Many people get into organic gardening since they fear the toxic effects of commercial pesticides and fertilizers, both on the environment and their health. A lot of techniques for organic gardening actually don’t cost a lot of money. To begin your journey into the world of organic gardening, follow these tips.
Plant strawberries for your children. Children will be more willing to help you if they can pluck their own fruit from the garden.
If you choose to use organic methods to care for your houseplants, you should bear in mind that certain plants require more sunlight than others. If your home does not let in sufficient light, then consider getting plants that thrive in low-light situations. If you already have plants that need full light and the natural light provided is not sufficient, artificial lights can supplement their needs.
Laundry Basket
Use a laundry basket to help you collect produce from your garden. The basket strains the produce as well as stores it while you are going through your garden. While your freshly harvested fruits and vegetables are still in the basket, rinse them off and any excess water will run off through the laundry basket holes.
Your compost pile should contain green plants and dried ones in equal amounts. “Green” material refers to things like wilted flowers, weeds, leaves from your yard, and grass clippings. Dried plant material comprises shredded paper, cardboard, sawdust, and straw. Your compost pile should never contain meat, ashes or charcoal.
Ruffle the seedlings carefully with a piece of soft cardboard or your hands twice a day. That may sound like a silly thing to do, but it’s been proven to help plants grow larger than they would otherwise.
In order to construct your raised beds, make use of untreated brick, stone, wood and other materials. For best results, you should only use wood that has not been treated with chemicals or protective coating. Cypress, cedar or locust wood are appropriate selections. Never use compost from treated woods in a veggie garden; the chemicals can contaminate your food. If you have already used lumber that is treated, you can line it with plastic or another type of barrier.
Certification is important in order to be considered a legitimate organic gardener. This will increase sales and shows your customers they’ve been buying from the best.
Once a year, you must rotate your garden. Planting your garden in the same area every year will allow fungus to grow there as well. These diseases can build up in the soil, reinfecting your plants the next year. By using the crop rotation method, you will be able to ward off disease and fungus naturally.
Try cultivating organic gardening. Garlic cloves may be planted in soil with good drainage in either the spring or fall. Set them four inches apart, approximately one to two inches deep into the soil, with their ends up. As the garlic shoots grow, you can snip them and use them for cooking. You can harvest the bulbs as the tops begin to turn brown. Allow the sun to dry out the bulbs for a few days until the skin gets hard. They can be stored in a cool area, either loose or tied in bunches.
More Gardening Ideas & Resources
Once you start to actually apply what you learned from this article you can start growing a prosperous and healthy organic garden in your own back yard for the future. You should expect to see more wildlife inhabiting your garden as your garden works more with nature.