The effort and knowledge you put into your garden shows in the results, particularly when you are working with organic material. It demonstrates that you are concerned about the environment as well as the health of your plants. That is an admirable thing. Improvement to any skill can always be achieved, and this skill set is no different. Some advice that will be of use to you follows.
If you have children, plant strawberries, especially everbearing strawberries, in your organic garden. Your children will enjoy being able to pick strawberries and will be ready to help you if they can get something sweet to eat.
Water containing some aspirin helps your plants fight illness. Dissolve 1 aspirin per gallon of water for a plant disease fighting solution. You can simply spray them with the mixture to help aid them in fighting off diseases. Try spraying your plants with this around every three weeks.
If you’re really serious about environmentally-friendly gardening practices, refrain from developing some of your land and use it as an animal habitat. You will find that many of the supporting cast of insects and birds that aid in plant production and pollination will be present on your land and actually help your developed gardens to produce better.
If you have plants inside, make sure the thermostat stays between 65 and 75 degrees. Young plants need a temperature within that specific range to grow. If you don’t like keeping your home that temperature in the winter, you may wish to consider getting a heat lamp, instead, to keep your organic plants the correct temperature.
Take your seedlings and saplings to a cooler spot once they are established. It’s important to move the plants away from any heat source as they grow larger. It is wise to take plastic covers off of the containers in order to eliminate humidity and excess heat. Observe your seeds carefully so that you can make these changes as soon as they start sprouting.
Have plastic bags on hand to put over dirty gardening shoes. When you do this, your flow stays going, and you can just get right back out to your garden and finish quick.
Space is very important when you plant an organic garden. Plants take up quite a bit of space as they grow, and it’s easy to underestimate just how much. Failure to provide adequate room will restrict growth because it forces plants to compete for valuable nutrients and oxygen. Make sure your seeds have a good amount of space between each other for optimal growth.
Tend your organic garden on a regular schedule. There are certain little things to help you keep up with your garden, even if you don’t have the necessary time each day to do everything. For example, if you are playing in the yard with your child, take a few moments to pull some weeds as well.
Laundry Basket
Use a laundry basket to help you collect produce from your garden. An old laundry basket makes an excellent strainer for cleaning your produce. After you have rinsed your produce in the laundry basket, the water will just drain right out the sides.
The compost pile should include equal parts of dried material and green plant material. Green plant material comprises leaves, weeds, spent flowers, grass clippings, and fruit and vegetable waste. Dried material includes straw, shredded paper, and cardboard. Do not include charcoal, ashes, meat, carnivorous animal manure or diseased plants.
Looking for a natural way to kill weeds in your garden? You can easily control weeds by using layered sheets of newspaper. The main thing that a weed needs to thrive is sunlight. With layers of newspaper on them, the weeds are not going to have light, and therefore will not grow. Newspapers break down over time, and they make a great addition to compost. One way to enhance the appearance of your garden if you are using newspapers is to add an additional layer of mulch.
Construct raised flower beds of brick, stone, or wood. Make sure the wood you use is untreated and rot resistant. Cypress, locust and cedar are all very good choices. In a veggie garden, don’t use treated wood since its chemicals can leech into the food crops and soil. If you have already used lumber that is treated, you can line it with plastic or another type of barrier.
It can be hard to grow an organic garden without chemicals, but the end result is worth the effort. Although chemical fertilizers and pesticides can offer impressive claims, choosing the organic route will always yield the best food in the end.
You now have the skills, the tools, and the equipment necessary to apply these strategies to your own organic garden. Wonderful! Learning is a never-ending process. The tips you have read above, of course, cover just the basics. You might even have learned something you hadn’t known before to use in your organic garden.