One of the benefits (if you can call it that) of chemically-enhanced produce is that it grows bigger, faster and cheaper than organic produce. But the risk factor involved is just too much for some people to live with, and thus they attempt to grow their own produce organically. If you fit this bill, check out these gardening tips.
Use your own seeds for gardening in later seasons. This lets you ensure that your plants are organic from start to finish. Take an earlier season of plants and allow them to go to seed before you remove them. This means that not only are your plants growing without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, the seeds were grown without them either.
Be sure to test your soil before you plant your garden, if you want to be successful without the need for chemicals. A home testing kit can tell you the pH of your soil, which indicates the likelihood of plant survival. A vegetable garden requires a pH of about 6.5; if your soil is off, you can supplement before your plants start to die.
Make your own compost. If you create your own compost at home, you can be absolutely certain of what goes into it, unlike if you purchase bags of compost from a gardening store. In addition, composting in your yard will attract helpful native wildlife such as insects that will balance the ecosystem of your garden.
Keep your garden tools close at hand to make the most of your gardening time. You could do this by using a big bucket, or just wear old pants that have some deep pockets. Have gloves, small shears, a trowel and any other tools you may need on hand to make it simpler to maintain your garden.
Manage your garden hose to prevent frustration. Garden hoses, especially longer or heavy duty ones, can become unwieldy and annoying when you have to drag them around the garden, all twisted up. Invest in a portable hose reel or a stationary one, depending on your garden configuration, to more easily manage your garden hose and make storing it fast and easy.
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.
Coffee grounds work great mixed in with your soil. Coffee grounds add many nitrogenous nutrients to the soil that will benefit your plants. Plants need nitrogen in order to thrive, so give it a natural source with coffee grounds, then watch everything come to life much more quickly.
The best way to water your organic garden is to use a soaker hose. Soaker hoses not only conserve water, but also direct the water exactly where it needs to go, into the dirt, rather than on the leaves and into the air. By watering the leaves, you leave your plants susceptible to fungus growth.
Praise the areas of your yard where grass will not grow. Do not be discouraged. Do not try to regrow glass there. Go ahead and take this opportunity to change your ground cover a more natural choice. Look for something that is low-maintenance, and put anywhere grass is struggling to thrive.
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.
Plant slightly more than you will need. Pests and poor weather can diminish yields from your garden, especially if you are new to organic gardening. To account for this possibility, plant a little more than what you will need. However, don’t go overboard, if it is successful, you could have more vegetables than you could possibly use.
For indoor organic gardening, temperature control is very important during the early phases. Seventy degrees Fahrenheit is the ideal temperature for most seeds to start growing. You can achieve this temperature relatively easily by installing heaters and placing the seeds near the vents. You can also purchase heat mats to place under your plant containers.
When growing your own organic tomatoes you should always alternate the tomato bed. The reason is because this will reduce the tomatoes’ risk of catching soil borne diseases like early blight and bacterial spot. These particular diseases can destroy your tomato plants, so you need to lower the risk of your tomatoes catching them as much as possible.
Mass-produced food will always have its own advantages, but it may not be worth it to you or your family to risk your health for a few extra dollars in savings. If you decide to grow organically, however, you can save hundreds while ensuring that everything you eat is fresh and healthy. Just use these tips to help you grow.
