If you are environmentally conscious and worried about the toxic effects of chemicals, organic gardening may be for you. Organic gardeners eschew the harsh chemicals and fertilizers used by large corporate farms. There is also the fact that maintaining an organic garden is inexpensive. Here are some helpful techniques to help you learn to garden organically.
Choose the right soil for best results. The type of plants you're planning to grow will determine the type of soil you need, and whether the soil will or will not be adapted. For special requirements, you can build separate areas with soil that is right for certain plants.
Try to grow some wheat or cat grass around your cat's favorite plants. Try putting mothballs or citrus on your soil to wards pets away.
To prevent shocking your plants, you must gradually introduce new temperatures and other conditions to them. Put them in the sun outside for a couple of hours during the first day. Over a period of several days, slowly increase the time they are allowed to stay outside. The plants should be prepared to move outside permanently at the end of this week.
Pouring the excess water from your dinner of steamed veggies on them can help. If you grow rhododendrons, azaleas or gardenias, increase the acid in your your soil by working in coffee or tea grounds. Some types of plant fungus problems can be solved by sprinkling with chamomile tea.
Spectrum Pesticides
Do not use broad-spectrum pesticides within your garden. If your pesticide has too wide a range of targets, it can kill off useful insects that fight off other pests. Bugs that provide a benefit to your garden are more easily killed by these broad-spectrum pesticides, you may simply end up with a bigger pest problem. This will leave you using even more pesticides to fix the problem.
Before you begin to plant your garden you will need to check the soil. A soil analysis report can be acquired for a nominal fee. You can then use the results of that report to determine if the soil needs to be modified before you begin planting. Many offices of Cooperative Extension will do a soil analysis, and it is important to know how to improve soil so that all crops can grow in it.
Strawberries are a good organic garden choice for families with strawberries, particularly everbearing strawberries. Little ones will be more likely to help when they can enjoy the fun of harvesting their own fruit.
If you like the concept of organic horticulture, then why not take it one step further by leaving some of your land undeveloped for the area's wildlife? This can be a good area for the types of insects that pollinate plants. It can also be a sanctuary for birds, which will help some plants thrive. This can greatly improve the production of your organic garden.
Organic indoor plants may need additional light sources to make up for the light they miss out on by being indoors. This needs to be considered. If you want indoor plants, choose specimens that can grow in relatively dark places. If you want to grow plants that need a lot of light, consider using artificial lighting.
Autumn not only means colder weather but new vegetables to plant. Try planting your fall veggies, especially leafy greens, inside of a pumpkin! Clean out the pumpkin just like you would if you were making a jack o'lantern. Spray Wilt-Pruf inside the pumpkin and along its edges so that the pumpkin won't rot. When you finish this, you can plant!
Once you start to actually apply what you learned from this article you can start growing a prosperous and healthy organic garden in your own back yard for the future. When your garden is working with nature, you can also expect to see an increase in the amount of wildlife that inhabits your garden.