Organic gardening presents special challenges to overcome. You will need to take closer care of your garden if you choose to grow organically, but there are many tools to help you. It can be hard for a rookie to grow organic. You won’t be a beginner for long if you put the tips you are about to learn to use.
Are you a parent? If you are, try planting some strawberries like everbearing strawberries in your garden. Children will be more willing to help you if they can pluck their own fruit from the garden.
Consider planting strawberries, especially ones that are everbearing, for your garden if you have small children. Kids are quite eager to pick fruit from a garden, and will help with the planting if they get a nice snack out of it at the end.
A mixture of aspirin and water can help your ailing plants. Three aspirins per four gallons of water will help keep your plants healthy. You can easily spray the plans with this concoction to help them fight of disease. Give your plants a spray of the aspirin-water mixture about one time every three weeks.
When growing organic plants indoors, it is important to consider the amount of light that is available to them. The amount of light available can determine which type of organic plants you should grow. For example, if your living area does not provide much natural sunlight, you could grow those plants that only need low to medium amounts of natural light to thrive. If you already have plants that need full light and the natural light provided is not sufficient, artificial lights can supplement their needs.
One way to encourage an organic garden to be sustainable and healthy is to put aside a section to stay undeveloped, thus encouraging wildlife to approach it. This is a great natural way to allow the insects and animals found in nature to assist with the growth of your garden.
Having a garden of perennials can be an easy and quick process. With a garden spade, slice under the dirt then flip it over. Next, spread out wood chips several inches deep. Allow the newly turned soil to sit for two weeks, then plant your perennials.
Have plastic bags on hand so that you may cover your muddy gardening shoes. Doing this prevents lengthy work interruptions, and allows you to finish the job quickly.
Flower Beds
The optimal amount of organic mulch to use in your flower beds is 2-3 inches. This will discourage weeds from growing, add nutrients, and retain the moisture in your garden. It will also make your flower beds look more finished.
Include both green and dry plant refuse in your compost. Green plant mulches include everything from fresh grass clippings, to unwanted vegetables, to recently pulled weeds. Examples of dried plant material are sawdust, shredded paper, straw, cut-up woody material, and cardboard. You should not use things like meat scraps, charcoal, blighted plants or the manure of meat-eating animals in your compost.
Do not overlook the benefits of pine mulch for your garden. Some plants are highly acidic, and like soil that is acidic too. If you have acid loving plants, use pine needles as a mulch. If you spread a few inches of pine needles around your garden beds, when they break down, the acid they contain will leach into the soil.
Coffee grounds work great mixed in with your soil. Coffee grounds are filled with nitrogen, that is a nutrient required by plants. Generally, nitrogen is the limiting nutrient with any plant and having a good nitrogen source either by coffee grounds, compost, or even diluted urea, will make your plants bloom faster and grow taller.
Organic foods are beneficial because they have not been contaminated by pesticides. While organic foods are healthy for your family, you will still need to check closely for bugs or worms.
Stay on top of your organic gardening to-do list, and don’t let the work pile up. If your busy life prevents you from tending your garden every day, do small tasks to avoid having so much work when you do have some time. While you are with your pet outside, pull some weeds while the pet does its business.
If slugs are an issue in your garden, a beer trap can make them go away. Take a glass jar and bury it in your garden so that the top of it is level with the soil. Pour enough beer into the jar to fill it below an inch from the top. The beer will attract the slugs and they will be trapped in the jar.
Plant twice- three weeks after planting tomatoes in the organic garden, plant more seeds. The reason is, this will prevent your entire harvest from coming in all at once. If you have something go wrong during a single harvest, it will prevent all of your tomatoes from being ruined.
Water your plants appropriately for the climate. The amount of water you use each time should be dependent on the water quality, the soil type and what time of day you are doing it. As an example, leaves should not be watered in humid, warm climates else leaf fungus could occur. Make sure you give the roots plenty of water.
Over-watering can essentially drown the roots of plants, making them unable to grow well. Always check the weather forecast for chances of rain before going outside to water your plants. Skip watering your plants for a couple of days if a heavy rainstorm has descended; natural rainwater can be particularly good for your plants as well.
Organic gardening is simple and effective! When choosing plants for landscaping, stick to native flowers, shrubs, and grasses. Plants that are already pre-programmed to exist peacefully with one another in similar climates and conditions, will prevent the need for a lot of “special measures” that eat up time and money. In fact, you are sure to discover that such plants are able to grow beautifully in compost made out of other indigenous substances.
Now, you shouldn’t get your hopes up and believe that a few tips are going to turn you into an instant professional gardener. However, these tips are a great starting point if you do plan to grow organically. As you implement these tips and hone your skills, you’ll be a professional green-thumb-holder in no time.