My friends tell me that I am obsessed, and maybe I am. I think my partner is obsessed, in his case it's golf, but as yet I haven't heard any of his friends telling him that he is obsessed.

The compelling joy of being a gardening enthusiast is the creativity of it, because you can see really tangible results for your labour. Watching your favorite roses blooming, or the pleasure of eating your own home grown vegetables, well, I think that takes a lot of beating.

However each to his own!

One of the reasons why I enjoy writing articles on my passion, is because I know that they will be read by people who most likely share my enthusiasm, and can relate to what I am talking about.

One hears the term "Organic" so much nowadays, that I decided to do some deeper research into the suject, and I am sharing with you in this article some brief findings from that research.

So the following paragraphs summarize some of the work of various gardening experts who are completely familiar with all aspects of gardening. I must say that I found some of the information totally fascinating.

Since we are discussing the term "Organic" in a gardening context, it might be a useful start to define exactly what that means, so here it is, "Organic gardening is the way of growing vegetables and fruits with the use of things only found in nature".

Really simple isn't it, but most certainly not commonplace any more in today's world I suggest.

Having led up to all of that, a good question might arise as to exactly why you would want to indulge in organic gardening as such! Well, as the title of this articles suggests, here are six good reasons why you should do so, in my opinion at any rate.

1. You can easily make compost from garden and kitchen waste, alhough this is a bit more time consuming than buying prepared chemical pesticides and fertilizers. However it certainly helps to put garbage to good use, and so helps the environment.

2. Organic farming does not use chemicals that may have an adverse affect on your health, which is especially important when growing vegetables. The chemical companies do tell us that the chemicals we use are safe, provided that they are used according to direction.

Research has shown however that even tiny amounts of poisons absorbed through the skin can cause such things as cancer, especially in children. Quite a sobering thought is it not!

On average, a child ingests four to five times more cancer-causing pesticides from foods than an adult, which could lead to various diseases later on in the child's life. Remember, pesticides contain toxins that have only one purpose, which is to kill living things!

With organic gardening, these incidents are lessened.

3. Less harm is caused to the environment, because poisons are not washed into our waterways to give but one example, causing death to the native fish and polluting their habitat in most cases.

4. Organic farming practices also help prevent the loss of topsoil through erosion. The Soil Conservation Service says that an estimated 30 - 32 billion tons of soil is eroded from United States farmlands every year, and that's only one country.

4. Cost savings, because you do not need to buy costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides with organic gardening. Many organic recipes for the control of pest and disease come straight from the kitchen cupboard, and sometimes other plants can even be grown as companions to the main crop. One example of this is the marigold, which helps to repel aphids from vegetables.

Mixing 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing soap, and 1 cup of cooking oil, can make a cheap garden pest spray for example. Put 3 tablespoons of this mixture in 1 quart of water and spray on to your plants. You will find this to be very effective!

5. A simple mulch of pine needles will help to suppress the growth of weeds, as well as keeping the moisture in. Another simple and much safer solution!

6. Organic gardening practices are much more likely to help keep the environment safe for future generations, and all of us who are responsible ciitizens, should always bear this in mind

The whole subject which is part of an on going worldwide debate, is far too complex to cover in such a short article, but I do hope that at least I have left you with some food for thought.

Imagine the overall benefits to be had in our environment, by many people undertaking even some small changes.