Starting an organic garden can be a fruitful hobby, as long as you avoid major pitfalls. Continue on for some good tips that will help you succeed in organic gardening.
Plant ever-bearing strawberries for your children in the organic garden. Kids are quite eager to pick fruit from a garden, and will help with the planting if they get a nice snack out of it at the end.
If you want a sustainable garden, leave part of it undisturbed as a home for the wildlife in the area. Doing this will allow creatures that help plants to produce and pollinate to continue their actions, which will have a positive effect on the garden you develop.
If you’re growing plants indoors, keep your thermostat around 65 or 75 degrees daily. The plants need this temperature in order to effectively grow. If this is a little too warm for your house, grow your organic plants under a heat lamp.
Perennial gardens should be prepared easily and quickly in the ground. With a garden spade, slice under the dirt then flip it over. Next, spread out wood chips several inches deep. Wait two weeks, then dig in and plant the new perennials.
Planted flowers will benefit from organic materials that are built up to as much as three inches. This is a good way to keep weed growth at bay and add nutrients that you need in your garden. It will also make your flower beds look more finished.
You should work efficiently, instead of working hard in your garden, to simplify things. Do not spend half an hour looking everywhere for a tool. Have all of tools you will need for the day before you head out your garden. When you are finished, put them away neatly for the next time. You can use a tool belt for this purpose, or choose pants that contain several large pockets.
Pine mulch can be highly effective under the right conditions. There are many common acidic plants that prefer acidic soil. If you have acid loving plants, use pine needles as a mulch. Lay a few inches of needles over the beds to allow them to decompose and add some acid to your soil.
Coffee Grounds
Put coffee grounds in your soil. Your plants will thrive from the nitrogen contained in the grounds. Plants need nitrogen in order to thrive, so give it a natural source with coffee grounds, then watch everything come to life much more quickly.
Do you prefer to eliminate weeds without the use of harmful chemicals? You need to have many layers of newspapers in order to provide proper weed control. Weeds require sunlight to grow. When you put newspaper on top of weeds they will suffocate because they are not getting enough light. The paper will break down quickly and cleanly, adding to your compost. You can then add a mulch layer right on top so that it looks more attractive.
If slugs are disrupting the balance of your garden, you can diminish their population by using a beer trap. Get a clean, empty glass jar to use as a trap. Bury it with its mouth facing upwards. Keep putting dirt over the jar until the mouth is at the surface of your garden. Fill it with beer to about one inch below the top of the jar. The beer helps attract slugs and they end up trapped.
Construct raised flower beds of brick, stone, or wood. If using wood, make sure it’s naturally rot resistant and untreated. Cypress, cedar or locust wood are appropriate selections. If you use treated wood in your vegetable garden, the chemicals in the wood can make their way into the soil, and in turn, to your crops. If you’re using treated lumber, line it with a barrier, or some plastic.
Water demands from plants will depend on the season and the climate in your area. When watering your plants, consider the time you are watering them, the kind of soil you are using and how good the water is. In some cases, you can’t water because of climate issues. You can’t water the leave of your plants during humid, warm weather–it’ll promote the growth of leaf fungus. Instead focus on watering the root system.
As you’ve read, there is more to doing organic gardening than many think. While creating a lovely organic garden takes a lot of effort, the results are more than worth the work. The groundwork of information contained in this article should get you off to a good start.
