Due to the fact that consuming organic foods is gaining popularity, choosing to live a holistic lifestyle is also becoming more prevalent. Those involved in this kind of living often like to grown their own organic gardens as a means to maximize the potential health benefits. If you’d like to grow your own organic plants, read on for some useful tips.
Plant strawberries for your children. Strawberries are a favorite of children due to their sweetness. And since they’re so easy and fun to pick, it’s also a healthy, productive, safe activity that children can assist adults with.
You can help your plants resist disease by spraying them with aspirin water. Three aspirins per four gallons of water will help keep your plants healthy. You can just spray this on them to fight disease. Plants should be sprayed once every two to three weeks.
If you’re planning on gardening inside, the first thing you should consider is an adequate light source. Ideally, these plants should be kept in a room that offers natural light from a window or glass door. If this is not an option, or you have your heart set on a particular type of plant, consider adding additional growing lights instead.
Flower Beds
Use several inches of organic materials for mulch in your flower beds. This will help to inhibit weed growth, helps to lock in moisture, and adds needed nutrients to your organic garden. Also, the flower beds will look beautifully maintained at all times.
Tuck away some plastic grocery bags and use them to slip over your muddy boots. This keeps your flow going, so you can get back out to the garden quickly and finish your work.
Coffee Grounds
Add used coffee grounds to your soil. Coffee grounds will add nitrogen to your soil which will make them helpful for some of your plants. Coffee grounds as a source of nitrogen for plants are usually limited to acid-loving plants because coffee is acidic. Nitrogen is a nutrient that will help your plants grow taller and bloom faster, so use those coffee grounds, extra compost, or diluted urea to make this happen.
As a good general practice, you should make sure to plant your seeds three seed-widths deep into their containers. There are some seeds, however, that you should not cover at all, since they need sunlight to germinate. Examples of these are petunias and ageratum. When in doubt about whether a seed requires direct sun exposure, you can find lots of information online or on the seed packaging itself.
If you wish to honestly proclaim your produce to be truly organic, you need to secure organic garden certification. This will increase your sales, and it will prove to your customers that they have quality products.
Overall, a layer of mulch is beneficial for the soil. Mulch can protect the ground it sits upon. Mulch will ensure your soil is kept cool on hot days and protect your roots. Mulch also slows the rate at which water evaporates, which improves your soil’s ability to retain moisture. This can also help control any weeds.
Every year, you should plant different things and in different places. If the types of plants that you grow are consistent from one year to the next, they may be more prone to diseases and plant fungus. These plant killing phenomena can lay dormant down in the dirt, waiting and willing to strike your next year’s plants. By changing up varieties and locations, you are reducing the chances of damaging your plants.
Try raising organic garlic. Plant single garlic cloves during the spring or fall seasons in soil that is moist and well drained. Plant them approximately 4 inches apart at a depth of 1 or 2 inches beneath the surface of the soil with the pointed end facing upward. You can cut the green shoots as they are growing and use them in your cooking. The garlic will be matured when the green tops start drying out and turning brown. The bulbs should be dried well by the sun for a few days before storing. Store the garlic in an area that’s cool, either tied up in bunches or loose.
When you think about how you want to water your garden, look into a soaker hose, this is the best option available to you. This special type of hose allows water to slowly ooze out; the water then directly targets the roots and spares the leaves. They use less water than sprinklers and are much less tedious than hand watering your plants.
When working in the garden, know exactly what you are using. Experiment with organic and natural fertilizers instead of the usual chemical, commercial ones. Compost is a popular type of fertilizer. Inorganic fertilizers can cause toxic chemicals to buildup. That’s why it’s best to use an organic method.
Use these tips and think about some ideas of your own. Organic gardening can become a part of your life. Reading this article was the perfect way to set the ball in motion.
