we call them organic gardeners. Their fertilizers are suitable waste materials, recycled by busy organisms in the healthy, living soil. And every organic gardener has a Sunday hatful of tricks to outsmart the pesky bugs but none of them include artificial chemicals.

Right now, we are facing food shortages and many families plan to grow their own fruits and vegetables. The sensible ones will study up on organic gardening to make sure that they work hand in glove with mother nature. That way their products will be healthy and free from artificial chemicals. What's more, the food from organic gardens often tastes a lot better.