Instead of chemicals in your soil and on your food, why not try organic gardening?A good start is a few plants in pots or tucked in your flower beds, or a small garden area, or you can get really ambitious and turn your whole yard into a garden! 

Actually, if it’s your first garden, it’s better to start small.  gardeners have a tendency to plantmore than they can reasonably care for – everything looks so great in the catalogs!  But even though gardening is a lot of fun and a satisfying pastime, 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 better to start small with your first garden, and make biggers ones as you get more experience!

On Location…

Like the real estate agents are fond of saying, “It’s all about location, location, location.”  Some plants will grow in the shade, but for most vegetables you need sunshine.Ther right amount of sunshine is one thing you can’t provide artificially. Even electrical lights wouldn’t really do the trick, and one could hardly call that practical anyway.

Any garden, whether organic or not, needs ample sunshine to thrive.  Put your pots or garden plot where the plants will get at least 6 hours of sun a day for best results.It’s handy to have your garden close to the house so you can get to it easily, but sometimes shade from the house or surrounding trees make it impossible.Access is nice, but sunshine is imperative.

Be sure your garden location not only gets ample sunshine, but drains well so the plants don’t sit in water.It’s super to have fertile soil in your organic garden area, but if the soil needs help, there are amendments you can add to make it better.

Down and Dirty

Adding compost will help your soil no matter what type it is.To improve the soil, you can use natural fertilizers and organic materials.Tilling or double digging will easily mix materials into the soil where the roots can reach it 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.Not only should you choose vegetalbes you and your family will actually eat, but your plants should also be ones that will grow well in your climate.For example, some long season crops like sweet potatoes wouldn’t do well up north, while a cool climate crop like peas might not do well in the deep south.

To help conserve water, add humus and nutrients, as well as discourage weeds from growing, a mulch of organic material works well.It’s a fantastic way to help your plants by improving garden soil and keeping weeds at bay!

Don’t Let Them Bug You

Where there’s lovely young plants, there’s bugs looking for a meal.Caterpillars and bad bugs can be hand picked off plants. Another option is to spray them loose with 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.  The vegetable doesn’t have to be perfect to taste good.Bad spots in the food can just be cut out before eating it.

No Weeds Allowed!

Really, a weed is nothing more than “a plant growing in the wrong place.That tells it like it is.Anything unwanted that grows is a weed, so hoe it out, till it up, or pull it up.Use whatever method you prefer; just keep the weeds out of the garden.Extra plants take needed nutrients and water from your vegetable plants.

Ready, Set, Garden!

The right ingredients for the garden are a good location, fertile soil, the right plants, and keeping the garden weed and bug free.  Growing an organic garden is a wonderful way to put great tasting food in your diet.Enjoy your own organic garden!

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