Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Grow The Healthy Way: Organic Gardening Techniques

Some of the best-tasting food you'll ever eat can be grown in your own back yard. Think of the variety! A ripe, juicy watermelon or a fresh, crisp carrot, can add to your meal. Not to mention the money you can save growing your own, verses the grocery store. In addition, you can grow you produce naturally, without enhancers. Following are some tips to help you become an organic gardener: Protect your seeds from fungus with natural products. You can use milled sphagnum moss to protect all your plants. If your seeds need light to grow, sprinkle the moss first and then place your seeds. This solution is much better than any chemicals you can find in a store and will protect your seeds efficiently.
TIP! If you are considering starting an organic garden be sure to join a few blogs online. There are thousands of people who have a great deal of experience in the area that can share with you their tips that they have already put to use and know are effective.
Mulch is quite a welcome addition to any organic garden, but there there can be too much of a good thing. A tree with too much mulch on its trunk can easily become diseased or infested. To prevent that, do not pile it against their trunks and instead spread it as far as to the drip line. Making your own compost for organic gardening is extremely simple and easy to do. It provides soil of gardens with rich nutrients and keeps soil cool during summer months. You can use kitchen waste, sawdust, aquarium water, coffee grounds, tea leaves, rabbit or hamster droppings, a thin layer of lawn clippings, spices and eggshells in your compost. There are many benefits to using only natural fertilizers in your organic garden. These natural fertilizers like compost and organic materials, help encourage creatures like native earthworms. Earthworms are natural tillers, they greatly improve your soil's conditions by conditioning it, and they also help to manufacture great fertilizer for your garden.
TIP! When selecting the best plants for your garden, pick ones that are budding. You should avoid buying plants that are blooming already.
If you so choose to organic garden your trees, flowers, and shrubs, it is very important that you surround them with at least 2 to 3 inches of organic material. This will provide your plants with the organic nutrients that they need. As rain falls, it will release the nutrients to the plants. Sometimes it's helpful to spread grass clippings or other kinds of decomposing plant matter around your plants. The plants will decompose and allow their nutrients to go back into the soil. This same theory works for many kinds of decomposing matter such as rotten apples, eggs, and pretty much everything else that can be considered organic matter. Water your plants during the morning to avoid having fungal growth that generally prefers moisture and darkness. By watering your plants during the day they are best able to take advantage of the sun, and utilize the suns anti-bacterial effects. Some bacteria or fungi are light sensitive, so by watering during the day you benefit the plant by reducing the growth potential of its competitors. Follow the above suggestions to help you with your organic garden. Think of the benefits you get by gardening the natural way. Maybe the nutrition is your primary concern, or perhaps you are looking for a way to cut cost. Whatever the reason, enjoy taking a bit out of that ripe, juicy watermelon or a fresh, crisp carrot!

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Helpful Organic Gardening Tips You Can Use

What do you know about organic gardening? Do you have some gardening techniques? If you do, do you wish to improve upon them? Is what you're using working with your organic garden or against it? If you cannot answer these questions confidently, look at the tips below to help grow a better organic garden. Calculate how much water your plants truly need. Thinner plants generally need more water; they contain larger surface area with less capacity to store water. Plants with large, thick waxy leaves are often more suited for water-starved environments. Over-watering may also cause problems with the plant due to microbial growth on their roots.
TIP! Keep a journal of your gardening adventures. In your journal write down the date you plant each plant.
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. For the best organic garden, choose plants that do best in your type of soil and climate. Plants that have adapted to a specific type of environment have a better chance to thrive without much fuss in that environment. These plants will also save you time in maintenance because they are naturally hardy. Gather pine cones that have dropped from trees and use them as mulch in your garden to conserve water and prevent evaporation. Take the pine cones and crush them into a mulch and spread them about two inches deep around the base of plants and between rows and your watering will last longer.
TIP! A great tip when beginning an organic gardening is to add lime to your seed-starter mix. This is done to reduce the acidity of your peat.
Mulch should be your best friend when it comes to organic gardening. You need mulch to protect your plants and soil for when there is runoff after a rain storm or after using an irrigation system. The water runs off the land and it will erode and deplete any unprotected soil. When first growing a plant you should make sure that it has all the nutrition and water that it needs. The sprouting stage for most plants is the time when it is most vulnerable to drying out or dying. With proper care, a sprout will mature into a full adult plant which is much more resistant to environmental and animal threats. Water your organic garden with storm water runoffs and collected rainwater. Rainwater is more pure and better for plants than home tap water, because it won't contain chemicals such as chlorine or fluoride. Using rainwater also helps in reducing your overall water usage. Rainwater can even be stored in barrels or cisterns to be used during dry spells. Are you more informed when it comes to organic gardening? Do you have a gardening technique or do you have a better gardening technique now? Can you now use things that work with your organic garden? Hopefully, the tips above should have given you advice on growing a better organic garden.