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By RANDALL DICKERSON Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE (AP) — The tomatoes are done for the year, the corn is in the freezer and the applesauce is being put up. So what do gardeners do now? Anticipating the winter seed catalogs like a child waits for Christmas, gardeners — an increasing number of them first-timers — dream about vegetable varieties they have yet to grow. Ag experts and sales numbers indicate there’s a renewed interest in home gardening.

Danny Seo visits Katherine Whiteside in her organic garden and offers tips for cultivation and green gardening.

The dirt on organic gardening

BY JON VANZILE | SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
July 18, 2008

Maybe a "green thumb" is a misnomer.

Those who keep environmentally sound gardens should call it a "black thumb." After all, they're probably more worried about their dirt than their plants.

"Green gardening" doesn't start with fertilizers labeled "organic," herbicides made from kitchen products or pesticides that smell suspiciously like last week's fish. Green gardening begins with cleverly disguised manure, mulches and other organic things that are designed to improve soil.

Rose Koenig, owner of Rosie's Organic Farm in Gainesville and an adjunct professor in the University of Florida's organic-agriculture program, has simple advice for anyone who wants to go green: "Get a soil test."

For the past several years people have become more health conscious, thus learning about the true benefits of eating organic foods. Besides the long-term health benefits of changing your eating style to include foods that are organically grown, there are also health benefits that deal directly with specific food related diseases. Since the introduction of processed foods to the Western world, the annual rate of consumers who are affected by food-borne illnesses and pathogens has risen significantly. Diseases such as e-coli and salmonella are seen much more frequently since the introduction of processed foods. These illnesses are no longer confined to meat products. Fruits and vegetables are being found with pathogens that cause serious illness in consumers. This is also true in other parts of the world. When newly processed foods are introduced, consumers begin to notice a sharp increase in the number of people who are affected by food-related illnesses.