Organic Gardening is a method without the use of synthetic products
Organic gardening is a technique applying preventive measures to avoid problems using nature to guide you without a lot of disturbance to the environment. The control of pests,diseases,or deficiencies in nutrients without the use of synthetic chemicals.The most important factor in the organic garden is a good soil. The use of organic fertilizers and the incorporation of compost,manure and other organic materials will improve your soil.
Statistics show that nearly thirteen-percent of all Americans consume harmful chemicals at the dinner table each and every night! I want you to take control of What your family eats daily.It is time to get rid of all Of the harmful chemicals and purify your food With organic gardening. One of the fundmental points of organic gardening is to enrich the soil and then your soil will in turn feed the plants. A note to keep in mind is the fact that clay soil is much higher in nutrients than sand and also has better water retention. The difference being that sandy soil is well drained but requires the addition of organic matter to make it an outstanding garden soil.
Many people are fascinated by the idea of growing their own produce in a home garden because of food safety concerns. Shoppers have become more health aware, and believe that consuming organic foods is more beneficial to their health. Organic fruits and vegetables are pesticide free and judged to be more nutritious. Growing your own organic produce saves you money. You won’t have to spend on gasoline to drive to an organic food store nor will you be paying the store’s cost of transportation which they add in to the price of the food that you buy. There are many reasons for growing your own food either from seeds or small plants. Some of those reasons are:
- The satisifying feeling of growing your own food
- You know that your foods are all-natural with no health risks attached
- Have confidence that you helping to protect the environment
- The relief that your family is being provided with foods that will not harm
Sprouting seeds can be an extremly easy way to include vegetables in your diet. Sprouts are really high in nutrition. Sprouts are fresh and fresh vegetables are best to eat for nutrition and good health. Whether taking alone or as a salad, sprouts are terrific to eat. Producing your own fresh sprouts is easy, inexpensive and fun to do. Seeds can be grown all year long and it does not take very much room to do it. Your sprouter can sprout seeds in the winter, summer, spring or fall.
Sprouting seeds can be an interesting and fun to introduce children to gardening. By involving a child in the process of gardening or sprouting, they will probably be very very pleased to eat the vegetable they have grown. click here for more information concerning seed starting
IT IS IN THE COMPOST
It is not only in the soil but it is also in the compost. It is an excellent way to provide much needed organic matter to your organic gardening and reduce the amount of garden waste flowing into landfills and dumps. You will need either a pile or a bin for your compost to reside. I prefer a bin because it appears more attractive since you can build it out of bricks,lumber,and wooden pallets are excellent if you have access to them. The thing you need to remember here is that you must be able to aerate your compost because both air and water must be able to come into contact with the material you are composting.
You can create good air cirulation by just turning,poking,or moving it at least once a week. This is not totally necessary in your organic gardening but decompostion will take much much longer without this procedure. Your essential requirement is to water your compost pile. This does not mean to subject your organic garden compost to a real soaking because many of the benefical organisms at work here will drown in too much water. The best solution is to keep your compost moist like that of a damp sponge.
You will want to cover your bin or pile with either mulch or a tarp. This enables your compost to remain warm during cool nights and enables the pile or bin to retain moisture on those hot summer days. The placement of your bin or pile should be in an area where you or or your neighbor need not stare at it everyday. It would perhaps be better to fence it off with some wooden or plastic fence material acting as a screen but attractive in your organic gardening. However it should be close enough so that it is not an inconvenience to aerate,water,or turn your compost. Of course you can save yourself a great deal of trouble by purchasing an attractive looking compost bin from your garden center or catalog. These offer a wide range of features.
THE MATERIALS NEEDED TO FILL YOUR COMPOST PILE OR BIN
I advise going with the green material such as grass clippings,fruit peelings,rotten vegetables,animal manure,green leaves,and other plant matter that is green. This group has a very high nitrogen and water count and will rapidly increase the temperature of your organic garden compost. I would make sure that if you use other plant matter such as dead or dying flower plants or vegetable plants that you inspect them to make sure they don't contain unwanted insects. These insects could deposit eggs in your compost and you begin immediately with an insect infestation.
The other type of compost is referred to as the brown group. This would include fall leaves,sticks,sawdust,newspaper,brown grass,clippings and bark. The brown is very high incarbon and contains plant tissue building blocks. I would combine these in the compost pile in one-fourth green and three fourths brown. A faster decompositon would be half and half. However any higher in the green group could result in your compost spewing a very unpleasant odor.
Your next decision is to either use the layered system by beginning with 3 to six inches in a layer of the brown group on the bottom followed by the same with the green group and continue to alternate. The other method is to dump it all together and mix it up real good. I think the latter is the most effective because it provides for more even decompostiton and the results are faster.
Your organic gardening compost is ready when the materials are now in a state of crumble which is a rich humus material. It should appear as the picture on the right in its compost state. The heat of the compost will have disappeared and your pile of organic gardening compost will be half of the original size. It is ready for your garden and should look and feel like excellent garden soil with a clean and sweet aroma. The material should be dark brown to black and your beginning ingredients should be impossible to identify.Click here for a lot more detailed information on the art of composting
LACK THE ROOM FOR COMPOSTING BUT DESIRE TO USE ORGANIC GARDENING?
This method of approach would then bring the use of organic fertilizers into play.
Organic fertilizers are terrific garden foods and they come from plants,animals, and minerals. They provide a good supply of nutrients have no tendancy to burn your plants and are not toxic to worms. Organic fertilizers don't feed your plants directly instead they feed microorganisims in the soil which in turn break down the organic material and release the nutrients to your plants. Rest assured that even organic fertilizers in your organic gardening only promote fertility and are not a substitute for bad soil.
You can purchase organic fertilizers at your garden shop containing the three basic elements of nitrogen,phosphorus,and potassium. You can also purchase one particular fertilizer with only one nutrient like maybe a fish meal to solve an individual problem in your organic gardening. The organic fertilizers are the sum of N-P-K or nutrient ratio such as maybe 6-2-1 which should never go beyond 15.
The informative organic fertilizer chart below shows what type of organic fertilizers might be used in those three combinations of elements. In many cases it provides the amount to use in 100 square feet and of course if your area is less than shown such as 50 square feet then you would use half of what is shown here and so on.
THE ORGANIC WAY TO FEED YOUR GARDEN
| nitrogen |
Source |
Nutrient Rate |
application rate |
| Alfalfa Meal |
Alfalfa By-products |
5% |
5 pounds per 100 square feet |
| Blood Meal |
By-Product of meat processing |
15% |
3 pounds per square foot
|
| Cottonseed Meal |
Dehulled cotton seed |
6% |
2-5 pounds per square foot |
| Fish Emulsion |
By-product of fish processing |
4% |
20 parts to 1 part water |
| Manure |
animal waste |
2-13% |
3-50 pounds per 100 square feet |
| Soybean meal |
Soybean by-products |
7% |
5 pounds per 100 square feet |
| Phosphorus |
Bird Guano |
Dried seabird manure |
8% |
3 pounds per 100 square feet |
| Bonemeal |
By-product of meat processing |
20% |
3-5 pounds per 100 square feet |
| Rock phosphate |
washed,crushed limestone |
33% |
10 pounds per 100 square feet |
| Potassium |
Granite dust |
By-product of quarrying |
5-7% |
10 pounds per square foot |
| Kelp meal |
Processed seaweed |
12% |
1 pound per 100 square feet |
| Liquid Kelp |
Extract of Kelp mesl |
12% |
25 parts to 1 part water |
| Wood ashes |
Burnt wood |
6-20% |
1-2 pounds per 100 square feet |
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Organic fertilizers can supply trace elements and secondary nutrients but their primary mission is to provide nitrogen,phosphrous,and potassium. You should select an all purpose fertilizer that includes all three elements or you can use one of these nutrients to fix a specific problem.There is not room to go into all the specific problems each individual nutrient could assist you in solving
THE BEST TIME TO APPLY ORGANIC FERTILIZER
You should apply organic fertilizers when your preparing your beds or digging holes for planting. In the case of trees,shrubs,and perennials I would apply in early spring.Your plants that need a great deal of treatment should be side-dress with light doses throughout the growing season. As an example your rhododendrons prefer an acidic soil and can be dressed by cottonseed meal to lower the pH. This one element should only be used on your acidic loving plants in your organic gardening. There are many other things you can do including mixing your own fertilizer. Now you have no excuse large or small in establishing an organic garden
HOW DOES COMPANION PLANTING FIT INTO ORGANIC GARDENING
It is essential to plant good companions to stimulate the growth of other plants and ward off enemy insects and attract those that will be beneficial to your garden. It is known that growing garlic in combination with your roses will keep most pests away. You can use basil with ornamentals to discourage aphids and yarrow near fruit trees to lure bees. There are some real "super" groupings which should be made note of here
COOL SEASON
- Broccoli with beets
- cabbage with thyme
- carrots with trellised peas
- Spinach with tellised peas
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SUMMER SEASON
- Bush beans with summer savory
- Corn and squash
- Melons and sunflowers
- Tomatoes with basil
- trelleised cucumbers with lettuce
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This should provide you with enough information,including the two references to other pages of this site to get you started on organic gardening. There is another facet to this type of gardening a method of hydroponics but it is too large of a subject to include here so a future page will be added to take up this subject.
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