Organic Vegetable Gardening |
There is nothing quite like sitting down to a meal and enjoying the fresh taste of your own veggies from your organic vegetable gardening en devours.
Once you have tasted home grown produce you will never want to go back to store bought vegetables ever again.Growing organic produce requires some planning and the soil should be your first priority.
Organic vegetable gardening requires rich fertile soil and the way to achieve rich soil is to use organic compost to fertilize the prepared ground before planting, this ensures the soil has the right balance of phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium.
Nitrogen produces lush green foliage while phosphorous produces strong roots and stems, it also protects from brief cold spells and disease. These 3 main ingredients can be purchased together in commercial fertilizers but they are synthetic and should never be used when organic vegetable gardening is your preference.
You will not read any article about organic vegetable gardening without touching on the subject of compost to be specific I'm taking about organic compost usually created by gardeners in compost bins or piles. Mixing leaves grass cutting and household waste such as potato peelings, tea bags coffle grounds and egg shells you will soon have a nutrient enriched composted substance ready to fertilize all your garden vegetables.
just make sure you don't use any left over meat as this will attract unwanted critters. Fallen tree branches and twigs can also be added if you are able to mulch them up first. The smaller the particles the quicker they will decompose and be ready to use in the soil.
It's good practice to add some compost to the soil a couple of weeks before you intend to do your planting. Using a PH tester is common practice among organic vegetable gardeners as having the correct PH balance is very important. You should be aiming for PH of around 7 which is neutral.
If the PH needs to be raised you can add some limestone which also contains magnesium, something lacking in the majority of soil in most gardens. If you need to lower the PH at any time just ad some sulphur.
Normal methods for garden pest control would involve using chemicals to completely eradicate them but organic vegetable gardening does not use any chemicals. So to help keep some of the harmful organisms down you should use mulch around the plants to prevent sunlight from encouraging organism growth.
Common pests including whiteflies, aphids, and mites can be controlled in a natural way by spraying them with a mix of dishwashing liquid, vegetable oil and water. Shake well and keep in a spray bottle. Most outbreaks of aphids can be controlled by spraying them every 10 day's or more frequently if the problem is really bad.
I would suggest spraying with clean water a few hours later although some gardeners say this is not needed. Just don't overdo it with the washing up liquid.
Organic vegetable gardening is a rewarding and peaceful hobby that can relax you helping to take away the stress of everyday living. With the added bonus of enjoying your fresh tasty home grown veggies.
Quick Tip #1
To be a successful Organic gardener you should learn from nature, take a walk in any forest or wooded area and observe how fallen branches leaves and a multitude of plant life forms decompose to create nutrients that are put back into the soil. Insects eat other insects, birds eat insects, and grubs. The whole system survives without any form of chemical intervention. keep this in mind when your planning your organic garden. |
Quick Tip #2
At the start of each organic gardening year take some time to sharpen your tools. You will work much more efficiently with a sharp spade than with a dull one. Check the wheel or wheels on your wheelbarrow make sure they are not going to let you down when it's full of heavy soil or potting plants. |
Quick Tip #3
If your plants are being eaten away by aphids, use a solution of mild washing up liquid and water in a clean plastic spray bottle. Give the bugs a liberal spraying, leave for a few minutes then spray off the dead aphids with clean tepid water. Repeat this every ten day's or so until you are aphid free. |
|
|