It occurs to me, on this hot July afternoon, that after all of the columns I have written for this good paper, I have never really clarified what organic gardening is.

Granted, I may be trying to close the barn door after the horses have escaped, but this is a topic I am still learning about every day. So allow me to explain the different approaches, and perhaps this will clarify why I am so passionate about this method of gardening.

To start, we should probably have a working definition of what organic gardening means. Throughout my research, I have found some of the best information to come from various Web sites.

For instance, iVillage.com gives us a simple definition: "Organic gardening - the science and art of gardening by incorporating the entire landscape design and environment to improve and maximize the garden soil's health, structure, texture, as well as maximize the production and health of developing plants without using synthetic commercial fertilizers, pesticides or fungicides."

Armed with this definition, the Web site goes on to define several classifications of organic gardener. The types are all similar to each other, yet different at the same time.

To help you understand this more fully, I will start with the least strict followers and end with the most fervent.

The first group is the natural gardeners. They share a lot of the same premises as the second group, but are not as strict in their choice of soil amendments. They will use a safe natural product that has good organic matter in it, even if it makes minimal use of preservatives, colorings, etc. Natural soil amendments are blood meal, bone meal, fish emulsion, kelp spray, cottonseed meal, cattle feeds, etc.

The second group is labeled organic gardeners, and they follow the teachings of people like Sir Albert Howard and J. I. Rodale.

Gardening is a year-round activity for them. Economics, common sense and environmental concerns drive the focus of their philosophy. All composting and green manuring techniques are key to this way of life.

Organic soil amendments are grass clippings, hay, straw, animal manures, human urine, leaves, dolomitic limestone, greensand, etc.

The third group of organic gardeners can be called biodynamic gardeners, and they follow a lot of what the organic gardeners do but they go a step further. Rudolph Steiner is the primary founder of this philosophy.

These gardeners believe strongly in gardening during appropriate astrological signs, religion, critical seasons of the year, etc. They are adamant about what organic materials go into their compost at certain specific times (special uses of comfrey and stinging nettle in compost piles during special times of the year).

Their focus is not maximizing crop production, like the organic gardening people, but maximizing the physical and spiritual needs of nature. They use special soil amendments like stinging nettle, comfrey, yarrow and dandelions in many of their gardening functions.

And certainly, we cannot leave out the gardeners who use permaculture. This is the practice of organic gardening where gardeners use only materials on their land to recycle to make compost, soil amendments, fertilizers, etc. for their gardens. No buying or getting of organic material or natural fertilizers from outside or commercial sources.

Truth be told, I have probably used bits and pieces of all four of these disciplines at some time. What they all have in common is that they are all environmentally friendly.

This is the crux of the issue. Not that I am going to condemn all modern research in horticulture and agriculture. There have been a tremendous number of advances in the increase of production of both edible and ornamental plants.

But while we cannot denounce modern science and technology where horticulture is concerned, there have been many mistakes along the way.

To quote Geoff Hamilton from Organic Gardening: "The dramatic turnaround from scarcity to plenty over the past century has been achieved at the expense of a massive and ever-increasing input of chemicals and with little thought of tomorrow."

My message to you is simple. If you are going to go out and garden, understand first that nature has spent millennia establishing a delicate balance where no one factor dominates.

Organic gardeners try to maintain that delicate balance by not using chemicals and by replenishing the soil in natural ways.

Whenever we garden, we are intervening with Mother Nature. It is our responsibility to give consideration to the gardeners who will come after us.

Kristin Rust can be reached at kristin@newleafconsult.com.