Just about anyone can become an organic gardener. It’s a fun, relaxing hobby that has a lot of benefits. But, if you’re just getting started, the various challenges of gardening can seem insurmountable. Therefore, how should a newbie get their first garden started? Start by reading the advice in this article.
Hang shiny silver objects throughout your garden. These can act as natural pest deterrents; no need for chemicals. The reflections can disorient flying pests such as aphids that require the sun to direct their flight, and may frighten off larger pests such as birds, and even rabbits or deer.
Just as when outside, plants kept inside need varying degrees of sunlight, which can be harder to obtain from indoors. Ideally, these plants should be kept in a room that offers natural light from a window or glass door. You can also try using artificial lighting to help.
Start your organic garden with a good strategic plan. This helps you know exactly where each plant will go in your garden so that you can maximize the few hours you have to garden each day. As part of your plan, take notes on what plants you will use to replace short-lived crops such as spinach and lettuce.
Learn to water your garden efficiently. A soaker hose can be laid in the garden and left on with low water pressure. This frees you up from having to hand-water the plants, so you can do other gardening work. Take care with seedlings, though — they are still delicate and need to be watered by hand.
Make easy work of washing your organic produce with a laundry basket. As you pick your produce, lay them in a plastic laundry basket, which works as a strainer. Hold the hose over the top and the water can make quick work of rinsing all the dirt and other matter off of your fruits and veggies.
Rotate your crops to prevent permanent populations of pests in your garden. As with any ecosystem, pests need a certain amount of time to nest and build up a proper population within a garden. These pests are specially suited for one environment and one food source. By switching their food source you can essentially keep your pest population down simply because they are unable to adapt to the new type of plant.
When beginning your own organic garden, you should always make sure you moisten your mix that is in the containers before you sow the seeds. If your mix is not moist, it will dry out. This could cause your plant to die before it is given a chance to grow.
Making rich, organic compost for your garden doesn’t take special equipment. All you really need to do is dump your kitchen scraps, lawn trimmings and leaves in a pile, and let nature take its course. It may take a bit longer, but in the end you’ll have a rich, healthy compost.
When growing organic plants hook your plants up to an electric timer that will turn lights on and off continuously throughout the day at the same time. By doing this, you will ensure that your plants receive the proper amount of light that they need.
Killing weeds the natural way? Take layers of newspapers and use them for weed control. Weeds must have sunlight in order to grow. Newspapers placed atop weeds will starve them from light and they will eventually die. Newspapers break down over time, and they make a great addition to compost. You can add mulch on top for aesthetic reasons.
Use a soaker hose to water your garden. A soaker hose allows the water to be absorbed directly in to the soil, rather than disbursed in to the air. This helps to conserve water, a valuable resource. Plant leaves also stay dry, which means you get to avoid pesky fungus problems.
Always give your garden the benefit of looking beneath the upper portions of a plant. Before buying any organic tomato seedlings to plant in your garden, you should investigate them for green starts and bad root systems. The first start remains attached to the developing seedlings for many weeks. Until these sneaky starts fall away, the plant will not grow.
To eliminate pests naturally, look for plants and flowers that repel harmful insects and animals without damaging your garden. Under certain conditions, organic pesticides can outperform chemical products in effectiveness and safety. But, because they are made of natural materials, these types of insecticides frequently fade much faster.
Now that you’ve read this article, you may have a better understanding of why people enjoy organic gardening so much. Watching your garden grow can be a source of great pleasure and joy. Follow the advice in this article to avoid the common pitfalls associated with organic gardening.
