Organic Gardening Advice That Will Make You More Successful

By Author: James Lewis
Total Articles: 6
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What are your personal thoughts on organic gardening? Do you view everything you can on the subject, and try to improve upon your own garden? There are numerous resources available such as magazines, videos, books, shows, etc. So where do you begin with your own techniques? Try going through these tips to find your starting point.

When the fight is on to rid the yard and garden of Japanese beetles, milky spore is the organic gardener's best friend. Milky spore, an organic pesticide, contains a bacteria that selectively targets the white grub larvae of the adult beetle. Once milky spore has been applied, the larvae feast on the plants that have absorbed it and die within a few weeks. As the grubs decay, the spores they ingested are spread back into the soil to continue their work.

When harvesting tomatoes from your organic garden, you do want to pick ripe tomatoes; however, you do not want your tomatoes to be too ripe. Certain tomatoes that are too ripe might be mealy. You should aim to harvest tomatoes when they have their full color and are at their largest size.

When starting your organic garden, a great ...
... tip is to figure out which vegetables you should pick to plant in your garden. Some vegetables are better suited for home germination than others are. Some great vegetables to consider planting include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, peppers, onions, tomatoes, basil, and more.

Make your organic garden a nice orderly place to be. Create some boundaries using stone walls, fences, or hedges. You should then make easy pathways through the fences. You can use stepping stones, gravel, or special paving materials. Choose the materials that will be the best match for your environment.

To keep dirt from getting stuck in the leaves of lettuce and other leafy vegetables, use mulch. When the plants appear, spread an inch or two of mulch around the base of the plants. This will prevent dirt from getting into the plant and also help prevent pesky weeds. Just be sure that the mulch is organic and untreated by pesticides.

Use rainwater for your organic garden. Water can be collected in barrels when rain fall is at high levels, and then used on your garden during drought periods. This will help to conserve water and provide your plants with all the hydration they need. Most rain barrels have a spicket so you can attach your soaker hose directly to the barrel.

To insulate the soil and protect against weeds, you should consider different types of mulches. Use things like wood chips, leaves, hay, and lawn clippings. Protecting plants with a mulch helps them in many ways, such as guarding soil against erosion. You can even look into living mulches, which are plants that serve the same purpose as a mulch.

Choose the fruit and vegetable types that are suitable for your area. When growing fruits and vegetables, try to grow something that is native to your area. This way, you won't have to add any kind of chemical fertilizer to aid growth. Native plants will provide you with the best crop possible, as they are used to the soil, temperature and light conditions.

It may seem tempting to want to use chemicals on your organic garden, but these will do more harm than good, along with defeating the purpose of an "organic" garden. If you think about, all of these types of pollutants run off and contaminate whatever they touch. By keeping your soil healthy, you won't need any chemical fertilizers anyway.

When organic gardening, it is very easy to make your compost for your garden. Not only will it give you something to do with all of your table scraps or even pet waste, it will make your garden thrive! Compost all of your waste organic material and your garden will thrive in the spring.

Carefully consider the location you choose to plant trees. Remember that your trees will likely get huge. Make sure trees are not planted too close to any structure or foundation. The costs involved, to remove a tree and roots that have gotten into your structures, can be astronomical. This will be easy to avoid with proper planning.

Take steps to protect earthworms in your organic garden. Till your soil minimally, as tilling can kill earthworms. The best tilling depth is 3 to 5 inches. Avoid using chemical fertilizers because they harm the micro-organisms in the soil, decreasing earthworm activity. Be sure that the soil never dries out too much, but at the same time avoid over-watering. By maintaining these soil conditions, you will notice your earthworm population increasing rapidly!

When raising an organic garden, sometimes a solution to resolving bad soil is to raise your garden bed. Building a garden bed or roost above the regular soil, can allow you to put your own fertilized soil within the bed without the risk of the soil becoming diluted or mixed in with the surrounding area.

A great tip that can help improve your organic gardening is to start reusing rainwater. If you've never thought about reusing rainwater before, you're seriously missing out. All you have to do is place a few barrels under your roof to collect any extra rainwater that will run off.

Keep track of your organic garden's progress in a gardening journal. Make note of everything - the dates you plant, the dates you fertilize, pests that arrive, which repellents work, when you begin harvesting, and how fruitful your garden is. This information will be valuable to you as you plan your garden in the years ahead and will help you to be a successful gardener.

Do you have weeds in your garden and you don't want to spray dangerous weed killer? Common household vinegar can help your problem. Spray full-strength vinegar on the weedy spots on a sunny day. Vinegar works as an organic weed killer and it is safe the environment, and you.

Now that you have an idea on where to start crafting your own organic gardening techniques are you ready to start experimenting? Are you ready to apply what you read to your garden? Can you help your garden grow properly? If you can, then have fun! If not, make sure to review the tips again.

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