How To Start An Organic Garden

Sunday, October 26th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

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.It’s easy for gardeners to plant more than they can easily care for. Looking at all the goodies in gardening catalogs makes us want to plant everything we see!It’s a lot of fun to raise your own vegetables in your own organic garden, but there’s no denying it’s also a lot of work.Part way through the growing season you may wish you’d been a little less enthusiastic in your planting.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.Though some plants will grow in the shade, most vegetables need sunshine.Ample sunshine is necessary and can’t be provided artificially. It would take a humongous bunch of portable lights to do the job, which obviously isn’t remotely practical.

Any garden, organic or otherwise, need sunshine.Your garden area or pots of plants should be placed where they’ll get at least 6 hours of sun each day for best results.It’s helpful to locate the organic garden close to the house to make it easy to get to, but sometimes shade from trees or the house make it impracticle.Having a garden close to the house is nice, but sunshine is more important.

Ample sunshine on your garden location is important, but it also needs to drain well so plants don’t sit in water.A good fertile soil is a big plus, but soil amendments can always be added to make poor soil better.

Down and Dirty

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

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.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.

Mulching with an organic material around the vegetables in a garden will discourage the growth of weeds, help conserve water, and add humus and nutrients to the soil.It’s a good way to improve your garden soil 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.A spray of plain or soapy water will dislodge bugs from plants, or they can be hand picked to remove them..

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.Vegetables don’t have to be 100% perfect to taste good.Before eating the food, just cut away any problem areas.

Say Goodbye To Weeds!

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.Whatever method you decide to use, the main thing is to get the weeds out of the garden.There is only so much water and nutrients in the soil to go around, and weeds steal some your vegetable plants could be using.

All Set To Garden!

The right ingredients for a great organic garden include a good location, fertile soil, the right plants for your climate, and keeping the garden free of weeds and bad bugs. Growing an organic garden is a wonderful way to put great tasting food in your diet.So have fun growing your own organic vegetables!

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