My back hurts, my arms ache and I'm sunburned.  With the soil warming up to temperatures favorable to seed sprouting, the farmer in all of us is ready to take hoe in hand and test the hortacultural waters.  I'm planting a garden this year and it's hard work.

Planting and weeding a garden is not for the faint of heart, or maybe it is.  Part of my rehabilitation from recent heart surgery, is the exercise I'm getting from working my little plot of soil.  My doctor gave me his permission to do this as long as I didn't grow Broccoli.  He says there is enough of that plant in the world already.

My garden is on a friend's property; mine has a line of trees, practically all shade and no sun.  His property is large, but not as gigantic as it was before the Civil War as one of the largest plantations in Alabama, encompassing thousands of acres. 

While I'm working the soil, I look out at the shells of two old broken down fireplaces that once warmed the dwellings of sharecroppers and tenant farmers on the old plantation.   Just a few feet away from those stone markers, my corn is breaking the surface of the ground, unaware that they're in the presence of history.

There are steps in developing a garden and all of these require work.  Luckily the ground was plowed a few weeks before I began my work, so I didn't have to break up the soil.  Here are the steps I used in planting my garden:

After the ground is plowed, lay out straight rows.  It's a sin in the south to have crooked rows. My rows are as straight as an arrow flies.  I do this by tying a bright red nylon string between two stakes that I've driven into the ground on each side of the garden.

Dig a furrow with a hoe by following the nylon line.  Sprinkle fertilizer in the furrow and then mix the soil and fertilizer together with the hoe.  I use 13-13-13 blend for my garden.  The trick is to pour the correct amount into the furrow; too little and the plants won't spring out of the ground and flourish.  Too much and the plants will burn when they escape from the soil.

Sew the seed in the furrow, about 4 inches apart.  I don't adhere to this rule very well.  I just scatter a lot of seed in the row and thin them to suit if they all germinate, which about one in four don't. 

Instructions on the seed packets show us precisely how deep and how far apart to plant the seeds.  I have a lot of trouble with this step of the process.  It's difficult to spread only ½ inch of soil over the seeds.  One packet said to plant corn one and a quarter inches deep.  I don't worry about such precision.  It's not like someone is coming behind me with a tape measure.

A lot of my time is spent resting. In between breaks I plant corn, purple hull peas, and squash and watermelon seeds.  I drop tomato and pepper plants into the holes I've dug as I follow the red string.

Spreading mulch under the tomato plants result in larger plants and larger fruit because mulching keeps the ground water from drying up as fast as it ordinarily would.  Mulching leaves around pepper plants doesn't work for me because they shrivel up and die. I don't why that happens, but it does. 

The joys of gardening have just begun for me.  By the time the peas, corn and tomatoes have really started to grow, insects have discovered them.  There are many proven insecticides on the market. 

You can choose one of these to kill bugs or you can plant flowers such as Daisies and Marigolds.  They've never worked well for me, but they do add a touch of class to the garden.

 Hopefully something I buy or plant will one will kill the bugs on my squash, which appear to be in dire peril from all the holes it its leaves.  By the time I've conquered the battle of the bugs, weeds will have over run my little piece of horticultural heaven.

Gardening takes a lot of effort, but the work  I put into my garden will not have been in vain if I get through the growing season without another heart attack.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to plant vegetables. But if you want to do this the old fashioned way which has been proven to be very effective, you should know the organic vegetable gardening basics.

The first thing you have to know is what is organic vegetable gardening? It is simply a way of farming that does not use any synthetic products which includes fertilizers and pesticides. In short, you work with nature to get what you want.

When choosing the right vegetable to plant is knowing which of these are suitable to the soil and the climate. If you live in an area that experiences droughts, buy those that do not consume that much water.

Before you drop seeds into the soil, make sure the land is ready by tilling the land so it is clear both of rocks and weeds.

The next step will be to add compost, bone meal or rock phosphate and greensand to the soil to supply it with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. If the pH level of the soil is too high, add lime or sulphur to adjust it.

One more thing you have to do before planting the seeds is putting in organic fertilizer. You can use recycled leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds, eggshells and kitchen waste which should be applied a month before planting begins.

Then it is time to plant the seeds. Each seed must be spaced by a certain distance the roots do not fight for water. In between each of the vegetables, you can plant other things as well because the tighter the space, the lesser the chances that weeds will grow.

Pests are the biggest threat to your organic garden. To fight them, you can use birds, frogs or other insects. You don't have these creatures to fend off other insects. You simply have to create the ideal environment by putting a bird house or a small pond. Once they are in place, they will do the rest by patrolling your garden and eating those who seek to eat your crops.

Putting up a few barriers can also help. Row covers are known to prevent moths from landing and laying eggs. You can also use sticky traps and foil collars to stop pests and borers.

There are also organic pesticides around but some of them can only kill one or two kinds of pests. So before you buy them, make sure you know what you are dealing with.

Crop rotation is the best way to preserve the fertility of the soil. This is done after you harvest the vegetables so it is ready for planting once again. For this to work, you have to plant in the same area a different vegetable.

Anyone can learn organic vegetable gardening basics and soon have their own little farm in their backyard. It is fresh and you can pick this anytime you want which is very convenient as these are only a few feet from your home.

Should everyone get into organic vegetable gardening? Perhaps because there is a food shortage right now and most of the vegetables imported do not use this technique. The government for its part has given incentives to farmers here to shift to this method but its going to take more effort to persuade countries that do business with the US to do the same thing.