More and more people are becoming interested in organic gardening as a safe alternative to store bought produce, which can contain all kinds of dangerous chemicals and may even present unforeseen threats with untested methods of genetic engineering. Organic gardening methods are extremely cheap for the most part. This article will provide some great tips for organic horticulture.
Make sure to lay the sod properly. Before laying the sod, the soil must be prepared. Remove any weeds, and break the soil up into a fine tilth. Lightly, but firmly compact the soil, making sure it is flat. The soil should be adequately moistened. Lay the sod in rows, and make sure the joints do not overlap. Even out the surface of the sod by firming it down flat, filling any available gaps with a handful of dirt. Water the sod for two weeks and then you can safely walk on it as it will have had time to properly root.
Healthy Soil
Starting a garden which is pest-free is easy, if you have healthy soil. Healthy soil leads to healthy plants with more strength to deflect those insects and various diseases. To give your garden the best chance of yielding the healthiest plants, start with a high-quality soil that has fewer chemicals which over time will accumulate salts.
Use biennials and annuals to add color to your flower beds. These types of flowers grow at high speed, which gives you more flexibility in changing the look of your flower beds as the seasons change. You can also use these flowers to fill gaps between shrubs or perennials. You should get varieties such as cosmos, petunia, rudbeckia, hollyhock, sunflowers or marigold.
For proper optimum growth, plants require sufficient amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). Plants tend to grow better when the CO2 levels are higher. The best way to obtain a saturated level of carbon dioxide (CO2) is to use a greenhouse. Higher CO2 levels can provide optimal conditions for growing plants.
Grow some plants that cats like to eat – try catnip or wheat grass. You can also try to offend the cats sense of smell with orange rinds or mothballs.
Take extra care of any fragile shrubs that are known to drop their leaves in the autumn. Tender shrubs are very sensitive to cold weather, especially those that are planted in pots. Try to tie the tops all together and cover them with a sheet, large piece of cloth, or blanket. You will protect your shrubs from the cold without having to cover them in plastic, which can cause rot.
Ensuring your plants are both dry and aerated is a great way to keep them healthy. Moisture can be a magnet for disease and parasites on your plants. A common parasite to plants is fungi. Proactively treat fungi through the use of fungicidal sprays and treatments.
A quality garden must be grown from seeds. When you begin a garden, it’s most eco friendly to do so with seed. The planters used to hold nursery plants are generally not made from eco-friendly materials, and thus get thrown into landfills. Starting from seeds, or buying from one of the few nurseries that use biodegradable planters, prevents this.
More Gardening Ideas & Resources
If you start implementing the organic gardening advice included in this article today, you can look forward to having a healthy, productive, toxic-free garden in the near future. A flourishing organic garden will also be an open invitation to some very interesting creatures of the wild that you can look forward to seeing.