Organic Gardening Ideas

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Organic Gardening Ideas

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Instead of chemicals in your soil and on your food, why not try organic gardening?You can go all out and make your whole yard into a garden, or start small with a few pots, plants or small garden area! 

Actually, if it’s your first garden, it’s better to start small.Gardeners tend to plant more than they can reasonably care for. After all, everything looks so great in those gardening catalogs!Gardening is a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work.Once you got into the hoeing and weeding and harvesting, you’d likely wish you hadn’t planted such a big garden.It’s much better to start small and work your way up to a bigger garden as you gain experience!

On Location…

Like the real estate agents are fond of saying, “It’s all about location, location, location.While some plants grow in the shade, generally speaking, vegetables needs a whole lot of sun to do well.Plentiful sunshine is one thing you can’t provide artifically, even if you had a bunch of artificial lights. With the price of electricity, it would hardly be practical.

Practically speaking, you just can’t have any kind of garden without ample sunshine.  Put your pots or garden plot where the plants will get at least 6 hours of sun a day for best results.Though it’s good to have a garden close to the house to allow easy acces, sometimes shade from trees or the house make it impossible.Easy access is good. Sunshine is better. In fact, it’s a must.

There must be plenty of sunshine for your garden area, but it also needs to drain well so plants don’t sit in water.It’s great to have fertile soil, but you can always add soil amendments if needed.

Down and Dirty

Adding compost will help your soil no matter what type it is.To improve the soil so plants will grow better, you can also use natural fertilizers and organic materials.Double digging or tilling materials into the soil will easily mix them in where roots can reach them since most vegetable roots are in the top 6 inches of soil.

Time to Plant

Seed catalogs and nurseries are brimming with all types of vegetables.Of course you need to choose vegetables you enjoy eating, but you also need to be sure to get plants that will thrive in your area.Long season crops like sweet potatoes, for instance, wouldn’t do so well in the far north, while a cool climate crop like peas wouldn’t last in the heat of a southern summer.

Organic material mulched around your vegetables will discourage weeds from growing, help conserve water, plus add humus and nutrients to the soil.It’s a super way to improve your garden soil, keep weeds at bay, and help your plants grow better!

Don’t Let Them Bug You

Where there’s lovely young plants, there’s bugs looking for a meal.Bugs and caterpillars can be hand picked off plants, or dislodged with a spray of plain or soapy water..  

 Not all bugs are bad, and some are even beneficial such as ladybugs, green lacewings, praying mantis, spiders and wasps since they eat insects that try to eat your vegetables. 

Companion planting with insect repellant plants such as marigolds or nasturtiums can also help keep bugs away from your garden.

It also helps not to expect perfection.Taste is what’s important. A vegetable doesn’t have to be 100% perfect to taste 100% wonderful.Before eating the food, just cut away any problem areas.

The Weeds Must Die!

A weed is really just “a plant growing in the wrong place.That pretty well sums things up.If a plant is growing you didn’t want, till it under, hoe it out, pull it up… just get rid of it.How you do it isn’t important. What’s important is keeping the weeds out of the garden.Your vegetables need the nutrients and water those extra plants are hogging.

Get Your Garden Going!

The right location, good soil, plants that grow well in your climate, and keeping the garden weed and bad bug free are the ingredients for a great organic garden.  Growing an organic garden is a wonderful way to put great tasting food in your diet.Get out there and grow your own!