Organic Vegetable Gardening For Beginners

Organic Vegetable Gardening For Beginners
By Mary Hanna

To be successful at organic vegetable gardening you must draw up detailed plans. The soil is your first consideration; how to make it rich and fertile, and how to prepare it so harmful pests won't attack your vegetable garden. The two ways that organic vegetable gardening differs from conventional gardens is the usage of fertilizer and how to keep pests under control. Phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium are the three components essential to your organic garden.

For lush, green foliage you must have nitrogen. For strong roots and stems phosphorus is needed. And for the important protection from disease and brief cold snaps, potassium is a must. Let's call them the big three. The big three are available in commercial fertilizers however they are synthetic. In organic vegetable gardening the big three are added in a much different way.

The best way of enriching your soil is by compost. Dig some pits in your back yard to start your compost from kitchen refuse. Use things like pine needles, corn stalks, leaves, carrot tops, fruits or vegetables that have spoiled, manure, egg shells and coffee grinds. Some organic gardeners use weeds in their compost but I do not recommend this for obvious reasons. As the compost materials decompose they release bacteria and fungi into the soil that you are preparing. The bacteria and fungi convert nutrients like nitrogen to ammonia and nitrates that will be usable for your vegetables. Use substances such as seaweed, potash salts, tobacco stems and wood ash to help make potassium in your compost. By making your own compost, you are controlling the mixture and balance to achieve the right combination for your organic vegetable garden.

To be absolutely sure that your compost has completely broken down and is now offering up the right balance, start working it into the soil at least two weeks before you plan on planting.

The pH in the soil must be right for healthy plants. Test your soil, if it has a ph of 0 it is very acidic, while a 14 is extreme alkaline. Of course a seven indicates neutral soil. To raise the pH of the soil inexpensively use ground limestone. An additional benefit of the limestone is that it contains magnesium something that most soils lack. If, on the other hand, you have extreme alkaline soil use sulpher to bring the pH down.

Pest control in organic vegetable gardening is also different that conventional gardening. In many conventional beds gardeners wish to eradicate all pests with pesticides. Many in organic gardening only wish to keep the pest population down so to have a balance in the garden. Obviously, whenever possible, plant pest resistant vegetables. In order for harmful organisms to grow, they need bright sunlight so keep thick mulch around the plants to deny the organisms that needed sunlight and to help hold moisture into the ground. If you find you have a heavy infestation here is a natural pest control formula:

In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.

Follow this tips and you are on your way to raising a healthy and plentiful organic vegetable garden.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at Gardening Landscaping Tips, Gardening Outside and Herb Gardening

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Organic Vegetable Gardening

More farmers are getting into organic vegetable gardening because it is cost effective and they are able to produce almost the same yield of crops. You must first understand the organic vegetable gardening principles before you can do this in your own garden. First, organic vegetable gardening does not use any fertilizers, nutrients or pesticides. To make it all work, sunlight and water are required so nature is your partner here. We don't produce these ourselves but you have to find the ideal area and provide adequate drainage.

Aside from sunlight and water, you can help the crops grow by using compost heap from leftover food, chipped bark, garden compost, leaf moulds and manure which you can mix together and then spread this throughout your garden. Many people are grossed about by manure but you don't have to scoop this from the toilet because this is sold in stores and if you keep Chickens then they are great to have - just let them roam around in the garden. Dead animals or meat products are used by some people but you can't put these in the soil. Maggots will soon appear if you leave them for a couple of weeks in the bin which is what you use to help fertilize your garden.

The earthworm digs deep into the ground and aerates the soil bringing various minerals to the surface and providing better drainage, making it is another helpful creature. The casting this long pink colored creature leaves behind is five times as rich in nitrogen phosphorous and potassium, according to experts. Again, this can be purchased from almost any gardening store or garden center.

Unwanted guests including army worms, crickets, gypsy moth caterpillars, slugs and squash bugs make organic gardening a challenge. In an organic setting the best weapon is the toad which is known to eat more almost every type of insect despite the fact that at one time people used fertilizer to kill them. If you have caterpillars or spiders lurking in the garden, get a bird because this is not in the toad's diet.

In some cases, you don't have to buy a toad or a bird from the pet store because they may come in to your home as long as you set the ideal environment for them. Within days, you will have some new occupants protecting your garden if you can put up a bird house or a small pond. As they mark their territory and eat anything that dares enter their domain, the preying mantis and the ladybug are other insect killers which you can get to do the job.

Rosemary, sage or thyme can be used to protect your vegetables against butterflies and marigolds protect vegetables against nematodes. The rotation of crops is seen as the best way to keep the soil fertile, despite all the flowers and creatures that nature has to offer. The same kind of vegetable should be planted and harvested in a season, with an alternative vegetable being planted in between. you just have to be practice it so you can harvest the vegetables you have planted weeks ago.

Organic Vegetable Gardening

How to make sure that your tomato plant gets enough suppot.

Tomato Plant Support

If you are new to vegetable gardening, and you want to grow tomatoes, there are many things to consider. Where to plant, how much space, how to prepare the soil, and so on.

But you also need to consider what to do with your tomato plants after they are planted and begin to grow. One of the biggest things is that once these plants begin to gain some height and also begin producing tomatoes, they will not just stand up by themselves.

So after your plants are planted, you need to decide how to support the tomato plants.

You may ask, why do tomatoes need to be supported? Well, the main reasons are the fact that the plants branches cannot support their own weight once they become tall and begin to put on tomatoes. The weight will cause them to sag which if they are too close or touching the ground this could lead to rot or disease. And obviously the worst thing that could happen is the branch could break causing you to lose those beautiful tomatoes that you worked so hard to harvest.

There are several ways to support your tomato plants, and there are a variety of items sold out there to support the plants. Or, you can go with the option of making your own tomato plant supports. There are many methods to choose from also. You can use stakes, trellises, and cages, among others.

You can find a variety of cages and stakes at your local garden center or feed and seed store.
Happy Gardening!

For more tips and information on supporting your tomato plants, visit: http://itsgardentime.blogspot.com/

Tomato Plant Support

Six Ticks For Organic Gardening

Six Ticks For Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is the way of growing vegetables and fruits with the use of things only found in nature.

Why would one want to indulge in organic gardening?

1.One can easily make compost from garden and kitchen waste. Though this is a bit more time-consuming than buying prepared chemical pesticides and fertilizers, it certainly helps to put garbage to good use and so saves the environment.

2. Organic farming does not use chemicals that may have an adverse affect on your health. This is especially important when growing vegetables. Chemical companies tell us that the chemicals we use are safe if used according to direction, but research shows that even tiny amounts of poisons absorbed through the skin can cause such things as cancer, especially in children.

On the average, a child ingests four to five times more cancer-causing pesticides from foods than an adult. This can lead to various diseases later on in the child's life. With organic gardening, these incidents are lessened.

Remember, pesticides contain toxins that have only one purpose - to kill living things.

3. Less harm to the environment. Poisons are often washed into our waterways, causing death to the native fish and polluting their habitat.

4.Organic farming practices help prevent the loss of topsoil through erosion.
The Soil Conservation Service says that an estimated 30 - 32 billion tons of soil erodes from United States farmlands every year.

4. Cost savings. One does not need to buy costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides with organic gardening. Many organic recipes for the control of pest and disease come straight from the kitchen cupboard. Sometimes other plants can be grown as companions to the main crop. An example of this is the marigold, which helps to repel aphids from vegetables.

Mixing 1 tablespoon of liquid dishwashing soap and 1 cup of cooking oil can make a cheap garden pest spray. Put 3 tablespoons of this mixture in 1 quart of water and spray on plants.

5.A simple mulch of pine needles will help to suppress the growth of weeds as well as keeping the moisture in.

6. Organic gardening practices help to keep the environment safe for future generations.

Six Ticks For Organic Gardening

Organic Composting

Organic Compost

Either you make it yourself or if you need to buy it, buy from a reputable organic compost seller (it’s available at many landscape and nursery suppliers). Making it yourself though is much more satisfying – just get yourself a compost bin and you’re ready to go.

You can easily compost your old and fallen leaves in the garden, all garden waste eg dead grass, weeds, cuttings from the hedge etc. Yard trimmings, food wastes, manures) in proper ratios into your bin; add bulking agents (e.g. Wood chips), as necessary, to provide air space; controlling temperature, moisture and oxygen to achieve
accelerated decomposition; and allowing the finished material to fully stabilize and mature through a curing process. A wormery is ideal for those with a lot of kitchen waste. Just put it in a bin with the aptly named tiger worms and watch them go to work. Their waste also becomes part of the process. Red worms will eat most any vegetable waste from your table scraps. They also eat egg shells (crushed), apple peelings, banana peels, cabbage, onion peels, celery ends, potato skins, grains, coffee grounds, and small amounts of citrus foods.

Your bin will get very warm whilst the decomposition is in progress but at least you’ll know the the process is working and you’ll have some organic compost once the process is done. You can use a product like Activ8 Organic Compost Maker to add some natural enzymes and microbes to your waste which has proven to produce compost 50% faster.

You will need to check that your compost is ready to use. It should be dark brown in colour, smell earthy and have a spongy texture. You can then use your compost to enrich the soil, for a new garden or flowerbed, around borders, in containers, for your herbs and especially for your organic vegetables which will thrive in the compost.

Organic compost