A smart way to build a healthier diet is to start an organic garden. However, you should be aware that organic gardening is hard work. You probably do not know how to go about growing an organic garden on your own.
One way to encourage an organic garden to be sustainable and healthy is to put aside a section to stay undeveloped, thus encouraging wildlife to approach it. Certain wildlife can be good for an organic garden; birds and insects can help your plants reproduce and be as healthy as they can be!
Keep the temperature in your home between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit, if you are keeping or growing any kind of plant in your house. This is the optimum temperature to ensure strong growth. If you aren’t wanting your house to be this warm in the winter, you can use a heat lamp on the plants.
To be most efficient in your gardening, always keep your tools close at hand. Large pockets or a sturdy bucket can be used to store tools. Have gloves, shears, a trowel and anything else you need handy for quick use.
Plastic bags are great to cover gardening shoes when they get muddy. You’ll be able to keep your momentum going without needing to take off your shoes, and stay on track with your gardening project.
Pine can make surprisingly great mulch. Acidic soil is a favorite of garden plants that are high in acidity. If you have acid loving plants, use pine needles as a mulch. Spread the needles over the beds in a layer that is approximately 2-inches deep. Over time, the needles will begin to decay, supplying the soil with acid as they do.
Laundry Basket
An old laundry basket makes a great way to gather your harvest. A laundry basket will act as a strainer for your produce. Rinse the product off whilst it’s in the basket so that any extra water can strain through the laundry basket’s holes.
The compost pile should include equal parts of dried material and green plant material. Green plant mulches include everything from fresh grass clippings, to unwanted vegetables, to recently pulled weeds. For the dry end of the spectrum, think of things like paper and cardboard, sawdust, hay, etc. Don’t include ashes, diseased plants, charcoal meat, or carnivorous animal waste.
You can kill weeds naturally. Pile newspapers on top of each other to kill weeds. Weeds can only grow in sunlight. When you pile up layers of newspapers right on top of the weeds, they will suffocate and die. It’s easy for newspapers to break down over an extended period of time, making them great for compost. If you want it to look better, just add a layer or two of much over top of the newspapers.
If you are planting seeds in containers, a good rule of thumb is that the seed’s depth should be around three times its overall size. Be aware that some seeds shouldn’t be covered, as they need sunlight. Petunias and ageratum are two examples of seeds that require sunlight. If you are unsure if your seeds should be covered, refer to the seed packet, or if that is not available, look for information online.
For the best results when growing an organic garden, you should shake your seeds up a little bit. After planted, make sure you agitate the seeds at least twice daily, using your fingers or even a Popsicle stick. However odd this may sound, research shows that this touching encourages seedlings to grow better than they would without touching.
If slugs are problematic in your garden, you can use an all-natural beer trap to do away with them. Bury a glass jar in your garden so that its open mouth is level with the top of the soil. Fill this jar up with beer almost entirely. Beer attracts slugs and then they’ll get stuck in the jar.
Treated Wood
Use untreated stone, brick or wood to build raised beds. Make sure the wood you use is untreated and rot resistant. Examples of good woods include cedar, cypress, and locust. Don’t use treated wood in a garden for vegetables because the chemicals contained in them can leak into the ground. In the event your vegetable garden already has treated wood as part of its enclosure, consider replacing it, or painting it, or wrapping the treated wood in some protective covering. Keep in mind that if any of the untreated wood is below the ground, you should dig it up to make sure that you completely protect your vegetable garden from the chemicals in the treated wood.
It can be hard at times to grow your own organic garden, yet it is so much more rewarding in the end. While chemical claims are wondrous, growing organically is a great reward to whomever eats your produce.
The best feature of organics is that they are pesticide free. This is great for your health, but you do want to check the produce for bugs prior to using it.
Gardening is a fun hobby that allows you be more earth friendly. When you do this type of gardening, you will start to have a good idea of the whole process of planting from start to finish.
Successful Organic
A successful organic garden is the result of hard work and a good understanding of the principles involved. Persistence and patience are also important traits for successful organic gardener. Keep the above advice at hand and you too can excel with organic gardening.
