Whether they've read about them in articles or seen them on grocery store shelves, most people are somewhat familiar with organic products. You're well aware of which items the organic ones are. These items are packaged in a different manner, and they typically cost much more. Review the ideas in this piece and see how you can have an organic garden in your own backyard.
If you want your children to enjoy your organic garden, plant some tasty strawberries. Kids really enjoy plucking snacks directly from the ground, and may have greater enthusiasm for the work if they see the results of their labor right away.
Add aspirin to your plants to help them fight sickness. To add the aspirin to the plant, dissolve about one tablet and a half into approximately two gallons of fresh water. All you have to do is spray the plants with this solution and you should see good results. Give your plants a spray of the aspirin-water mixture about one time every three weeks.
Before planting any perennials, you have to make the ground ready. Use a spade to dig into the turf, turn the turf over, then spread the area with approximately three inches of wood chips. After a few weeks, you may then utilize the area to plant your flowers.
You should utilize around three inches of mulch that is organic in your flower beds. Covering the beds with mulch serves multiple purposes; it helps the flowers by retaining moisture and adding nutrients, and it discourages the growth of unwanted plants. Mulch will also improve the general appearance of your flower beds.
Keep plastic bags handy to cover your muddy gardening shoes. This allows you to maintain your flow so you can rapidly get back to your gardening.
Pine makes a much better mulch than you might think. There are many types of plants with a high acidity, which means they thrive in acidic soil. Pine needles to line the bed of your garden are easy to find for these kinds of plants. Cover your beds with two inches of needles; acid will be dispersed into the soil as they decompose.
Coffee Grounds
Put coffee grounds in your soil. Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plant growth. Usually, nitrogen is limited with a plant, but using coffee grounds, diluted urea, or compost can make your plants grow faster and taller.
You can use something like a laundry basket to gather all of your produce together when the time comes. This will be like a strainer for all your produce. You can clean and rinse the harvest when it is the laundry basket and the water will go out of the holes.
Apply equal portions of dried plant material and green into your compost pile. When you pull weeds from your garden, throw them in the compost. The same goes for vegetable trimmings and grass clippings. These are considered green materials. Your dried material can be things such as sawdust, paper shreds, wood shavings, straw and cardboard. Never use ashes, meat, charcoal, diseased plants or carnivorous animal manure in your compost pile.
Treated Wood
Construct raised flower beds of brick, stone, or wood. Make sure the wood you use is untreated and rot resistant. Excellent choices are cedar, locust and cypress. Avoid using treated wood in an organic vegetable garden. The chemicals in the wood can leak into the soil, and eventually into the plants. Treated wood can be lined with plastic to create a barrier.
Grow organic garlic. Plant single garlic cloves during the spring or fall seasons in soil that is moist and well drained. Place them about one to two inches deep in the soil, pointed end up, and four inches apart. You can use the tops of the garlic shoots instead of scallions or chives. When the top turns brown, it is time to harvest the bulbs. After harvesting, leave the bulbs out in the sun until the skin hardens. This helps them dry out. Store the bulbs separately or tied in loose bunches in a cool place.
It's best to plant tomatoes in an organic garden on a three-week cycle. The reason for this is because it helps to prevent the entire harvest from producing all at once. If there's an issue with one of your harvests, you'll still have a batch of tomatoes that are safe.
For the best results when mulching, you should aim to create a bed of mulch two to three inches thick. This will help your garden by adding nourishment to the soil, holding in moisture levels, inhibiting the growth of unsightly weeds, and creating a noticeably more professional look.
Organic gardening can be made easy with just a few simple techniques. Plan your landscaping based primarily on native bushes, flowers and grasses. If you choose groups of plants that all mesh with each other in terms of optimal soil conditions, weather requirements and plant interaction, you won't need to do as much work to get the plants to coexist peacefully. In fact, you are sure to discover that such plants are able to grow beautifully in compost made out of other indigenous substances.
Growing your garden at home might not be the most convenient thing for you, but you will save a lot of money and always have the confidence that what you're eating and feeding your family is as fresh and as healthy as possible. Use the tips you've learned here and get started on your garden today.