Organic Garden - Helpful Ideas and Tips

Organic gardening is growing in popularity as people increasingly see the need to avoid chemicals and synthetic products. Organic gardens also provide protection form genetically modified organisms (GMO) in the garden.

Those who take up organic gardening often are at a loss as to where to buy supplies. They don't know what products they need for soil nourishment or pest control. They may not know how much water to supply, or how to go about composting kitchen scraps for their gardens. They need more than a few organic garden tips and ideas.

Organic Garden

Organic garden helpful ideas and tips are widely available, if you know where to find them. Here are a few places to begin your search.

Organic Garden - Helpful Ideas and Tips

Organic Garden Helpful Ideas

One of my favorite organic garden tips is this one. The most important thing you can do to control pests in the organic garden is to keep the soil healthy. Healthy soil produces healthy plants. Healthy plants, like healthy humans, are better able to withstand disease.

A second helpful organic garden idea I like is to control pests with ladybirds (ladybugs). These beautiful little red insects with shiny black spots control aphids naturally and totally. You can order them from several organic garden places on the Internet. Until they arrive, spray every part of aphid-infested plants with well diluted soapy water. Rinse with clear water.

My third favorite organic gardening idea is to plant guardian plants around and among tender vegetables. Marigolds make the organic garden border colorful, and ward off many pests. Onions and garlic are also great deterrents to pests that would like to break in and steal organic produce.

Sources for More Organic Garden Helpful Ideas

We do not give specific websites here, but most of these groups or products can readily be located on the Internet. Simply use key words from any one of these categories in your search engine to find more organic garden ideas.

* Cooperative Extension Office: The Cooperative Extension System is a nationwide network. Every U.S. state and territory has a state office at its land-grant university. They also have a network of local or regional offices. The staff at these offices includes at least one expert who can give you useful, practical, and research-based organic garden helpful ideas.

* Park and Recreation Departments: If you live in a large neighborhood, your local park and recreation department will be a good source of helpful ideas for your organic garden. Classes may be available on topics such as organic garden plans, planting seed, and how to compost.

* YMCA / YWCA: In some areas, these organizations provide workshops on organic garden topics, with plenty of helpful ideas and tips. These are led by local organic garden experts. They may include vegetable organic gardens and organic gardening of flowers.

* Gardening Stores: An increasing number of gardening stores are beginning to offer organic garden products, seeds, and supplies. Many try to have at least one person on staff who can give organic garden helpful ideas.

* Nurseries: Local nurseries may have helpful ideas and tips for your organic garden. As the demand becomes greater, they are learning that they must provide not only organic fertilizer and seedlings, but advice also.

* Magazines: Organic gardening magazines have been around for many years now, and are filled with organic gardeners' helpful ideas and tips. Visit your public library and browse the magazines. Some are aimed at small farming size organic gardens. Others focus on organic gardening of vegetables for family or farmers' market. Choose one that has the most helpful tips for you, and subscribe for ongoing organic garden help.

* Seed Catalogs (catalogues): Many times, seed catalogs have not only organic seeds, but also ideas and tips for the organic garden. Look for major seed companies' catalogs.

* Books: If you are new to organic gardening, you will want to invest in at least one good book on organic gardens. Books can explain how seeds and produce are certified organic. They can provide organic gardening advice from ants to weed control.

* Family and Friends: They say we all have a circle of 250 acquaintances. Within that circle, you will likely find at least one person who is experienced in organic gardening and has ideas or tips that will help you. Their own organic garden may be only a container, or it could be 50 containers. Anyone who does any organic gardening will be eager to share the tips and helpful ideas they have received.

* Internet: The Internet excels in providing information. It is a wonderful source of organic garden helpful ideas and tips. Become a member of an organic gardening forum and share ideas. Read organic gardeners' blogs. Finally, visit Cornell University's organic garden website. They offer an online class in organic gardening. The professor is sure to have helpful organic gardening ideas and tips.

Organic Garden - Helpful Ideas and Tips

©2007, Anna Hart. Anna Hart invites you to read more of her articles about organic gardeners' helpful ideas and tips at http://www.organicspringtime.com. Anna is posting new articles regularly on that site. If you want to know how to make compost for your own organic fertilizer, you will want to read Anna’s article on the subject.

Organic Gardening - Turnips Grown in the Home Garden

A cool weather crop and a member of the mustard family,also a relative to cabbage and cauliflower. It is an easy to grow root crop that is nutritious and versatile, eaten raw, with dips or cooked. This crop when grown fresh in your home garden has a taste that will make you want to go back for more.

Turnips are a fast growing crop that do best in temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit and with ample moisture. In hot weather there tops get tough and there roots get bitter. A sunny location with a nutrient rich healthy soil structure that is well drained, deeply worked and retains moisture well is what turnips like best. Raised beds are the ideal location for planting this of crop, as any other root crop.

Organic Garden

Sow seeds directly outdoors about three weeks before the last expected frost in your area. The soil needs to be at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit before the seeds will germinate, germination is between 7 and 14 days. Sow seeds 1/2 inch deep, sprinkling them thinly to one inch apart in the rows and cover with a fine soil. Separate the rows 1 foot apart or plant in double rows to conserve space in your home garden. You can also sow seeds in the spring and again in the fall. Fall crops tend be a more productive and better tasting crop. Sow seeds midsummer, about two months before the first expected frost for a delicious fall crop. The maturity time for turnips is between 35 and 45 days.

Organic Gardening - Turnips Grown in the Home Garden

Keep soil moist at all times is very important. Once the seedlings emerge thin them to about 3 inches apart. Once they get to a height of about 4 inches thin them again to about 5 inches apart and apply a layer of organic mulch to retain moisture along with helping to suppress weeds.

The greens of the turnip plant can be harvested once they are large enough to pick, when picking the greens leave a few behind on each plant to keep the root system alive. Harvesting the roots is a choice of preference, when 1 to 3 inches in diameter is when they are there tenderest. The roots can be harvested and stored in a dark cool place and will keep for several months. Don't remove or wash the dirt that clings to the root, it will help protect the roots during storage.

Organic Gardening - Turnips Grown in the Home Garden

A environment friendly and healthy way of gardening. Organic Gardening is away of gardening in harmony with nature. Growing a healthy and productive crop in a way that is healthier for both you and the environment.

John Yazo

[http://www.organicheirloomgardening.com]

Organic Gardening

If you are gardening in an organic way, you want to let nature going its own way. In stead of using chemical fertilizers you will use natural products to get rid of weed. This will give you 100% natural vegetables and fruit. No need anymore to go to the store to buy bioproducts, because you'll have them in your own garden.

Basics

Organic Garden

In order to keep your garden free of weed there are several possibilities. The most easy way of course is spreading chemical toxins and as a result nothing will grow there anymore. However, the disadvantage is that, once using this soil for growing vegetables one year later, those chemical toxins will be absorbed by your plants. In order to avoid this you might spread wood chips over your soil in stead of using chemical products. Due to this layer of wood chips weed will get no chance to grow and a year later you even might use it as a fertilizer once rotten.

Organic Gardening

For that part where you really want to grow vegetables and fruits I recommend the use of fertilizers. Don't BUY them, because you can easily make them yourself. A combination of sand, manure, compost and wood chips will create a very fertile soil. In this combination you will have all necessary nutrients for your trees and plants.

Plants

When you start planting, there are several things you should take into account. Do not plant too far apart but plant close together. By doing this weed can not grow between your plants, simply because of a lack of space. Several types of plants need adjusted nutrients, so mix the several varieties in order to avoid one specific nutrient from disappearing from the soil.

In case there will be weed between your plants, you best remove it with a hoe. You will also loosen up the ground and as a result water will better penetrate and your plants will get more water.

Insects

When you want to get rid of unwanted insects the easy way, simply spray a lot of insect killer in your garden. However, the disadvantage is that in the end you will eat this insect killer yourself.

There are several easy and environmentally ways to get rid of your unwanted visitors. Put some simple flowers between your vegetables and fruits. Those flowers will attract wasps and wasps will eat insects, so no worries about insects in your garden anymore.

Organic Gardening

Chris

http://www.gardentipsandinfo.com

http://www.gardentipsandinfo.com

Organic Vegetable Gardening

Whether you live in your own home and want to do organic vegetable gardening or if you live in a city apartment or condo, you can have your own organic garden. There are those that live in their own home and have a yard to plant their organic garden or those that live in the city can have a roof-top or balcony garden in raised beds.

When organic vegetable gardening remember how good it is for you and your family. When you purchase fruits and vegetables from the grocery store, you have no idea how much DDT or other pesticides are on the produce. You would not want your child to ingest these carcinogens and poisons. With organic vegetable gardening you know that your vegetables are safe and healthy for you and family.

Organic Garden

To get started with organic vegetable gardening you need to purchase organic seeds. You may buy them at your local nursery or from a mail order. It is beneficial to start planting your seeds indoors as indoor seeds have a higher success rate. You will want to make sure you plant the seeds in soil that is kept at room temperature. Keep the seeds in a well lighted area. Do not give the seeds too much water. Once you see that your seeds have grown two leaves with more leaves on the way, you will need to plant them into a large biodegradable container. Space the plants at least two to three inches apart from each other.

Organic Vegetable Gardening

You can get your organic soil ready. Organic soil consists of old fruits, vegetables, fish, coffee grounds, egg shells, etc., that you have been tossing out. Make sure you place the compost pile in an area that has not been treated previously with non-organic crops. If you only have areas where non-organic crops have been planted, make sure you work the unwanted chemicals out of the soil. Working the unwanted chemicals out of the soil may take you some time.

Once your compost is ready you can spread it in your garden two to three inches thick. Organic compost is wonderful for good drainage, growth and as a fertilizer.

Animals are good for organic vegetable gardening. Cows, sheep or goats will help you by weeding the crops, fertilizing and pest control. Chicken droppings will help your compost. Bugs are also good for organic vegetable gardening. Ladybugs will eat the pests that want to ruin your organic garden.

You will love the fact that organic vegetable gardening is cheaper than buying organic and non-organic vegetables from the grocery store. The natural process of organic gardening is actually less expensive as you do not have to buy expensive chemicals.

One will have peace of mind knowing that your beloved family is eating healthier vegetables than those in the grocery store with the toxic chemicals.

Organic Vegetable Gardening

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Organic Gardening: Growing Vegetables at Home

This article is a relaxed, but informative introduction to people who are quite new to gardening and are looking to start growing vegetables. It provides step-by-step instructions for beginners which guide the reader through selecting a suitable growing space to choosing plants. It also provides some general and specific tips for vegetable growing and highlights some of its benefits in terms of saving money and improved relaxation.

Now you know what vegetables you want to grow you need to buy some seeds. There are many places that stock theme, anywhere from garden centers to news agents. Typical vegetable seeds are quite cheap, usually under two or three pounds. However, the number of seeds that come in a packet varies significantly based on the type of vegetable. For example, a packet of carrot seeds may contain about a hundred seeds whereas a packet of bean seeds may only contain about twenty. This variation is usually proportional to the seed's rate of germination, in effect far fewer carrot seeds germinate than bean seeds.

Organic Garden

Once you have the seeds you would like to grow the next step are to plant them. This is usually the most labor intensive part of the process. The majority of seed packets will have basic instructions for sowing, maintaining and harvesting the crop you will hopefully produce. If you don't have any instructions to hand then there is plenty of useful information on the Internet and your local library is also a good resource. There are many different types of vegetables and the growing requirements and difficulties associated with each of them could fill several books, so rather than addressing all of these the rest of this article is going to focus on general growing tips.

Organic Gardening: Growing Vegetables at Home

One of the most fundamental elements of a plant's success in its environment is the soil that it's grown in. Identifying your soil type and making sure that it's compatible with your plants can make a real difference to their growth. Your soil type is not completely fixed though, adding some fertilizer from a garden center can alter its properties and make a noticeable difference in a plants health. This subject goes hand-in-hand with feeding plants as they grow. It's important to keep a careful eye on the plant feed that is being given to vegetables that you plan to eat, what you put on the roses may not be quite so good when eaten! There are several special, organic feeds out there for vegetable plants that are very good. An interesting experiment is to buy a few and try them out on a couple of the same plants to see the differences in performance.

One of the biggest difficulties with growing vegetables is other animals eating them before you do. There are two main ways to prevent this: growing your vegetables in your house, or growing them inside a greenhouse. Growing vegetables in your house is possible, especially if you have a conservatory, and can be a nice project to do with young children. However, the soil and dead leaves that inevitably make their way onto the carpet and throughout the house discourage most people from doing this on any scale. Greenhouses are an excellent alternative as they allow you to protect your plants from almost any pest, however they are expensive and not always a viable solution.

Organic Gardening: Growing Vegetables at Home

Cristopher K. Abbott is an avid organic gardening advocacy and photographer. To learn more about gardening, visit his website at: best organic gardening

Organic Gardening - What Are the Benefits of Organic Gardening?

Organic gardening is a form of agriculture that does not use synthetic artificial fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms. The goals of organic gardening is to maintain diverse crops, keep soils healthy, reduce pollution, avoid synthetic artificial fertilizers and pesticides in gardening, and promote environmental friendliness and biodiversity. Organic gardening avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides and instead relies on an ecologically sound approach. The avoidance of pesticide residue adds greater nutritional benefits of organic food, effectively conserves crop soils, and promotes biodiversity of organisms in the garden.

Conventional farming allows the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides to control or eradicate weeds while organic gardening promotes the rotation of crops, tilling, hand picking or mulching to control the weeds and uses no form of pesticides. Since organic food is picked when it is ripe, the food has been able to absorb all the traces of vitamins and minerals which is lacking in conventional foods. Conventional foods are picked when the vegetables are still green thus not having the opportunity to absorb all the vitamins and minerals that the soil offers. Organic farming can produce up to two or three times as much food as conventional gardening. The use of compost, manure mulch and other organic fertilizers yields a higher organic content of soils on organic gardens and helps limit soil degradation and erosion.

Organic Garden

Organic gardening is widely known for its positive effect on soil matter, soil organisms, and soil physical structure, and can achieve this without the use of herbicides, and pesticides which pollute both the soil and the water. Organic gardening protects and enhancing soil fertility. Organic gardening is designed to work with the ecological systems and minimally disturb the Earth's natural balance. Because of this organic farmers have been interested in reduced-tillage methods.

Organic Gardening - What Are the Benefits of Organic Gardening?

Conventional agriculture uses mechanical tillage, which is plowing or sowing, which is harmful to the environment. The impact of tilling in organic farming is much less of an issue. Ploughing speeds up erosion because the soil remains uncovered for a long period of time and if it has a low content of organic matter the structural stability of the soil decreases.

Organic farmers use techniques such as mulching, planting cover crops, and intercropping, to maintain a soil cover throughout most of the year. The use of compost, manure mulch and other organic fertilizers yields a higher organic content of soils on organic farms and helps limit soil degradation and erosion. Organic farming practices is widely known for its positive effect on soil matter, soil organisms, and soil physical structure, and can achieve this without the use of herbicides, and pesticides which pollute both the soil and the water.

Organic Gardening - What Are the Benefits of Organic Gardening?

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