Here are some tips, which I hope will be of interest, to help both experienced and new gardeners.
It’s not surprising that interest in organic gardening is on the rise, when you see the publicity about the dangers of pesticides in food. If you have a garden, of whatever size, you have the opportunity to grow your own vegetables. And why not try organic gardening?
Organic food, grown at home is hardly any more expensive than the regular variety. Of course, you’ll need to start with organic seeds, to ensure that your crop is not genetically modified and doesn’t have any chemical pesticide residues in the seeds.
When starting organic vegetable gardening for the first time, firstly check your old supplies, such as sprays, fertilisers, etc. and discard anything that is not clearly organic. Now it’s time to plan your garden.
Organic Gardening Tips: Choosing Your Plants
When it comes to choosing what to grow there is no difference between organic and non-organic. Of course, you can plant anything that would suit you and grow well in your soil type and climate. You can check out information from local gardeners or the nearest plant centre to find out which vegetables will do well in your garden, if you have not grown any vegetables before.
Neighbours too might be helpful, especially those whose gardens are probably in a very similar situation to yours in terms of soil and their exposure to sun, frost and wind. You might want to take the opportunity to ask them (very diplomatically) not to spray chemicals toward your garden, too.
Try to have as wide a variety of plants as you have room for. This is good both for variety on your table and for keeping the garden productive. Rotation of plants is important from year to year, for ensuring better harvests and less disease.
Companion plants grow well beside each other, and can protect each other from pests. For example, it’s a great idea to grow garlic around other plants.
Of course consider what you and your family like to eat. It’s wonderful to have a garden full of your favorite vegetables … but not so great to have a ton of stuff that’s to nobody’s taste.
Organic Gardening Tips: Managing Your Garden
If possible, when planning your garden, try to keep it close to the house so that you’ll remember to check on it often. This is more important for organic gardens than others which employ pesticides, anti fungals etc. In your organic vegetable garden you’ll need to check for pests and disease regularly, and deal with any problems quickly to prevent them from spreading.
As well, make sure that you can see and reach all of your plants easily. You may need to create pathways into your vegetable beds.
Having a compost heap, as you know, will be very useful so start one right away if you don’t already have one. Compost is an excellent natural and cheap fertiliser. You can add it to the soil a couple of times a year, or after harvesting a particular area of plants.
Following these organic vegetable gardening tips – starting today – will help turn your garden into a wonderful source of fresh home grown vegetables.
The editor of Resounding Earth, and pursuer of relatively interesting information, Simon has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing and Journalism from the University of Wales, and is a photo-journalist and writer whose written and photographic work has been represented by the AFP news agency and appeared in newspapers across Europe and Asia.