Organic Gardening Tips for Flowers and Herbs
December 17, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
The popularity of organic food and gardening has certainly increased over the last few years. Not only does it give you a sense of well being but people love the beauty of wonderful colored flowers and the taste of vegetables they helped create. Organic gardening tips on how to successfully start and care for an organic garden are becoming easier to find as this type of gardening continues to become more popular. Along with being relaxing, it is a very interesting hobby. Anyone can organically produce wonderful fruits, herbs and vegetables and know that they are healthy to eat and pesticide, herbicide and chemical free. There will always be garden pests but instead of using chemicals to deal with this problem, there are many organic gardening tips to get rid of them, similar to the way gardeners did many years ago before the use of pesticides and herbicides.
A good homemade pest deterrent to use in organic gardening is:
In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.
Following a few organic gardening tips, you will produce fruits, vegetables and herbs that are healthy, taste wonderful, are less expensive than buying produce at the grocery store and give you the peace of mind knowing exactly how they were grown and what was used on them. Aphids are annoying little insects that often cause a lot of damage in your garden. If you plant marigolds near your vegetable garden, the aphids will quit bothering your plants. If you already have an aphid problem, spray the infected plants with diluted soapy water and then spray them again with clear water. Organic gardening tips you should try are; instead of buying compost for your garden, which could contain chemicals, make your own while you cut down on garbage at the same time. Using your garden and kitchen waste is an excellent and very easy way to make your own compost. In your compost pile use peelings from carrots, potatoes and other vegetables, dead weeds, coffee grounds, egg shells and even the pruning from roses and other plants. The different textures help break down the compost quickly. Compost improves the soil texture, structure and aeration while enriching the soil, which stimulates root development. When choosing plants for your organic garden, make sure you choose ones that are well adapted for your area.
Here are a couple of great organic gardening tips that not only help keep your garden free of weeds but also keep the soil from drying out too quickly. Grass clippings and pine needles mixed or old newspapers make very good mulch, which keeps your garden weed free and the soil moist. Organic gardening tips help you grow healthy organic fruits and vegetable that you, your family and friends will love.
Most important of all, is to enjoy your organic garden and the fruits of your labor. Not only will you have the satisfaction of growing vegetables and herbs organically but you it will also inspire you in your culinary tasks.
Here’s to a great organic garden and fabulous, healthy meals.
Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.
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Organic Gardening Tips – 4 Tips For The Conscientious Gardener
December 16, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
as lung problems, allergies or even cancer. If gardeners refrain from using these dangerous products then they are saving anyone who consumes their products from a lot of health hazards.
2. Look for non-toxic weed killers. These are available in organic gardening supply stores everywhere and are much environmentally and medically safer than the ones found in the gardening sections of hardware stores. Organic products are guaranteed to be safe for everyone.
3. Read the labels of every gardening product you buy, to make sure that they only consist of natural and chemical-free products. This will let your garden be totally organic in nature and much healthier than non-organic gardens. It is advisable not to let the personnel at the stores direct you – simply don’t buy it if it doesn’t have “all natural” or “organic” written on the label. When in doubt, ask an organic gardening expert, especially those in stores, write the names of the products down and find them on the Internet. This is your best bet and the least risky one and will allow you to find the perfect products for your organic garden.
4. Be absolutely certain that you use organic gardening tips taken from very reliable and trustworthy sources. Retail or wholesale outlets either do not have any organic products or have very little of them and thus are not in a position to advise you in any way as far as organic gardening is concerned. Either through ignorance or deliberately, they will give you wrong information and probably discourage you to look for and use organic products, citing many reasons, none of which are reliable enough to trust. Organic gardening stores and the Internet are perfect places to look for organic gardening tips.
Organic Gardening Tip – 5 Tips To Successful Organic Gardens
October 6, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
Unlike the popular theories that state that the space shuttle could miraculously appear if blown up enough times, an organic garden is usually not the result of an accident. People that have a successful garden have created one based upon their consistent upkeep, planning, and a desire to make their garden grow. Regardless of the therapeutic value the gardening has, relaxation has little to do with the steps that it takes to ensure the success of your gardening endeavor. Here are a few organic gardening tips on how to make sure that your organic garden goals are reached by looking at planning, soil preparation, fertilizers, irrigation, and insect and disease control.
As with all things that eventually come to pass, a plan is always needed. Not something that is thought of and reconsidered over time intermittently, but a specified plan of action that leads to a specified end result. When you decide to grow your garden, and you choose to do it in an organic matter, you will need to take a few things into consideration such as location, the environment that the plants will grow it, the time that it will take in order for you to properly take care of your garden, how much effort will be involved and are there any resources that you may or may not be able to acquire in order to reach your final goals.
Once you have a clear written outline of what it is you need to do and what you need to acquire to reach your garden goals, it is time to start the plan into action. Action is everything once the goals are defined. If you set your goals but neglect factors such as good seed, compost, or even a source of good water for your plants, you will fail in your attempt because any compromise will lead to an overall failure.
The next thing you begin doing is prepare your soil. Soil preparation is the foundation of the growth of any and all plants that you have. From the soil, the plants will be able to get their nutrients. Soil that is hard or dense will be almost impossible to aerate and therefore the plants will not get enough oxygen through the root system in order to thrive and flourish. Likewise, if there is no way for the water to evenly percolate to the plants roots in your garden, some plants will make it while others will die without consistent moisture, and some will be oversaturated and get root rot.
Another organic gardening tip is that you must also consider the consistency of the soil in regard to the amount of compost and nutrients that will be accessible to the seeds that will grow into the plants in the garden that you desire. By adding natural compost or other fertilizers to enhance the nutrients within the soil such as nitrogen or potassium, you will need to prepare this ahead of time, specifically as you are preparing the soil and getting ready to plant your seeds.
With reference to fertilizer, if you are doing this in an organic matter, some of the best fertilizer that you can get can either come from your compost pile or from a worm bin that you have created through your vermicomposting efforts. This needs to be prepared several weeks in advance so that it is ready to use when you are ready to plant. Compost that has not had time to properly finish will be detrimental to your soil and therefore proper preparation is always mandatory before getting ready to add these nutrients to the soil that will bear the fruit of your labor.
The consideration of water is also paramount in your success. You must have a way for your organic garden to get enough water on a regular basis so that it can grow unimpeded by the periods of droughts that are self induced by someone to did not plan ahead of time and create an optimal situation for the gardens irrigation needs. This includes having enough access to water, easy access through an irrigation system or hose system, and potentially a sprinkler system on a timer which can ensure that the garden is receiving water on a regular basis.
One final organic gardening tip that you should consider is that when your plants begin to grow, insects will appear. Weeds will also appear as well as potential diseases that can kill off your crop. This will take some wisdom on your part knowing the types of plants you are growing and finding natural alternatives to pesticides that may inhibit or deter the natural growth processes of your plants. If you are an organic gardener, you will not want to use these anyway and therefore finding beneficial insects that attack bad insects or natural scents or plants that will deter weed growth or disease is paramount in ensuring the healthy growth of your garden.
When considering all of these things together in a big picture, you realize that gardening cannot possibly be the result of an accident. There must be proper preparation and access to all of the tools necessary in order to make a garden successful and to make your efforts worthwhile. Take some time and use these five organic gardening tips to your benefit and make your garden one of the best you have ever had.
Organic Garden Tips And So Much More!
June 11, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
In this day and age, many people are becoming more aware of the environment as well as the world around them. If you’re an official “Greenie” or you want to get into organic gardening there a few really easy ways to go about this! First off, why should you try anything organic or “green?” Its been said since the 1980s and even earlier on that there was a huge hole forming in the ozone from things like methane gases from garbage dumps, animals becoming extinct because of littering, and polar ice caps melting and collapsing piece by piece because of the rising temperatures. Isn’t it about time we start saving the place we live in, rather than hurting it even more?
This is where becoming green or living organically comes into play, and the easiest place to start is right in your own backyard! Several million sites online offer tips on how you can start an organic garden and become greener in your life. These sites also offer other things as well such as products that are good for the earth and recipes you can make for things such as you’re own green compost! These sites are pretty useful and really interesting. As said above, even if you aren’t an official “greenie” but you’re curious about how stuff like this works, this is a great place to start.
Organic fertilizers are made from such items as cottonseed meal, compost, and bone meal. As well as other things such as Green Sand, Kelp Meal, Fish Meal, and Blood Meal.
Cottonseed Meal: Cottonseed meal is the byproduct remaining after cotton is ginned and the seeds crushed and the oil extracted. The remaining meal is usually used for animal feed.
Bone Meal: Bone meal is a mixture of crushed and coarsely ground bones that is used as an organic fertilizer for plants and formerly in animal feed. As a slow-release fertilizer, bone meal is primarily used as a source of phosphorus.
Green Sand: Green sand forms in anoxic marine environments that are rich in organic detritus and low in sedimentary input.
Kelp Meal: Kelp Meal is brown seaweed harvested from the cold, nutrient-rich waters of the north Atlantic Ocean. Kelp Meal, Ascophyllum nodosum, is the best species of kelp for both horticultural and agricultural use.
Fish Meal: Fish meal, or fish-meal, is a commercial product made from both whole fish and the bones and offal from processed fish. It is a brown powder or cake obtained by rendering pressing the whole fish or fish trimmings to remove the fish oil.
Blood Meal: Blood meal is dried, powdered blood used as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. It is one of the highest non-synthetic sources of nitrogen and if over-applied it can burn plants with excessive ammonia. Blood meal is completely soluble and can be mixed with water to be used as a liquid fertilizer. It usually comes from cattle as a slaughterhouse by-product. It can be spread on gardens to deter animals such as rabbits, or as a compost activator.
Here are some really great recipes that use the above ingredients as well:
Rose feed/mulch
3 cups Alfalfa Meal
3 cups Mushroom compost
1-cup bone meal
Lilac, and other sweet soil lover feed/mulch
1-cup bone meal
3 cups lime
3 cups mushroom compost
Azaleas and Rhodo feed/mulch
1/2-cup rock phosphate
1/2-cup green sand
1/2-cup cottonseed
1/8-cup Epsom salts
1/2 cup used coffee grinds
20 shovels fish compost
Perennial feed/mulch
1/2-cup bone meal
1/2 cup green sand
1/2-cup rock phosphate
1 wheelbarrow of leaf mould
Fruit tree feed/mulch
5 shovels leaf mould
5 shovels garden compost
5 shovels peat moss
1-cup bone meal
1/4-cup rock phosphate
1/4-cup alfalfa
1/4-cup green sand
Basic Organic Fertilizer
3 parts blood or fish-meal
3 parts steamed bone meal
1 part kelp meal
1 and 1/2 parts Sul-Po-Mag (a brand name for a sulfur, potassium, and magnesium source, but you can substitute any such mixture.)
High Nitrogen Mix
4 parts blood meal
2 parts cottonseed meal
1 part steamed bone meal
1/2 part Sul-Po-Mag (a brand name source for sulfur, potassium, and magnesium)
1/2 part kelp meal
High Potassium Mix
2 parts cottonseed meal
2 and 1/2 parts Sul-Po-Mag
1 and 1/2 parts steamed bone meal
1 part green-sand
1 part kelp meal
High Phosphorous Mix
4 parts steamed bone meal
1 part fish meal
1 part meat and bone meal
1 part soft phosphate
1/2 part Sul-Po-Mag
1/2 part kelp meal
You can find any and all of these ingredients at your local garden center so its not that difficult to find! All it takes is a little creativity and you can make all sorts of really green fertilizers for your vegetable or flower garden at home! If you’re searching for some more tips try going to Google and looking for things like “Organic Garden Tips” or “Green Garden Tips.”




