Organic Gardening Herbs All Year

When taking an organic path to control garden pests, try to build up the soil to allow healthy microbes to flourish. Earthworms are also very important to organic gardening and they should be encouraged to stay in the soil. When the soil is unhealthy, it is not as resistant to pests.

Composting for organic gardening reduces the need for fertilizers, is a form of herbicide, can help prevent plant diseases and helps impact the environment in positive ways. Composting is a source of nutrition for insects, helps with soil erosion and reduces waste sent to landfills. It is wonderful for the health of the environment in general.

Your plants need to be fed properly as soon as they start sprouting leaves. If you did not use compost in your soil, you have to fertilize your plants. You can mix water with a liquid fish or sea weed solution and spray it on your plants, or add this mix to the water in which your trays and pots are bathing.

Make mulch spreading easier with the right tools. After laying out the mulch, use a flat-headed rake to efficiently spread the manure around. The tines of the rake help pull the mulch and spread it, while the flat side of the rake evens out the area. Use the rake with a pushing and pulling motion.

Learn to water your garden efficiently. A soaker hose can be laid in the garden and left on with low water pressure. This frees you up from having to hand-water the plants, so you can do other gardening work. Take care with seedlings, though they are still delicate and need to be watered by hand.

Plant ornamental, edible plants as part of your regular yard landscaping. Good plants to start with include rosemary, thyme varieties, sages, oregano and basil. These all look great mixed with perennials, and they will supply you with enough that you won’t need to purchase them anymore – herbs are expensive at the supermarket.

Dry your herbs immediately after harvesting them to prevent rot. Rot is usually caused by moisture either within the herb or on top of it. Moisture can cause the production of harmful bacteria that may cause rot on the herb, or produce a nasty by-product which will then spoil your harvest.

Grow basil successfully. Basil is an annual warm-season herb, very susceptible to cold and frost. Sow seed in spring at a depth of about 1/2 inch in full sun. Keep the soil evenly moist. When the basil reaches about 6 inches, pinch out the top to encourage bushy growth. Pick continuously before any flower buds open. Pick leaves in the morning after dew has dried, and don’t over wash leaves, as you will lose the aromatic oils.

Plant some fennel in your outdoor garden. Ladybugs are a wonderful addition to any garden, as they eat aphids and help to keep your plants healthy. If you plant fennel, you can attract ladybugs to your garden area and thus, help all of your plants. This beneficial herb is easy to grow, and easy to care for too.

Organic Gardening Herbs All Year

Organic Gardening Planting Garlic

Feed your roses naturally. You don’t need to use chemical fertilizer to feed roses. Bury banana skins and crushed eggshells near the roots of rose bushes to supply them with extra vitamins and minerals. 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts dissolved in 1 pint of water is a marvelous pick-me-up for roses, and if you grow garlic around your rose bushes, it will help to keep them free of greenfly.

Garlic is an excellent choice to grow organically. The best time to plant garlic is either early spring or in the fall. Plant garlic in moist soil with good drainage. Each clove should be planted end-up, four inches apart and between one and two inches below the surface of the soil. Cut the green garlic shoots and use them as a substitute for chives or scallions. The bulbs are ripe for harvesting when the tops area turns brown. The bulbs should be allowed to dry in the sunshine for a few days; the heat will harden the skin. Store them somewhere cool, in tied bunches or loose.

Discourage rabbits from using your garden as a snack bar. Rabbits will take advantage of your organic garden if you give them the chance. They don’t tend to discriminate between certain foods, eating anything that they encounter. Blood meal, wood ashes, hot pepper flakes, chili powder or garlic powder sprinkled around your plants will deter them. You can also sprinkle black pepper directly on a plant, which will give the rabbit a sneezing fit.

Garlic is an easy deterrent for bugs in an organic garden. Pests often dislike the smell of garlic and go out of their way to avoid it. Focus on the perimeter of your garden when you plant the garlic. An added plus of planting garlic is the bulb can be used for cooking and eating as well.

Now you know a bit more about what you are doing in starting an organic garden. Even if you are a experienced organic gardener, you still should have learned something new from this article. The advice you have received should get you well on your way to growing a lovely and productive organic garden.

 

Organic Gardening Planting Garlic

Organic Gardening Cabbage Worms

Composting is a great way to fuel your garden. You can add pretty much anything, like grass clippings, shredded paper, coffee grounds, and much more. Basically, you can use anything that was living at one time (but try to avoid animal products). If you buy some worms and keep the compost bin in a warm, sunny place it will turn into perfectly dark and rich soil in no time.

Often times, in order to get rid of certain caterpillars or worms, you have to use a special netting that will hide them from your leafy green plants such as broccoli. This net will keep the pests out and away from damaging your crops, while maintaining the organic essence of your garden.

Encourage earthworms in your soil. Earthworms make for healthy soil by eating the soil and thereby aerating it in the process. They also leave behind their castings, or vermicast, which is a great organic nutrient-rich fertilizer. The vermicast also retains water and nutrients better than soil without worms.

Try to get a good composition of healthy soil in your garden. Healthy soil is generally more resistant to pests and other negative influences. How can you tell when a soil is “healthy?” Generally a healthy soil contains a good combination of earth worms, helpful microbes, and a good deal of mulch and compost on the surface area.

Growing your garden at home might not be the most convenient thing for you, but you will save a lot of money and always have the confidence that what you’re eating and feeding your family is as fresh and as healthy as possible.

Organic Gardening Cabbage Worms

Organic Gardening Bug Spray Vegetables

Plant ever-bearing strawberries for your children in the organic garden. Little ones will be more likely to help when they can enjoy the fun of harvesting their own fruit.

Take care of your containers. You do not have to spend a lot of money on containers: you can reuse common items as pots. Make sure you clean your containers thoroughly and disinfect them to avoid diseases. Drill a few holes in the bottom so that the extra water can be drained.

When growing your own organic plants, you should move your seedlings away from any air vents or radiators immediately upon germination. This is because your seedlings do not need to be really warm like germinating seeds do. They need to be cooler in order for them to grow in the best way.

If you follow proper organic growing conditions you may find that you are better able to market your produce at the local fruit stands and farmer’s markets. Organic produce is very popular now because people are beginning to see all the health benefits of eating an organic whole food diet.

Planting cover crops is important to maintain a good quality soil. By protecting the soil with cover crops, it will be immune against weeds, be more fertile, have less water and wind erosion, and have better water drainage. Clover, fava beans, and buckwheat are all fantastic for cover cropping.

Don’t harm your native critters. Some animals can naturally keep the bug population down; one such example of a good pest-predator is the bat. Bats are well-known for being bug consumers. Since your garden may sometimes look like a tasty treat to these tiny critters, having bats around can help reduce their population naturally, without the usage of harmful pesticides.

If you want to have an organic garden, you should make sure you do not have any need for bug sprays. Maintaining healthy soil will help immensely with pest management. Healthy soil will help to produce healthy plants. Healthy plants are better able to withstand insect damage and disease.

If you have aphids on your plants, and do not want to use harmful bug sprays, you can use soapy water. A very diluted soapy water can be sprayed on all areas of the plant, the leaves, stems and buds. After you spray the soapy water, spray with clean water. This will get the aphids off your plants.

Organic Gardening Bug Spray Vegetables

Organic Gardening Pest Control Methods

Organic gardening means trying to grow plants as naturally as possible without the use of chemicals. So when the time comes to kill harmful, plant-eating insects, try planting a few flowers in your vegetable garden. The flowers will attract beneficial insects that naturally kill the harmful ones. These beneficial insects perform other valuable services like pollination as well as pest control.

When it comes to taking care of an organic garden, then you need to opt for organic pest control. This is a comprehensive approach versus that of using chemicals. Try creating a healthier biodiversity so that you can help control the insects. When you use natural products and build healthier soil, you have the best long-term treatment for insects.

Keep your pest control free of unneeded chemical treatments. First, physically remove the pests. Next, place barriers and traps against them. Then, try some biological controls. As a last resort, use botanical and mineral type pesticides. Go out of your way to avoid using industrial methods to best protect your organic garden.

Use and organic pest control, organic pest control will help to build healthy soil. Organic pest control is a comprehensive approach instead of a chemical approach. Create a healthy biodiversity so that the insects and microbes will control themselves. Using natural products and building healthy soil is the best long-term treatment for pests.

With all of the knowledge you just learned about gardening, you want to start forming plans and implementing those plans to the best of your ability. When it comes to gardening, you have to go outside and get yourself dirty, while you try out the strategies you have formed, when you do that you’re going to see what does and doesn’t work and from there, you can form new strategies.

Organic Gardening Pest Control Methods

Basics To Organic Gardening

Basics To Organic Gardening

If you have a young baby, consider wearing your child in a backpack while you garden. Being outdoors is a great stimulating experience for an infant, plus they get to spend more time with you. Organic gardening is safest for baby, as there is no risk of them encountering harsh or dangerous chemicals while you work.

Take care of your containers. You do not have to spend a lot of money on containers: you can reuse common items as pots. Make sure you clean your containers thoroughly and disinfect them to avoid diseases. Drill a few holes in the bottom so that the extra water can be drained.

Coffee grounds are good for your soil. The grounds contain essential nitrogen, which will benefit your plants in many ways. A strong nitrogen source in your garden area is a wonderful way to have healthy and strong plants.

To naturally rid your soil of nematodes, which are soil-dwelling pests that can hurt tomatoes and potatoes, use marigolds. The chemicals released by the marigolds’ roots and decaying leaves is toxic to nematodes. Plant marigolds near your tomatoes or potatoes, or till them into the soil before planting.

When growing organic plants hook your plants up to an electric timer that will turn lights on and off continuously throughout the day at the same time. By doing this, you will ensure that your plants receive the proper amount of light that they need.

If you have children and want to become more involved with them, starting a small organic garden can be a great way. This type of hobby is wonderful for family bonding but also helps your children to start to understand many of the basics of the circle of life and growth.

So, whether you are a new or experienced gardener, you’ve now got some ideas that you can implement in your garden.

Basics To Organic Gardening

Organic Vegetables Gardening At Home

A great way to deal with weeds in a safe and nontoxic way, is to use a spray bottle of diluted dish soap to treat areas with overgrowth in your garden. Use a ratio of one tablespoon of mild dish soap per 16 ounces of water. Spray the weeds once a day and with in a week they should shrivel up and be easier to pull out.

Coffee grounds and leftover coffee can be used to repel slugs. If you have an issue with slugs in your garden, you can repel them effectively with coffee. You can sprinkle coffee grounds on the soil around your plants or use leftover coffee in a spray bottle to spray the slugs directly.

Start your organic garden with a good strategic plan. This helps you know exactly where each plant will go in your garden so that you can maximize the few hours you have to garden each day. As part of your plan, take notes on what plants you will use to replace short-lived crops such as spinach and lettuce.

Preparing the soil for your perennial garden is easy. Slice under the grass with a spade, flip the layer you have lifted over, and spread three inches of wood chips on top. Give the area a couple of weeks, then dig into it and plant your new perennials.

Make your own compost. If you create your own compost at home, you can be absolutely certain of what goes into it, unlike if you purchase bags of compost from a gardening store. In addition, composting in your yard will attract helpful native wildlife such as insects that will balance the ecosystem of your garden.

Know the benefits of composting. Composting is one of the best things you can do for your organic garden. Composting improves moisture levels, promotes fertility, and stimulates plant roots. You can start your own composting at home, and reduce your household waste, as well as get free food for your garden.

Organic gardening is the healthiest way you can grow a garden. Imagine not having to worry about your children being harmed by chemicals and pesticides. Try some of the ideas suggested in this article. Experiment, and have fun trying new ways. You will be surprised at how easy organic gardening can be.

Organic Vegetables Gardening At Home

Organic Vegetable Gardening At Home

A great way to deal with weeds in a safe and nontoxic way, is to use a

spray bottle of diluted dish soap to treat areas with overgrowth in your

garden. Use a ratio of one tablespoon of mild dish soap per 16 ounces of

water. Spray the weeds once a day and with in a week they should shrivel up

and be easier to pull out.

Coffee grounds and leftover coffee can be used to repel slugs. If you have

an issue with slugs in your garden, you can repel them effectively with

coffee. You can sprinkle coffee grounds on the soil around your plants or

use leftover coffee in a spray bottle to spray the slugs directly.

Start your organic garden with a good strategic plan. This helps you know

exactly where each plant will go in your garden so that you can maximize

the few hours you have to garden each day. As part of your plan, take notes

on what plants you will use to replace short-lived crops such as spinach

and lettuce.

Preparing the soil for your perennial garden is easy. Slice under the grass

with a spade, flip the layer you have lifted over, and spread three inches

of wood chips on top. Give the area a couple of weeks, then dig into it and

plant your new perennials.

Make your own compost. If you create your own compost at home, you can be

absolutely certain of what goes into it, unlike if you purchase bags of

compost from a gardening store. In addition, composting in your yard will

attract helpful native wildlife such as insects that will balance the

ecosystem of your garden.

Know the benefits of composting. Composting is one of the best things you

can do for your organic garden. Composting improves moisture levels,

promotes fertility, and stimulates plant roots. You can start your own

composting at home, and reduce your household waste, as well as get free

food for your garden.

Organic gardening is the healthiest way you can grow a garden. Imagine not

having to worry about your children being harmed by chemicals and

pesticides. Try some of the ideas suggested in this article. Experiment,

and have fun trying new ways. You will be surprised at how easy organic

gardening can be.

Organic Vegetable Gardening At Home

Growing Organic Asparagus Crowns

A great rule of thumb to follow when planting an organic garden is less is more. While you’ll want to plant a little more than you think you will need in case of rot or pests, you don’t want to overdo it because you’ll end up with much more than you can handle.

You can gain time by renewing your beds with this method: slice under the turf and turn it over. Cover it with wood chips and wait a few weeks. You can then use this bed to plant your perennial plants. The ground you have turned over should be made richer by the turf that is under it.

When raising an organic garden, sometimes a solution to resolving bad soil is to raise your garden bed. Building a garden bed or roost above the regular soil, can allow you to put your own fertilized soil within the bed without the risk of the soil becoming diluted or mixed in with the surrounding area.

Collecting rainwater is the natural way to supply yourself with water for all your organic gardening needs. You can simply build your own system of rain barrels or buy them ready made. That way, you won’t have to pay for water for your garden or lawn maintenance. Caution is needed! Covers are suggested to cut down on mosquitoes and other pests that can be attracted to standing water.

Sometimes when you are growing vegetables or fruits, it can be helpful to cut off newly formed buds or other non-fruit bearing areas. This will stimulate the growth of heavier fruit because the plant re-routes nutrients to where its growth should be navigating. When taking care your garden, it’s important to make the distinction between harvesting the plant, or encouraging its growth.

If you don’t have the space to have an actual garden in the ground, it’s perfectly acceptable to have an organic garden in containers. There are only a few root vegetables like asparagus that won’t grow well in containers, so feel free to explore. Containers are perfect to grow organic tomatoes, green beans, green onions and many other organic vegetables.

There are different kinds of hobbies for different kinds of people. As you have read, they don’t all involve being very active. There are hobbies that everyone can relax with and enjoy, like the hobby known as organic gardening. With the above tips in mind, you can reap its delicious benefits too.

Growing Organic Asparagus Crowns

Organic Vegetable Garden Plant Food

Hobbies don’t have to be very energetic. They can be very relaxing, yet be enough to keep you very busy. The perfect example of this kind of hobby is organic gardening. The main goal is growing natural, pesticide-free food for your own personal use. You can relax with this hobby too if you follow the tips below.

You should keep your seeds damp without drowning them in water. Spray water over the soil to keep it moist, and place the pots or trays in which you have your seeds in water so that the soil can absorb the water. Make sure you replace the water in which your pots are standing regularly.

Use approximately two or three inches of natural, organic material as some mulch in every single flower bed. Mulching is the perfect way to lock in moisture, nourish soil, and to keep away weeds. It also adds a uniform and cohesive look to the garden.

Install a fan to blow on your seeds. Make sure your fan is turned on a very low setting. This light touch will help your plants grow stronger. You can also stroke your plants very lightly with your hand or a piece of paper for a few hours to get the same effect.

To conserve water when you’re gardening, be sure to use three inches of organic mulch. The mulch will help your plants to absorb the water slowly over time, allowing you to use less water than you normally would. Many natural materials make great mulch, including pine needles and many types of leaves.

Organic Vegetable Garden Plant Food

Get rid of nematodes such as roundworm or eelworm. These pests can cause malformed plants with stunted, yellowing leaves. In the worst cases, leaves will wilt in a single day and the roots will become infected. The best option is to plant resistant varieties of apple, bean, carrot, celery, cucumber or onion. Otherwise, increase the organic matter in your soil. Compost contains predacious fungi and fatty acids that are toxic to nematodes. Remember to disinfect any tools that you have used in infected soil.

Eliminate tent caterpillars. Tent caterpillars are a major pest, infecting apple, cherry, peach and pear trees. The adult moths create a woven-like nest full of caterpillars, defoliating a tree. Destroy nests by hand. Making sure to wear gloves, pull down the nests in the early morning and kill the caterpillars by dropping them into a bucket of insecticidal soap. In the winter look for eggs masses on branches, and remove and burn them.

There are different kinds of hobbies for different kinds of people. As you have read, they don’t all involve being very active. There are hobbies that everyone can relax with and enjoy, like the hobby known as organic gardening. With the above tips in mind, you can reap its delicious benefits too.

Organic Vegetable Garden Plant Food

Organic Gardening Advice Companion Planting

If you are feeling like organic gardening is an overwhelming subject, then you are in the right place. When thinking about how to go about growing your garden, just remember that the more knowledge you have, the easier it should go when you’re forming strategies and implementing those strategies towards your gardening endeavors.

Grow your own organic tomatoes easily. Tomatoes love light, so choose a spot that gets sun all day long. Allow space between your tomato plants to reduce the chance of soil diseases that will affect your crop. If you buy seedlings instead of sprouting your own, stay away from small seedlings with poorly developed root systems; they will take weeks to show any real growth.

Instead of pulling weeds, turn them into nourishment for your garden. Some weeds, like Lamium or Chickweed, are tough to remove one at a time. Instead, using a sharp shovel or spade, cut under the weeds and turn them over, making sure to bury all of the leaves. The weeds will rot, providing the soil with nourishment like composting.

Make liquid fertilizer from your compost. By adding a little bit of water to the biological decay, you can harvest the nutrient rich concoction and spread it on your plants in an efficient way. By fermenting the compost with about an equal amount of water can give you a great form of liquid fertilizer that will help promote growth without negative side effects or toxic run-off.

With all of the knowledge you just learned about gardening, you want to start forming plans and implementing those plans to the best of your ability. When it comes to gardening, you have to go outside and get yourself dirty, while you try out the strategies you have formed, when you do that you’re going to see what does and doesn’t work and from there, you can form new strategies.

Organic Gardening Advice Companion Planting

Organic Gardening Weed Control Vegetables

If you wanted to put your shovel in the ground and start gardening today, would you really know what to do? There is actually a lot more that goes in to organic gardening than simply planting a seed and watching it grow. To gather the knowledge necessary to grow your produce.

Organic Gardening Weed Control Vegetables

Your plants need to be fed properly as soon as they start sprouting leaves. If you did not use compost in your soil, you have to fertilize your plants. You can mix water with a liquid fish or sea weed solution and spray it on your plants, or add this mix to the water in which your trays and pots are bathing.

If you have a compost pile, but have very few leaves to add to it this fall, try incorporating straw or hay into your compost pile. This is a great way to add carbon which is very beneficial to the growth and health of plants. The straw and hay may contain seeds, so it is best to use an organic weed spray on your compost pile to get rid of the unwanted weeds.

Weed control in your organic garden will be more challenging than a conventional garden because you can’t use chemical herbicides. One of the best ways to control weeds without using chemicals is creating ground cover with mulch. Save tree trimmings and grass clippings from elsewhere in your garden and spread them around your plants to a depth of about 3 inches. This should be enough to prevent weeds from germinating and growing.

Understanding how to grow organically, will always require the right type of information, so you might as well take it from these expert tips, instead of putting your trust in some other information out there. Make sure to heed this advice and your next garden can be the best you’ve ever grown.

Organic Gardening Weed Control Vegetables

Organic Gardening Pest Control Vegetables

If you have always wanted to have an organic garden, but thought there was some magic trick to getting things to grow wel. We will show you just how simple it can be to grow your own organic fruits, flowers and vegetables.

When watering plants use recycled water, but avoid re-using water from sources such as baths, washing machines, or dishwashing. These water sources may contain harmful chemicals that can be absorbed into your vegetables such as nitrates and phosphates. This water may even contain pathogens that could harm you or your plants.

Your plants need to grow in a rich soil. You can buy bags of soil but they can be quite expensive. You can also easily create your own: you need to use perlite, vermiculite and peat in equal quantities. You should also add a small quantity of lime and compost if needed.

Learn to water your garden efficiently. A soaker hose can be laid in the garden and left on with low water pressure. This frees you up from having to hand-water the plants, so you can do other gardening work. Take care with seedlings, though — they are still delicate and need to be watered by hand.

Use mulch to fertilize your beds. You have to make sure you spread mulch evenly, as you need a certain quantity and do not want to waste any of it. Sprinkle mulch as best as you can and use a rack to spread it flatly and evenly. Make sure you cover all the areas that need it.

Sometimes when you are growing vegetables or fruits, it can be helpful to cut off newly formed buds or other non-fruit bearing areas. This will stimulate the growth of heavier fruit because the plant re-routes nutrients to where its growth should be navigating. When taking care your garden, it’s important to make the distinction between harvesting the plant, or encouraging its growth.

Planting a living hedge around your property has many benefits. Hedges provide a softer barrier to mark the perimeter of your property and are less forbidding than a structured wall. A living hedge will provide privacy but still discourage trespassing by animals or people. If you have a hedge that blooms, it can be a lovely backdrop in addition to your landscape.

Organic Gardening Pest Control Vegetables

Organic gardening means trying to grow plants as naturally as possible without the use of chemicals. So when the time comes to kill harmful, plant-eating insects, try planting a few flowers in your vegetable garden. The flowers will attract beneficial insects that naturally kill the harmful ones. These beneficial insects perform other valuable services like pollination as well as pest control.

When it comes to taking care of an organic garden, then you need to opt for organic pest control. This is a comprehensive approach versus that of using chemicals. Try creating a healthier biodiversity so that you can help control the insects. When you use natural products and build healthier soil, you have the best long-term treatment for insects.

Keep your pest control free of unneeded chemical treatments. First, physically remove the pests. Next, place barriers and traps against them. Then, try some biological controls. As a last resort, use botanical and mineral type pesticides. Go out of your way to avoid using industrial methods to best protect your organic garden.

Use and organic pest control, organic pest control will help to build healthy soil. Organic pest control is a comprehensive approach instead of a chemical approach. Create a healthy biodiversity so that the insects and microbes will control themselves. Using natural products and building healthy soil is the best long-term treatment for pests.

Having an organic garden in your backyard, doesn’t mean that you will be constantly tied to it. On the contrary, gardening in an organic way can be more satisfying than any other method, because you are more in tune with nature, and the plants themselves.

Organic Gardening Pest Control Vegetables

Organic Gardening For Roses

Holistic lifestyles are starting to become more popular, and people are starting to live more organically. Home grown vegetables, fruits and herbs are in much demand for their more pristine health benefits. If you are interested in growing plants, flowers and vegetables without the use of harmful pesticides and fertilizers, keep reading.

Organic Gardening For Roses

Treat your roses! To naturally remedy black spots on roses in your organic garden, use milk! For some unknown reason – using a 1:2 ratio mixture of milk and water – has been shown to get rid of black spots! Use a spray bottle to apply the mixture directly to the leaves of the affected plant.

Feed your roses naturally. You don’t need to use chemical fertilizer to feed roses. Bury banana skins and crushed eggshells near the roots of rose bushes to supply them with extra vitamins and minerals. 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts dissolved in 1 pint of water is a marvelous pick-me-up for roses, and if you grow garlic around your rose bushes, it will help to keep them free of greenfly.

Discourage deer in your garden. Deer love chewing on vegetables, roses, fruit trees, juniper, and holly. They can decimate a garden in a single day if given the chance! While people tend to favor an electric fence to discourage deer, there are certain things you can do that don’t involve unnecessary pain. Fill bags with human or dog hair, dried blood meal, or fish heads. Attach to the perimeter of your property, or to specific plants that could be eaten. Alternatively, make a spray of two egg yolks mixed with one quart of water and spray fruit trees liberally. For some reason, this seems to work!

If your garden includes plants that prefer acidic soil, such as begonias, roses, and strawberries, you should mulch with a generous layer (two to three inches) of discarded pine needles at the beginning of the autumnal season. As the pine needles slowly decompose, they will release trace amounts of acid into the soil.

When choosing plants for your organic garden, make sure you have a plan about what you want to grow. Different variations of a certain flower or vegetable need different kinds of environments. For instance, there are many different varieties of roses. However, only some will grow properly in you garden. So you want to make sure you find ones that are suited for your organic environment.

Organic gardening can become a part of your life. Keep in mind that this advice is the beginning of your organic gardening knowledge.

Organic Gardening For Roses

Garden Organic Sowing New Seeds

Organic gardening is a great way to grow your own food at home and relax at the same time. However, for someone who does not have any experience with gardening, the thought of starting, or maintaining, a garden can be intimidating. How can you begin to learn about organic gardening? Reviewing the advice that follows would be a good place to begin!

Grow your own organic tomatoes easily. Tomatoes love light, so choose a spot that gets sun all day long. Allow space between your tomato plants to reduce the chance of soil diseases that will affect your crop. If you buy seedlings instead of sprouting your own, stay away from small seedlings with poorly developed root systems; they will take weeks to show any real growth.

When growing organic plants indoors, it is important to consider the amount of light that is available to them. If you live in a home or apartment that does not get great sunlight you may want to consider growing plants that are designed to grow in low or medium-light environments. If you want to grow plants that need a lot of light, consider using artificial lighting.

You should organize your garden and plan everything. Do not buy seeds if you do not know where you will plant them. You need to plan on the long term for certain plants, and on the very short term for short-lived plants that will need to be replaced very quickly.

Know the benefits of composting. Composting is one of the best things you can do for your organic garden. Composting improves moisture levels, promotes fertility, and stimulates plant roots. You can start your own composting at home, and reduce your household waste, as well as get free food for your garden.

If you are new to organic gardening and are interested in growing vegetables, you should be aware that certain plants are much easier to start with than others. For example, broccoli, onions, and peppers are amongst the easiest. You should also be aware that different plants have different growing timetables. These timetables are available online. After selecting which plants you want to grow, look up their timetables so you know when to plant them.

Gardening is not only a beautiful art but also a rewarding and relaxing way to spend your time. With the tips presented above at the forefront of your mind, you can begin to grow delicious organic produce like a professional.

Garden Organic Sowing New Seeds

Organic Gardening of Tomatoes

Homegrown tomatoes are incredibly delicious, but what do you do when you do not have room for a garden?  How about growing tomatoes in a container garden?  Tomatoes are one of the easiest plants to grow in containers and even if the only space you have is a 12 inch square on your front porch, you have enough room for a tomato container garden. 

Choosing the Right Container

Almost any container will work for tomatoes, but grow boxes are very nice.  Grow boxes allow you to control the flow of the water to the tomato plants which improves the chances for growing healthy plants and producing wonderful, ripe tomatoes.  If a grow box isn’t an option, try and find a container that is at least five gallons or larger.  Ensure there are holes in the bottom for drainage. 

You can also try using bushel baskets lined with plastic bags with holes in the bottom of the plastic bags for drainage.  Bushel baskets will hold at least three tomato plants and they look very nice sitting on a patio or deck. 

Selecting the Tomato Variety

The dwarf tomatoes work the best in containers.  If this is your first tomato container garden, try one of the cherry varieties for a patio like a Pixie II or a Tiny Tim.   These types of small plants produce very tasty fruit, but don’t need a lot of support in the container.  They will also produce very early. 

Planting the Tomato Plants

When selecting tomato plants for your containers, choose strong, stocky plants to transplant into the containers.  Prepare the containers by filling them with a mixture of potting soil and compost, approximately 50/50, ensuring it is thoroughly mixed.  Fill the container to within a few inches from the top.  Place the tomato plants in the container, three or four per container with between 3 to 4 inches between plants.  Water the container thoroughly, ensuring the soil is soaked all the way down to the roots and below of the tomato plant.  Set the container in a location where it will get at least six hours of full sun each day. 

Caring for Container Tomatoes

Water the containers more often than a traditional garden because container gardens will dry out more easily.  It will be necessary to check the container garden daily to ensure it stays moist and does not dry out.  During the heat of summer, it may be necessary to water the plants daily.   Check the tomato leaves for brown spots or for insects.  Apply fertilizer every other week or so and apply it around the base of the tomato plant.  If the leaves begin to turn brown or the fruit begins to get brown spots, try placing crushed egg shells around the base of the tomato plant.   

When the plants flower, shake the vines to release the pollen and help pollination along a bit.  The tomato plants should start producing fruit within a couple of months. 

When the growing season is over, bring the containers inside if you have a sunny place to place them.  They will continue to produce fruit as long as they can receive six hours of direct sunlight each day.  This can prolong the growing season quite a bit.  Growing tomatoes in a container garden is a great way to get fresh vegetables and maximize the space you have available.

Organic Gardening of Tomatoes

Organic Gardening Projects for Kids

Children love to be outdoors. They have a natural desire to get their hands into things and start working at it. This makes gardening an ideal activity in which they can get into. Teaching children how to garden allows them to develop a respect for the living things in nature. It allows them to see how plant live grows. Your garden can be a really rich environment for educating your children. This article will offer some advice on the best approach in starting your children in gardening.

Each child has different abilities and interests. You first have to gauge their personal interest in gardening. When you work on your garden, are they curious about what you are doing? Do they ask questions? Do they like to touch the plants? If they show interest, it is time to build upon that.

Think about what gardening activities would be appropriate for your children’s age. Do not underestimate what they can do. Even pre-schoolers can help you dig a hole and water plants with their pint-sized water can. Older children can be taught how to plant seeds or young plants properly. Children who are bigger and stronger help with transporting dirt in a wheelbarrow and making planting mounds. They can rake and prep an area to plant. Pruning back an overgrown shrub can be done by teens. There are plenty of activities for any age group when it comes to gardening.

It is a good idea to provide your children with their own sets of garden tools. Take them with you to the home center and buy them some garden gloves, a trowel, rake, long handle shovel, all in a size that is appropriate for them. Put these in their own garden bucket. They will be so proud to have their own tools, and this will make it very special for them.

In addition to their own garden gear, shop with them for seeds or plants that they would like to grow. Make this their responsibility to take of. This will help them take ownership of the project and will motivate them to their best in it.

Get some picture books and tell your young children how plants grow. Talk about the plants need for sunlight and water, and how it takes time for a seed to grow into a plant. Talk about the insects that live in your garden.

When they are outside, you will see their eyes light up as they have their own tools in hand, ready to help. Designate a small area for them to take care of, to plant the plants that they have chosen. Show them how to prepare the soil and plant the seeds or plants. Try to let them do as much on their own as possible. This is the best way for them to learn.

Gardening can be a fun and educational activity for children. Use this article to help you get your children started in the wonderful world of gardening.

Organic Gardening Projects for Kids

Making Organic Fertilizer Gardening

Growing plants require a nearly endless supply of the best nutrients to maintain quality plant health. This is true whether the gardener is attempting to grow ornamental flowers, fruits or vegetables. Fertilizer is often added to the dirt as a way to replenish the depleting nutrients that are sucked up by the plant life during growing season.

Organic and chemical fertilizers provide essential nutrients including potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. Plant life requires these essential ingredients along with other valuable trace nutrients. Applying the right amount of fertilizer, and the correct percentages is based on a variety of factors, but are all highly dependent on each particular plant’s needs.

Testing the Soil

By taking a test on the soil, the gardener can easily determine its acidity, or pH factor. This will provide all the necessary information to determine which nutrients are deficient in the soil. The soil test can be used to help the gardener adjust the types of fertilization used to replenish the nutrients. Even the best testing provides only minimal results when determining how much nitrogen needs to be added to the soil.

Garden centers at the local home improvement store or hardware store will offer sample test kits. These types of tests can give the gardener significantly more information on the soil by analyzing its content. It is possible to achieve high quality soil without using a soil test, but requires significantly more guesswork in selecting the best fertilizer.

Adding Amendments

An organic amendment is often used in conjunction with strong chemical fertilizers. An organic amendment can be nothing more than compost. The organic matter will continuously decompose and leach out many of the essential nutrients it contains to provide vital ingredients for the soil.

Some gardeners choose to add bone meal as a natural organic substitute for blending in phosphorus with the necessary chemical fertilizers. Additionally, blood meal and manure can provide the necessary nitrogen, and pot ash can generate potassium. All organic amendment should be blended into the soils before planting begins.

When It Is Time to Fertilize

Each different type of fertilizer has its own unique time for application for blending into the soil. It is often listed on its bag. Traditionally, all types of fruit and vegetable plants will benefit greatly by having higher levels of phosphorus during the early part of the growing season. It is phosphorus that encourages the production of healthy stems and roots.

During mid-season, adding more nitrogen to the soil can help in the fruit and foliage production. However, too much added nitrogen will often create too many leaves and only a minimal amount of flowering buds.

For the consummate gardener, over fertilizing the soil can cause just as much damage to the plants as not applying enough fertilizer. When the gardener is in doubt, as to whether or not they should feed the garden plants more fertilizer, it is always advisable to wait until the plant life begins producing less. Only then can the gardener be assured that the proper addition of fertilizer is required.

Making Organic Fertilizer Gardening

Is Organic Gardening Worth It?

Truly the secret to successful organic gardening is working in harmony with nature. Really educate yourself on organic gardening methods. Check out the magazine section at your local public library and see if they subscribe to Organic Gardening magazine. You’ll learn a lot about organic gardening from studying this periodical as well as any books they may have about organic gardening.

To provide a healthier environment the benefits of organic food go deeper into the health and lifestyle. Organic gardening is gardening without using any chemically created fertilizers, weed killers, or pesticides. The use of chemicals, especially pesticides, in gardening has always been associated with ozone depletion and the increase of certain cancer rates. The undeniable benefit of organic gardening is that it protects the fertile soils from exhaustion. Besides, it does not presuppose the use of chemical pesticides and other chemicals, which are extremely harmful for the environment. The result is a naturally nourishing soil achieved without exposing the gardener to chemical poisoning and a safer, cleaner environment. For this reason alone organic growing or organic gardening can help to support the environment as well as prevent serious health risks. Another advantage of eating organic vegetables is you do not need to spend so much on them because you can always grow them in your garden. Organic vegetables taste much better than those that have been heavily treated with chemicals.

Organic gardening may seem to be more challenging, but in fact, all gardening is hard work with hours of dedicated caring. Organic gardening is a different type of gardening, definitely healthier and more eco friendly.

Organic gardening means trying to grow plants as naturally as possible without the use of chemicals. So when the time comes to kill harmful, plant-eating insects, try planting a few flowers in your vegetable garden. The flowers will attract beneficial insects that naturally kill the harmful ones. These beneficial insects perform other valuable services like pollination as well as pest control.

Every day you go to the hypermarket and buy those fresh vegetable, fruit and herb for your daily family consumption, but ever you think where it all came? How their grown? It is really healthy to your children? Now days, there are various vegetable that growth differently, the concept of growing knows into two ways organic and conventional gardening. After many new and scientific studies prove that conventional gardening can lead to healthy problem, many people start turning to organic gardening as the more to natural growing concept. No debut that today conventional gardening is the big sector of vegetable production than organic gardening. Let say if people start to choose organic gardening as their preference in daily consumptions, what will happen to conventional gardening since it was huge operating in food based plant production now days? Is It good phenomena or otherwise?

Is Organic Gardening Worth It?

What is Organic Gardening the Basics for Gardening Organically

An organic garden requires a lot of time and attention. That is why wise organic gardening comes in handy. This can help you grow tastier and better tasting results from your organic garden. Use the following tips to create a flourishing and very rewarding organic garden that you can.

Keep your garden tools close by to maximize gardening efficiency.

Make the most of the time spent in your garden every day.Don’t waste your time by looking for a tool. Prepare them all ahead of time and have them handy before you need to garden, and then put them away neatly when finished. If you need, purchase a tool belt or heavy duty pants with plenty of pockets.

Put coffee grounds on the soil. Coffee grounds are full of essential nutrients that plants need.

Spacing is one important factor to consider when planting your garden.You can underestimate how much space you need until they are growing. Plan your garden carefully and put an appropriate amount of distance between seeds.

Some common examples are petunias and ageratum. If you don’t know whether your seeds require sun exposure, resources are usually provided with the seeds or can be found online.

When you are growing seedlings in your organic garden, try ruffling seedlings using your hands or cardboard one or two times daily. This may sound strange, but there is research suggesting that it does promote plant growth relative to unpetted plants.

If you need to prove to customers that your produce is legitimately organic, you should communicate your commitment to natural growing by becoming certified. This will improve your sales and show your loyal customers that they have been getting the best that you possibly could get.

Add mulch to keep your garden to improve the vitality of the soil. A layer of mulch can protect the soil underneath it. Mulch will keep the soil is kept cool on hot days and protect your roots. This helps soil keep its moisture for extended periods by reducing the rate at which water evaporates. This can also a good way to control any weeds.

You can skip watering because of the pending weather.

Gardening is by far one of the most beloved hobbies among men and women from all over the world, but organic gardening is especially good at this.

Organic gardening can help you develop an appreciation for the taste and freshness of your food. Although it requires lots of hard work and patience, it’s ultimately worth it to own an organic garden that’s successful.

What is Organic Gardening the Basics for Gardening Organically

Organic Matter for Gardening

An organic garden requires a lot of time and attention. That is why wise organic gardening comes in handy. This can help you cultivating healthier and happier produce. Follow these tips to make your organic garden stand out above the rest!

Your children will enjoy the experience of working with you in the organic gardening endeavors. A garden can provide a wonderful learning experience for children, and it gives you a chance to bond while producing healthy food.

Plant strawberries for your children in the organic garden. Children love to snap up these sweet juicy fruits for themselves and will be more willing to eat other foods you’ve planted as well.

Using a solution of aspirin water will help your plants fight diseases. Dissolve aspirin (1.5 pills per gallon of water) in a plant disease fighting solution.You can easily spray the plans with this on them fight disease. Use this solution once in every three weeks.

Make sure you work in your garden. Don’t waste your time looking for a tool. Prepare them all ahead of time and have them handy before you need to garden, and then put them away neatly when finished. You can use a tool belt for this purpose, or you may want to wear pants with extra pockets.

Pine is a great source for mulch. Cover the beds with a couple inches of needles and as they decompose, as they will decompose and disperse their acid throughout the soil.

Space is important when planting an organic garden. You will most likely underestimate how much space plants will need as they are growing. Plan accordingly and leave enough space between the seeds.

Fill the jar with beer within one inch lower than the top. Slugs will be attracted by the beer and become trapped in the jar once they enter.

The bulbs are ripe for harvesting when the tops start drying out and turning brown.

The ideal way to water your organic garden are soaker hose.

Think carefully about what you need to use in your garden. Try to use natural alternatives rather than common chemical fertilizers. One easy method is to use of compost.

Organic gardening is a great way to improve your diet naturally. It is a good source of fresh vegetables and fruits and can improve your health markedly. While it is labor and time intensive, your garden will be quite amazing as a result.

Organic Matter for Gardening

How to Make Organic Compost for Gardening

Plant strawberries for your children in the organic garden. Children will be much more willing to eat other foods you’ve planted as well.

Using aspirin and water will help your plants fight diseases. Dissolve aspirin per 2 gallons of water for a plant disease fighting solution. Spray the plants with the aspirin water to assist plants fight disease. Try to apply the mixture to the plants with this around every three week period.

Keep your gardening tools close at hand to make the most of your gardening time.

This also make your flowers appear beautiful and finished all year long.

Make the most of the time spent in your garden every day.Don’t waste your time looking for your tools. Prepare them all ahead of time and have them handy before you need to garden, and then put them away neatly when finished. If you need to use a tool belt, consider using a tool belt or even just some pants that have lots of pockets.

Space is important when planting an organic garden. It can be easy to underestimate the amount of space your plants will take up once they start to grow. Plan your garden carefully and put an appropriate amount of distance between the seeds.

Your compost pile should contain green plant materials and dried ones in equal amounts.Green plant material consists of spent flowers, veggie and fruit waste, spent flowers, grass clippings, and grass clippings. Dried plant material, however, includes shredded paper, and straw. Avoid ashes, charcoal, diseased plants and meat-eating animal manure.

Create a raised bed for your garden out of stone, brick or untreated wood. Choose wood that is resistant to rot and does not contain any chemicals. Some good choices include locust, cypress, and cypress. In a veggie garden, avoid using treated wood to enclose or demarcate different sections of your vegetable garden. If you have to use treated wood, consider using a liner to keep chemicals out of the soil.

Organic gardening is more difficult than gardening with chemicals, but the results are worth it. While chemical-based gardening products make bold claims, organic methods will give you the best crops possible.

You may be able to skip watering for an entire day if rain is on the pending weather.

Anyone may plant gardens, but only those who are knowledgeable can get more out of their planted crops. It is important to put these organic tips to good use.

How to Make Organic Compost for Gardening

Hobby Vegetable Gardening

Many people are getting into gardening these days, partly because it is a great outdoor and family activity, and partly because it is convenient to have fresh produce in the backyard. Nearly anyone can grow a few veggies whether they have a garden space available or not. It only takes a small area to create a garden plot; just 10′ x 12′ would supply the needs of a small family. Even those people who rent an apartment or live in a condo can try container gardening to grow a few salad vegetables.

With today’s rising food costs, it makes sense to purchase a few packets of seeds and a few potted plants to get a garden started. It is not necessary to have a lot of garden equipment to be successful at growing a small garden. Just a hoe, grub rake, a small spade and a water hose are enough once the garden space is prepared.

If you are starting from scratch by digging up a small area of the lawn, there will be some energy and muscle required. The sod should be completely removed, deep enough to make sure all the grass roots are gone. These roots regenerate quickly even if they are covered by dirt, so make sure there are none left. Then add enough garden soil and peat moss to refill the hole, using about  four times as much garden soil as peat moss. If composted manure is available, use some of that for fertilizer. You can also use commercial fertilizer if no compost is available.

It is exciting to finally plant your garden, but it is important to plan before you plant. Make sure you purchase seeds and plants that will grow well in your climate, and carefully follow the directions on the seed packets and potted plants. Tomatoes are a healthy fruit (although most people think of them as a vegetable), and they grow in nearly any climate. Most do not need a long growing season, they can easily be grown in a container and they yield a lot of produce. Tomatoes are tasty in salads, sandwiches or just sliced with a sprinkle of salt.

Do not forget the other salad veggies that are easy to grow. They include several types of lettuce, carrots, radish and onions. Beets are also easy to grow and you can add the small leaves to a salad, cook the root as a vegetable or pickle them for later use. All of these vegetables can also be grown in containers, so even if you do not have garden space you can still grow the  ingredients for a great salad.

Green and yellow beans are very easy to grow, either in a garden or in a container as a pole bean. They are healthy as well as tasty, and any excess you have can easily be frozen or canned.

Unless you are someone who is away from home most of the time, growing your own vegetables during the warm months makes a lot of sense, is fun and also economical.

Hobby Vegetable Gardening

Find the Right Plant For Your Garden

Gardening can be an exciting outdoor hobby but buying seeds and plants can get very expensive. There are several ways to get free plants and seeds for your garden. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Collect Seeds

At the end of the garden season you can save some of the seeds from your own garden harvest. Simply pick beans, peas, tomatoes, and other seed bearing vegetables and dry the seeds. You won’t need a lot just enough to plant a row or two for your next years garden. Let the seeds dry completely and then store them in dry packaging such as an envelope or plastic bag. Be sure to label the package and date it so that you’ll be sure to use your seeds in the next garden harvest. You can also collect seeds from friends if they are willing. Many neighbors trade seeds or ask friends or neighbors to “watch” their gardens while they are on vacation in exchange for produce. Just save some of the seeds. This is fantastic way to find free seeds for your garden.

Farmers Market

Did you happen to go to the farmers market this year? Save the seeds from the squash you bought or any other seed bearing foods. Again dry as recommended above and store accordingly.

Local Garden Centers

Many local garden centers have a “free seed/plant giveaway day”. Take advantage of any near your home. Gardeners in and around these stores will bring in their extra plants free for the taking. So keep your eyes open and watch those ads, you never know when you could really score a deal.

Celery

Remember that celery you bought at the store last week? Guess what, you can grow more celery from it. Simply cut the stalks off at the root leaving about 2 inches of root. Now go and plant that root gently covering the top of it with some dirt. In about a week you’ll see some new tender young celery shoots coming up. Let them grow for a few months and voilเ you’ll have a new celery plant.

Bok Choy and Romaine

Bok Choy and Romaine Lettuce can also be grown as the celery. It works great and you’ll have plenty of bok choy and celery and romaine for your salads this way. Just break off what you need for dinner and let the rest continue to grow.

Watch Your Parks and City

Twice each year parks and cities have huge yard work days. Often on these days they will allow people to come in and dig up plants they wish to get rid of. For the price of using your own shovel and a bucket to put your plant in you can have a luscious plant for your yard or garden. Watch local papers and ask your parks division if your area has a free plant day like this.

Now that you know how to find free plants for your garden you won’t have to spend money and can have the gorgeous garden you’ve always dreamed of.

Find the Right Plant For Your Garden

Where Do Tomatoes Grow Naturally

Tomatoes are one of the most popular fruits grown in the garden. Tomatoes are used in a variety of dishes and sauces, including salsa and spaghetti sauce. If you are interested in learning more about growing organic tomatoes, continue reading.

When it comes to growing large, beautiful tomatoes, you must start early in the year with your site preparation. Finding the perfect spot for tomatoes involves finding a location with at least seven hours of sunlight.

Once you have located the optimum place for your tomatoes, it is time to begin getting the soil ready for planting season. Grab your tiller and till the area up. Run the tiller across the garden  daily for the next four days to loosen the soil.

After you have loosened the soil, add a mixture of peat moss and compost to your garden soil and mix it into the soil. For every twenty five square feet of gardening soil, add one square foot of the mixture. Adding peat moss and compost to your garden helps your garden maintain its moisture content.

After your soil is ready, it is time to begin choosing your tomato plants. There are many varieties of tomatoes available. There are varieties that are better for canning than others. Additionally, some varieties have been hybridized to be resistant to certain fungi and bacteria. So it is important to carefully consider each variety when choosing.

Plan your rows carefully because tomato plants need plenty of space to grow. Each tomato plant should be planted at least two feet apart. Planting too close will result in smaller yields because tomatoes need plenty of air circulation to help avoid blossom rot.

When you are ready to plant your tomato plants, begin by drawing a straight line with your hoe. Then gently remove each plant from its growing container. After removing the plant from the container, gently rub the roots to loosen them. Then, gently place each plant into the prepared rows.

Once all of the plants are in their respective location, gently cover the plant’s roots up making sure that the plant is upright. Water each individual plant well.

To help your plant develop deep roots, you need to water deeply every couple of days. Each plant should receive at least three to five gallons of water a week to ensure your plants stay healthy. Additionally, apply two to three inches of mulch around each plant to help the soil retain moisture.

Tomato plants need to be supported to keep tomatoes off of the ground. There are many support options; however, most gardeners prefer tomato cages. These cages should be placed around the tomato plants while they are small for best results.

Finally, know the pests that are common in your area. By understanding the common pests, you can take immediate action should pests attack your plants. Be advised that chemicals should only be the last resort.

When it is harvest time, you will be rewarded with a bountiful harvest if you follow the instructions listed above.

Where Do Tomatoes Grow Naturally

Organic Gardening In Your Backyard

Try to put an aspirin water for fighting plant diseases. Dissolve aspirin per gallon of water) in a bucket and administer to your plants. You can easily spray the plans with this on them to fight of disease. The spray ought to be applied approximately every three weeks or so.

The ambient temperate of a room with live plants should be kept between 65-75 degrees throughout the day. The temperature needs to remain steady and warm so they are able to grow. If your thermostat is normally kept lower in winter, another solution you can utilize is to purchase heat lamps for your organic plants.

If you want to start a small organic garden indoors, you should ensure that you think about how much light is available for them. If you live somewhere without strong natural sunlight, it makes sense to grow only those varieties meant to thrive in such environments. You could also try using grow-lights for this exact purpose.

Preparing the soil for your perennial garden can be done quickly and without difficulty. Use a spade to dig into the turf, then flip each piece over, then spread the area with approximately three inches of wood chips.Let the area sit for a fortnight, then begin digging into it and planting your new perennials.

Make the most of the time spent in your garden every day.Don’t waste your time by searching high and low for missing tools. Prepare all the tools you need before you go out to work on your garden, and then put them back in their place when done. If you need, purchase a tool belt or heavy duty pants with plenty of pockets.

Have some plastic bags on hand so that you can put over your gardening shoes.

Use an old laundry basket to collect produce from your produce. This laundry basket can be used as a strainer for all your produce.

Every time you enjoy your vegetables, fruits, flowers or just take a satisfying glance around your garden, you’ll realize that all your efforts have been worth it. If you use the advice above, you can improve your skills at organic gardening.

Organic Gardening In Your Backyard

Bring Your Cooking To A Whole New Level With Homegrown Herbs

Tired of cooking the same old dishes for your family? Are you looking for a way to put a different twist into your cooking and take it to a whole new level? If so, then starting your very own herb garden may just be the answer you are looking for.

Planting your own herbs may seem like a daunting task at first but once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that it’s not only quite easy but a lot of fun as well.

The Importance of Planning

The success of your herb garden will depend mostly on how well you plan for it before you actually start. For example, you have to think of which herbs to grow. These should be the ones that you use most frequently when cooking.

If you don’t have any idea of which herbs to plant, take a quick look through your favorite recipes and see which herbs are usually required. If you like Italian foods, it would be a good idea to plant a lot of basil. On the other hand, if you prefer Mexican dishes, cilantro should definitely be among your choices.

Once you’ve chosen your herbs, decide where to put them in your garden. Different herbs have different requirements when it comes to soil type, water and sunlight. Some like to get as much direct sunlight as they can while others thrive more in the shade. Find out what your herbs need so you can place them accordingly in your garden.

The great thing about herbs is that they are small enough to grow in pots. This makes it easy for you to move them around the garden or even to take them indoors when the weather gets too extreme outside.

Getting Started

Planting the seeds of the herbs into the soil shouldn’t be too complicated. Oftentimes, there are specific instructions included in the pack of the seeds so you should read these carefully before dumping the seeds into the ground.

As soon as the seeds are planted, label your pots so you can be sure to give each plant the particular kind of care that it needs as it grows. A great way to do this is to skewer a picture of the grownup plant or its fruit onto a twig and stick this onto the soil.

It is also very important to watch out for bugs or other pests that may infest your plants as they grow. Removing the bugs manually will usually suffice, except for more serious cases of infestation, in which case you may need to use organic pesticide.

Once you have set up your herb garden, vast improvements may take place in your cooking. You would no longer have to rush to the grocery store in search of specific herbs for your special dishes because these would be easily accessible right from your own backyard. What’s more, you can be sure that these herbs are freshly-picked and toxin-free, which you can never be sure of when using store-bought produce. Without a doubt, having your very own herb garden will make cooking an entirely new experience.

Bring Your Cooking To A Whole New Level With Homegrown Herbs

Composting For Beginners

Composting is one of the most important gardening tasks you need to learn if you want to become a successful gardener. It will help you grow healthy plants. In addition, composting is a very earth-friendly way of caring for your garden.

Contrary to what some people might think, there is really nothing complicated about composting. Even a new gardener who has no experience can do it. All you have to do is take organic waste from your house and garden and put it back into the earth. Eventually, the waste will decay and become part of the soil, making it richer and better fit for growing different kinds of plants.

Technically, any organic matter can become compost, but the best ones to use are those that can decay quickly and become fertilizer faster. Some of the usual compost materials used by gardeners are dry leaves and cut grass from the garden, manure, fruit peelings, and vegetable cuttings.

Composting is done on a large scale in farms and commercial plantations, but you can also do it on a smaller scale in your own backyard. You can begin by digging a small pit in a corner of your yard where you are going to throw in your organic waste. Try to find a place in the garden that is easily accessible for you but not for small children who might fall in or pets that might take out what you put in.

Once you have filled up your compost pit with organic waste, cover it loosely with soil. The idea is to create a environment that is conducive for bacterial and fungal growth because these organisms are what will cause the organic waste to break down. Over time, the organic matter will decay and turn into a blackish, crumbly material with an earthy but not unpleasant odor, which is exactly what you want your compost to look like.

If you want to speed up the decomposition process, try combining greens with dry leaves and adding a layer of garden soil in between every few inches of other organic matter. Also, make sure that there is room for air to circulate and that the area is always kept slightly moist or humid.

As you can see, you don’t need to have special skills or buy expensive equipment to build your own compost pit. Everything you need to put into the pit, you already have in your garden and kitchen. You simply need to remember to throw these things into the compost pit and not into the trash bin.

Once your compost fertilizer is ready, all you have to do is mix it in with the garden soil and see what happens. With all the nutrients contained in your new environment-friendly fertilizer, your plants will grow healthier and bigger than ever.

Don’t worry if you are not able to produce the perfect compost fertilizer right away. In time, you will be able to improve your techniques and come up with better results.

Composting For Beginners

Choosing The Best Tools For Your Garden

Gardening can be a fun and rewarding experience. Although it does require hard work, the payoff is a beautiful yard and garden that you can enjoy all summer long. One of the keys to gardening success is choosing the right tools for the job. Whether you are caring for your lawn, growing your own vegetables or planting a flower bed, the right tools can reduce the work load and improve your results. Here are few tips to help you select the best tools for your yard and garden.

One of the first things you should consider is the size of your outdoor space. For instance, if your yard is several acres, a riding lawn mower is a sensible investment. However, if your yard is only a few thousand square feet, a gas-powered push mower is probably a better choice.

The same concept applies to your garden. If you are planting a huge vegetable garden, you might want to invest money in power tools such as a gas-powered rototiller to take some of the backbreaking work out of the process. For smaller gardens, you can probably get by with hand tools. Keep in mind, also, that you can rent tillers are other large equipment if they currently don’t fit in your budget.

If you are beginning gardener, you should invest in some basic tools to help you get started. Some of the most essential tools that every gardener should have on hand include a shovel, hoe, rake, trowel, garden cart, pitchfork, lawnmower, weed trimmer, gardening gloves and pruning shears. These basic tools can cover just about any gardening project you wish to undertake.

More advanced gardeners can look for additional specialized tools. Some handy tools to add to your arsenal include dandelion diggers, kneeling boards, garden shoes, wood chippers, aerators and cultivators. As you work in your garden, make a list of any tasks that are particularly time-consuming or hard to do. Then, spend some time searching to see if there is a tool that could help make the job easier. For instance, if you spend hours pulling weeds in your garden, you may want to consider investing a specialized weeding tool.

Home improvement stores and garden centers carry a wide range of tools. You can also find specialized tools at most commercial nurseries. If you are on a limited budget, consider checking your local thrift store for gently used tools. You can often find tools that are still in excellent shape for a fraction of their full retail price. Garage sales are another excellent source for affordable garden tools. Just be sure to go early in the day so someone else doesn’t have a chance to snap up all the good stuff before you arrive.

Whether you are beginning gardener or have been at it for years, the right tools can take the hard work out of gardening. Not only that, but they can help you garden grow and thrive, improving your overall results. For a healthy, flourishing garden, taking the time to choose the best tools for the job can make all the difference.

Choosing The Best Tools For Your Garden

Benefits of Gardening

When I was a little girl, I recall an experience when a lady moved into a broken down house right down the street from mine. I remember feeling bad for her because her house looked sad and broken down. She was obviously broke and couldn’t afford anything more then what she had. Little did I know that this woman’s house would end up being the most beautiful house in town.

Every year the area outside her house would blossom, not only that but she had blossoms popping up ALL YEAR LONG! Gardening is what brought that little ladies house to life every single year. She was a gardening genius! Since I have been married and moved into my own little home I’ve thought a lot about that lady.

Most gardening enthusiasts out there will agree with me when I say that it is one of the greatest forms of artistic expression out there. Besides the fact that it is beautiful, it offers so many benefits to you and your home. Some of which include-

Satisfaction:

Through personal experience I have found that it is extremely hard to be unhappy when you are surrounded by blossoms, greenery, and vegetables! Professors at the University of Texas can back be up when I say that it can cure depression. After asking a wide range of 300 people how they would rate their happiness in life, they found that gardeners gave significantly higher scores than everyone else. With this information alone I would even dare to say that gardening can be as helpful as Prozac when it comes to depression.

Health:

Another benefit of planting is that it can be incredible for your health. We already know that happiness is a side effect—which is a major health plus. Another plus is that you can experience optimal health while planting your own veggies and fruits. Home grown veggies provide all of the nutrients and suppliments that your body could ever want.

Cleanliness:

One of the genius benefits that comes to planting is that if you plant the right things you can ward off all kinds of preditors to your home. Grass alone will keep all kinds of bugs away from your house. However there are many other plants that will keep dangerous pests out of your home and yard! Here is a sort list of things that you can plant to keep certain bugs away.

Basil- to get rid of flies and mosquitoes.

Chamomile- to fight of aphids.

Marigold- to rid of tomato worms.

Mint- white cabbage moths and aphids.

Sage- for flea beetles and slugs.

Tansy- flying insects, squash bugs, ants, and flies.

The list is endless and super easy to find if you do your research right. There are so many online websites that offer lists of plants that will ward off pesky insects from your home. That aspect alone offers a major benefit to me living out in the desert.

As you can see, gardening offers some major rewards and benefits to your life. Not only that but it is super easy to get started. Go online today and start researching your area and what plants will do well! Good Luck!

Benefits of Gardening

Beginners Guide to Herb Gardening

Even beginners can grow fantastic herbs which are remarkably easy to deal with. Provide them with a little sunshine, well draining soil and a dash of compost or fertilizer and you can have a healthy herb gardening ready right outside your door. You can even grow herbs without a garden – many of them will grow happily in a pot although the majority of them do prefer to be in the ground if you have the space.

Some herbs can grow quite large (around 6 feet) and can become stressed and stunted in a pot – you really don’t want unhappy herbs do you?

The big secret to successful herb gardening is location, location, location. I don’t mean that you have to live in the best part of town you just have to put the herbs in the right spot in the garden. The majority of herbs are happiest in full sun but only if your summer temperatures won’t regularly go higher than 90 degrees – if you live somewhere very hot your herbs may prefer a little early morning and evening shade. You could even plant your herbs somewhere they will get dappled light through the leaves of a tree.

You also need to give your herb plants plenty of space – as a rule of thumb you’ll need somewhere between one foot and 4 feet for each herb plant.

Rosemary, Mint, Sage, Oregano and Marjoram need around three to four feet each.

Basil, Tarragon, Basil and Savory need a couple of feet for each plant.

Chives, Cilantro, Parsley and Dill need only one foot each.

Soil Preparation for Herb Gardening

Good soil preparation is essential for growing healthy herbs. Dig over the soil with a garden fork if the soil has become compacted which allows the water to drain through as well as creating space for the roots to reach down deep into the soil. If you don’t do this properly your plants may not survive – you have been warned. Next add around one inch of compost and mix it thoroughly with the loosened soil to add a little fertilizer and prevent you from having any drainage problems.

You are almost ready to plant your herbs. Make sure that you buy the strongest, healthiest herb plants you can find and don’t allow the soil to dry out. The majority of herbs need to be watered as soon as they become dry but be careful not to overwater your herb plants, this can be just as bad as not watering them enough.

Harvesting your Herbs

If you snip off around one third of the branches when the plant grows to around six or eight inches close to the intersection of the leaf you will encourage faster re-growth. Some plants grow new leaves out from their center (Parsley does this) in which case it may be necessary to remove old, dead branches to allow new growth from the plant center.

Herb gardening really is very easy and extremely rewarding – from the garden to the kitchen in just a couple of snips for a beautiful garden and delicious food.

Beginners Guide to Herb Gardening

Beautify Your Residence And Surroundings And Enrich Your Diet plan With Container Gardening

Once you have been container gardening for a while and had some excellence, you could prepare to ramp up your efforts by opting for style along with nutrition. You might be amazed to learn that lots of veggie plants are not just edible, but likewise attractive. In this post, we’ll give some suggestions for several of the very best looking edible additions to decide on for your container gardening job.

Discussion is a crucial component of desirable container gardening. You could be tempted to simply line all your compartments up against a wall or put them all on a balcony rail, but this is not a really imaginative suggestion. As an alternative, attempt ranging them out at various elevations and degrees. Position some of your bigger containers at ground level, however do artistic things with bigger compartments on shelf, shelves, tables and railings. Hanging plants are appealing and enjoyable, and hanging pots make a fantastic means to expand strawberries and even tomatoes.

You could additionally make intriguing planters for strawberries and other clingy, climbing up sorts of little plants by developing a planter wall. You can do this with cable hanging shelving, with wooden palettes or with practically other sort of building product your creativity could come up with. Simply make sure there suffices area for origins to expand and plants to spread out. This can be a freestanding divider panel or you can attach it to a galvanized metal or concrete wall surface that will certainly not be harmed by the dampness.

If you desire something huge and lovely that could really offer you some personal privacy on your porch or outdoor patio, attempt planting some large pots of okra. This vigorous plant is great looking and a significant producer. There are great deals of excellent ways to eat okra. It can be put into soups, lightly rouse deep-fried or sauteed, or deep fried.

If you do decide to plant okra, be sure to collect it all when it ripens. It will swiftly end up being also hard to eat. Fortunately, okra is easy to preserve by freezing or pickling. Pickled okra is quite delectable to snack on!

Simply because you are concentrating on veggies does not imply you shouldn’t have some flowers, as well. Adding self-seeding annuals such as marigolds, zinnias and different wildflower mixes can fill out empty areas in your vegetable planters and include shade and assortment to your container gardening job. As a bonus offer, you could appreciate cut flowers for your table and, with treatment, these additions will return each year so you won’t have to plant them repeatedly once more.

You might also locate some really appealing and unusual kinds of fruits and veggies by checking out the globe of heirloom seeds. These are coming to be more and more prominent as people end up being anxious by the specter of genetically customized foods. Heirloom ranges are old-fashioned varieties that have not undergone any type of hereditary modification or study. They create the sort of fruits and veggies your fantastic grandparents appreciated – natural and secure!

Container gardening is a bunch of fun. Equally with everything else, the additional you method, the more skilled you will certainly end up being. Adhere to the suggestions presented below and utilize your creativity to develop a desirable and nutritious container garden.

Beautify Your Residence And Surroundings And Enrich Your Diet plan With Container Gardening

Are You Lucky Enough To Have A Green Thumb?

Gardening is among the oldest leisure activities worldwide. The recovering attributes of increasing plants was recognized in ancient times. From the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the cultivated plots amongst day palms in the dry desert, ancient individuals have been delighting in the actual fruits of their efforts in yards for countless years.

Today, horticulture offers beauty and the opportunity to both monetize from fruits and vegetables and the possibility of appreciating the tranquil environments that are part of modern-day yards. The joy of taking care of growing plants is among the easy enjoyments of modern life.

For those who desire to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables the dimension of the area that is readily available for cultivation should be no obstacle to placing meals on the table. Also a window bar could supply adequate sunshine to expand natural herbs that will certainly boost the pleasure of any kind of dish.

Other than conserving money and growing your very own vegetables for the table, you can additionally use he veggies you expand to give the basis for nutritious and scrumptious electricity beverages. Just mix a blend of root veggies such as carrots and combined with other organically increased generate such as watermelon and even cucumber and you have the basic components for a healthy and balanced and revitalizing vegetable based power beverage.

If you have access to a back or front yard with some area you could likewise plant fast expanding fruit trees such as apple, which give not only tasty juices, but additionally the raw active ingredients for fruit salads or even a snack directly off the branch.

If you make the choice to start cultivating your very own fruit and vegetables a bit of research could avoid a lot of distress. Explore your regional yard center and obtain the guidance of a professional on which fruit or veggie kinds are most ideal fit for the environment in your area. You could need to change over to hardier varieties if your winter times are especially extreme or your summertimes scorching warm.

The guidance that you obtain will likewise assist you manage the virtually inevitable bug problems that could torment the gardens of even the most cautious garden enthusiast. These specialists will let you in on some tricks regarding the all-natural insect repellents that you can use to keep your fruit free from chemicals and preserve their all-natural tastes.

For those garden enthusiasts that want to merely delight in the charm of flowering plants or bushes there is an almost limitless option. Nonetheless, see to it that the ornamental plants that you will certainly be cultivating are suitable for your lifestyle. If you have kids or pets that spend time in the yard make certain that the plants you are increasing are not dangerous or unsafe in other ways. Plants such as tricky bushes or cacti need to likewise be avoided.

Growing and taking care of your garden, despite the size is among the most rewarding hobbies for those who adore nature. A bonus offer is that the hobby can be enjoyed by the entire family. Good wholesome enjoyable al fresco, away from the diversions of computer game or the worries of modern-day life.

Are You Lucky Enough To Have A Green Thumb?

A Few Handy Summer Gardening Tips

The summer is a busy time for gardeners – some plants will grow like wildfire and others will be liable to perish under the hot summer sun. With a little TLC and plenty of water there is no reason why every plant shouldn’t flourish and bloom in the summer months – extra water and fertilizer is really the key to having a beautiful summer garden.

Here are a few more gardening tips to help you get the most from your garden this summer.

Lawn Care

It can be a little tempting to over water lawns during the summer months, I know, you wouldn’t think it possible but a lawn only really needs two – three inches of water per week.

Watering your lawn (and the rest of your garden) early in the morning will reduce the amount of water which is lost because of evaporation.

You need to treat your lawn every 4 or 6 weeks with some lawn food – the slow release food is the best choice.

Don’t forget to mow your lawn quite regularly. You should mow the grass every time it has grown around a half an inch to an inch for the best results.

Flower Care

Flower beds need to have plenty of organic mulch to help them retain as much moisture as possible.

Give your flower beds plenty of water – the soil should be always moist but never soggy.

Your flower beds will also need to be fertilized quite regularly through the summer – at least every three or four weeks.

Dead head flowers to promote more bloom and new growth – pinch back any stems which are becoming leggy.

You may need to water newly planted flowers more than once per day until they become established and settled in the flower bed.

Tree Care

Trees also need lots of fertilizer to encourage rapid growth during the summer, especially citrus fruit trees, deciduous fruit trees and desert trees.

When you water these trees make sure that they have plenty of water to around 3 inches of depth.

If you want to plant any citrus, fruit or desert trees now is a good time to do it.

Summer Gardening Pests

The plants may be glad to see the summer but it is also the time when you have to be most vigilant against diseases and insects.

Keep an eye on your trees and shrubs for foliage which suddenly begins to wilt.

Branches which begin to die at the end (around 6 – 8 inches at the end) may be victims of the female cicada – she may have selected to lay her eggs. If you can see slash marks measuring around that’s probably the culprit – you can’t do anything to control it but the damage is usually pretty limited.

Prickly pear cactus is extremely susceptible to cochineal scale – white fluffy globs – blasting them off with water jets is usually sufficient to sort them out.

Summer is the time when most people can really enjoy their garden and following a few of these summer gardening tips will ensure that you have a beautiful garden to enjoy.

A Few Handy Summer Gardening Tips

Mulch for Organic Vegetable Garden

When you have actually determined where you are heading for plant your yard visit your backyard and eliminate all rocks or plants that are currently expanding in the location. Once all big rocks are gone from the surface area likewise remove plants and then dig up the soil a few inches to loosen it. Dig/loosen a location that is about 8 inches thick considering that this will certainly provide you with a great working area. See to it the area you begin with is not too big. You intend to start reasonably and afterwards accumulate once you are comfy with organic gardening and know exactly what veggies you want to plant more of.

When all debris has been gotten rid of from the selected location and the soil has actually been loosened cover your yard website with a good layer of organic mulch. This can be the fallen leaves from plants that were eliminated from the location, dried turf from your yard, needles then area from trees, barks, and various other organic product. Make sure you do not utilize weeds or any kind of material, such as grass, that can have weed seeds. If you are making use of materials that came from a neighbor? EUR? s property or one more place make certain it has actually never been managed with chemicals or pesticides.

Following, spread the garden compost from your compost pits very finely over the garden. By doing this you are creating an area abundant in nutrients for your veggies to expand. Mix soil from your backyard and even soil that is beneath any kind of close-by trees with this layer of compost till you have a many inches of soil and garden compost that are deep sufficient for planting.

Make sure the dirt remains moist but not as well spongy when you get ready to grow your seeds as well as stay away from tipping on it or otherwise compact the soil. Then, when you prepare, start growing your seeds in the order you previously intended.

If this is your initial time growing or are you scared that you will grow the seeds to shut with each other make furrows by moving apart a layer of dirt then take into consideration making your own seed tape. If you have some toilet tissue and a spray bottle that can be made use of to spray water then you are prepared. Merely roll the bathroom tissue out on a table, mist the bathroom tissue with the sprayer, and put the seeds out according to the seed packets directions.

Cover the seeds with one more long strip of bathroom tissue, fold up the sides and moisture it once again to ensure the seeds remain in location. After that carry the seed tape out to your garden and position them in the furrows you’ve currently created and cover them with dirt. Doing this will assist you avoid? spending time outdoors trying to figure out the proper distance between seeds then later bothering with the possibility of planting the seeds to close together.

One more approach for planting seeds is purchasing seeds that have currently been begun. This indicates the seeds have currently started to sprout. Seeds that have actually already begun to grow could typically be purchased in any garden outlet and numerous organic seeds can be found in biodegradable compartments. When you obtain the seeds house all you need to do is grow the containers in your garden location then put aged newspaper around the sprouts and cover the newspaper with mulch. To conserve cash you could additionally start seeds at home using your own compartments and compost from your compost pile. By starting seeds you will certainly be letting them sprout, typically indoors with the assistance of an increase light, and afterwards transferring them to a garden. It is most effectively to begin organic seeds in eco-friendly compartments given that this will help you stay away from damage that sometimes takes place throughout a transplant. As soon as the seeds have actually sprouted you merely grow the containers in your yard and border them with paper and mulch.

If you are increasing the seeds directly in the ground making use of seed tape or growing by hand setting the mulch and newspaper could be a discomfort. In fact it will probably be the most hard component of your brand-new yard considering that you intend to see to it you do not cover your seeds. Marking your seeds when planting them is often the most effective means to stay away from difficulty or waiting to place mulch up until the seeds have actually begun to grow.

It is recommended that you mark the seed areas and lay mulch immediately due to the fact that even though it is an increased step it will be well worth it since the newspaper and mulch will aid the dirt preserve its water and inhibit weed development and insect infestations.

Mulch for Organic Vegetable Garden