ORGANIC Gardening GM, BSE, HFCJD, pesticide residues in our fruit and vegetables, the environmental damage of high nitrate levels as a consequence of inorganic fertiliser application...so the list goes on and on, and on.

Hardly a day goes by without some new scare about what we are eating. I have just been abroad, and the latest one is–can you believe it–Italian and Spanish olive oil. It is alleged that that bastion of health has not been produced as it should and is full of carcinogens!

Oh well, some things are out of our control, but the fresh fruit and vegetables that we eat need not be.

With a bit of patience we can grow our own. Moreover, if we abandon pesticides and use organic fertilisers and composts, especially those made at home from kitchen waste, we can grow organically.

You can choose to grow old-fashioned varieties, which often have a much better taste and are sometimes more pest resistant. And although surveys that will tell you that no one can tell the difference, and it is all psychosomatic, I am sure that freshly harvested organic produce - particularly vegetables - definitely taste better. And then there is the personal satisfaction of having grown it all yourself.

So how do you grow organically? Well, the basic tenets are that you should not apply the toxic chemicals most of us use to kill weeds, pests and diseases, and only use organic manures and fertilisers.

You will also help encourage wildlife, particularly insects and birds, and this in turn can help preserve what are beginning to become less and less common visitors to our gardens. Furthermore, many wild creatures have a beneficial presence, for example ladybirds eat aphids, snails are a favourite food of thrushes, hedgehogs devour slugs, and a wildlife pond is a place that will support amphibians such as frogs, which also have an appetite for slugs.

So, here are my top tips for growing organically.

The first area that can be dealt with organically is the lawn. The 'perfect' lawn requires loads of chemicals and work, so why not take a less effortful approach? Leave the lawn a little longer and either dig out the weeds by hand or leave them in and think of them not as weeds but wild flowers. The beds and borders should be fed and the soil improved with home-made compost.

Home-made compost is easy, all you need is a compost bin to fill with your kitchen waste, let it rot down and there you have it, perfect for the garden.

And when it comes to planting the beds, leave a patch to go wild and encourage those species that benefit wild life-like open-faced flowers such as Californian poppies, Echinacea and fennel attract pest-eating bugs.

As far as vegetables are concerned, again the beds can be treated using home-made compost but this may be supplemented with well-rotted horse manure, and organic fertilisers such as 6X or Rooster Booster.

One tip though–do not apply too much nitrogen or your crops will put on huge growth of leaves and not much else.

A simple technique to aid pests control is to walk the garden daily and squash pests between your fingers or under your wellies. In summer, spray with dilute washing-up detergent and interplant with marigolds to reduce aphids. In the greenhouse try biological controls and sticky yellow plastic sheets to kill bugs. Cut holes into it and plant through it. Use organic seed and grow some of the old varieties that you cannot buy in the shops today, and which may have natural resistance attack.

Organic garden makes sense because you are creating an environment that is pesticide free and has a rich diversity of wildlife. And so long as we have enough produce to eat, who are we to grudge a little to the odd 'pest' if it helps sustain our country's biodiversity.