Organic Gardening Tips Everyone Should Be Aware Of
Organic gardening can be a very enjoyable hobby. It involves particular growing techniques, along with the gardener’s choice of equipment and seeds. This vast world has so many different kinds of seeds, equipment, and techniques that it can seem a bit confusing as to where you need to begin. These tips can help you make sense of the confusion.
Use a natural fertilizer material on your plants. Using of natural fertilizers, compost and organic materials encourage native earthworms. Earthworms are nature’s tillers and soil conditioners, and manufacture great fertilizer. Using a good fertilizer will make your plants happy and healthy; a healthy plant will grow and give more back to you.
Grow organic herbs to add some flavour to your cooking and brighten up your yard. Herbs make great landscape plants: add them to a bed or pot in your yard. They are wonderful to flavour foods you cook, offer fragrance and have medicinal properties. Herbs are very easy to grow and actually thrive on neglect.
If you are preparing to move your indoor organic garden outdoors, a great tip is to start preparing your plants one week ahead of time. Move them to a shaded area in your home for a few hours on a warm day. Your aim is to gradually increase your plants’ exposure to light. Then, leave them outside overnight at the end of the week. This will ensure your plants survival.
Try adding some interest to your garden. Yes, trees come to mind when you mention “shade,” but there are more plants you can use. Try planting some vines. You can use these on walls, on fences, some overhead structures for a bit of quick shade, some softening of your verticals, or for some brightly colored flower displays.
To naturally rid your soil of nematodes, which are soil-dwelling pests that can hurt tomatoes and potatoes, use marigolds. The chemicals released by the marigolds’ roots and decaying leaves are toxic to nematodes. Plant marigolds near your tomatoes or potatoes or till them into the soil before planting.
Treat your roses! To naturally remedy black spots on roses in your organic garden, use milk! For some unknown reason – using a 1:2 ratio mixture of milk and water – has been shown to get rid of black spots! Use a spray bottle to apply the mixture directly to the leaves of the affected plant.
When watering your indoor seeds and seedlings, it is important to keep in mind that how you water is significantly more important than how often. You will only need to water about once a week, but when you do, you want to make certain that only the top two to three inches of soil are moist and damp. You also want to be careful not to water too deep because then they will not be able to grow.
If you are trying to grow tomatoes from seed, use old drink cups or yogurt containers to start them. When they are ready to be transplanted, just cut the bottom off of the cup and put them right into the ground. This will help protect the new plant from worms and other pests.
When you are maintaining acid loving plants mulch your soil with pine needles every fall. As the pine needles decompose over the winter months they will deposit their acid into the soil and give your acid loving botanicals what they need to thrive instead of relying on harsh chemical fertilizers.
Be careful of the leaves around your plants, certain kinds of leaves contain substances that can be harmful to plants. These leaves should not be used for mulching until they have been composted first. These include: acacia, California bay, camphor, cypress, eucalyptus, madrone, oak, pine, pittosporum, red cedar, and walnut.
Plants that thrive in mulch and acid-based fertilizers benefit from a thick layer of pine needles. This is a great thing to do in the fall, as it also adds insulation from cold weather, and as the layer of pine needles decompose they will saturate the soil with their acid.
Discourage rabbits from using your garden as a snack bar. Rabbits will take advantage of your organic garden if you give them the chance. They don’t tend to discriminate between certain foods, eating anything that they encounter. Blood meal, wood ashes, hot pepper flakes, chilli powder or garlic powder sprinkled around your plants will deter them. You can also sprinkle black pepper directly on a plant, which will give the rabbit a sneezing fit.
Remember the birds in the winter. If possible, don’t cut down everything in the fall. Any seed heads left will feed the birds over the winter. They also transport excess seeds on their bodies which allows for self sowing. Wildlife is an invaluable part of the organic garden, and you should try to encourage it.
Mulch should be your best friend when it comes to caring for your organic garden. Try to think of mulching as a way of maintaining the “floor” of your garden. To do this correctly every year, make sure to add one to three inches of compost or mulch when planting your beds.
If your backyard soil isn’t conducive to an organic garden, try installing a raised bed. Within the raised bed, you can create your own mix of soil and compost to achieve the ideal soil for raising your crops. Just be sure the bed is at least 16 inches high so that roots have room to flourish.
Toads can be a gardener’s best friend because of all the troublesome bugs they eat. To attract toads to come visit your garden and stay awhile, keep the garden bedding moist and offer some places where they can safely hide from predators of their own. A useful trick many gardeners use is to place old, broken clay flower pots upside down in the garden to function as a comfy shelter for the hard-working toads.
While organic gardening can be a personal hobby for everyone, it does share the main goal of wanting to grow healthy and happy organic plants. As you have seen in these tips, there are various approaches, but they all share the goal of being a successful organic gardener.