Organic gardening may seem to be a very complicated matter when examined closely. If you want to try your hand at organic gardening, then be prepared to learn about concepts like pH balance. Growing an organic garden can be a bit difficult for a newbie. To succeed, you must learn as much as possible about organic gardening principles. For valuable advice, keep reading.
Add aspirin to your plants to help them fight sickness. One and half tablets of aspirin in a couple gallons of water will be a wonderful help to the plants you have. You can easily spray the plans with this concoction to help them fight of disease. The spray ought to be applied approximately every three weeks.
Indoor Plants
Indoor plants have been bred over time to thrive in temperatures that are characteristic of a home. Most indoor plants like to be in about 70 degree temperatures, plus or minus 5 degrees. This level of heat is required in order for plants to grow. If this is a little too warm for your house, grow your organic plants under a heat lamp.
Regular maintenance prevents your gardening tasks from becoming overwhelming and unappealing. You may not have a lot of time to exclusively devote to your gardening hobby, but you can make the most of the time you do have. If you are outside with your dog, pluck a few weeds while your dog is taking care of his business.
When the time comes to harvest your produce, collect it using an old laundry basket. You can also use a laundry basket as a strainer. If you leave your produce in the basket while rinsing it, the basket will be able to serve as a strainer, with the extra water dripping out the holes in the bottom of the basket.
Your compost pile should contain green plants and dried ones in equal amounts. Green means plant cuttings including grass, produce and weeds. Paper and straw are dry plant materials. Diseased plants, meat and fire-waste like charcoal or ashes should not be placed in your compost pile.
The simple beer trap is still one of the best methods of ridding your organic garden of slugs. Dig a hole just deep enough for a glass jar to be placed in it while the jar still has its rim in line with the surface of the ground. Fill this jar up with beer almost entirely. The slugs will be drawn to the beer and then drown in the jar.
A raised bed can be built with untreated wood, brick or stone. Make sure the wood you use is untreated and rot resistant. Optimal wood choices that fit these criteria are locust, cypress, and cedar. It is particular important that you don’t use treated wood for vegetable beds, as the chemicals and toxins on the wood could leach into the soil and be absorbed by food plants. If you have built a bed with treated lumber already, use a barrier such as plastic to line the bed.
Organic gardening is a high-risk, high-reward activity compared to normal gardening, but the rewards certainly are sweet. Growing your crops organically will offer the best reward for those who eat the foods.
More Gardening Ideas & Resources
Now, you shouldn’t get your hopes up and believe that a few tips are going to turn you into an instant professional gardener. However, these tips are a great starting point if you do plan to grow organically. As you implement these tips and hone your skills, you’ll be a professional green-thumb-holder in no time.