Gardeners Go Organic
As a gardener, you must work with nature to be able to promote the ecosystem inside your garden. You should know how to encourage healthy bugs and other predatory insects to visit your garden and feed on your pests. One way to help in this area is to plant fennel, alyssum, ammi, cumin, majus and dill.
Organic gardening allows you to work harmoniously with nature. When you garden organically, you need to think about the plant is part of the whole system as it starts in the soil, and including the supply of water and even the insects in and around your plants. Your garden depends on the natural progression of soil and weather to lessen and refill any resources in the garden that are being consumed.
You should think about feeding your soil organically. You can add as much organic matter as you want to feed the soil. In turn, the soil will be able to feed your plants if when the organic matter breaks down. You can do this by making your own compost. In this way, you will not only nourish your soil but also it help to reduce your garden and kitchen waste.
Many gardeners wonder what organic gardening really means. This question is very simple to answer. Organic gardening does not make use of synthetic fertilizers or pesticides.
Finding organic matter for your garden is easy because your kitchen, lawn and garden produce them everyday. The ideal organic matter for your soil is the plant waste from already decayed plants (as long as they are not diseased or infested with pests!)such as grass clippings and leaves that have fallen as well as vegetable scraps from inside your kitchen.
Another meaning of organic gardening is to choose the right plants that are suited to grow in your garden. The plants should have a better response in terms of the climate and their conditions. If you are planning to have plants that are not native to your area or not suited to the particular conditions in your garden, you probably need more effort and natural defenses in order for them to survive and be healthy.
Remember, when gardeners go organic, they are helping not only their own gardens but the whole environment!
Article Source: http://www.articlenorth.com
Lee Dobbins writes for Flower Gardens at Gardening-Wise.com where you can get more great tips on gardening.
Reasons For Trying Organic Gardening – Don't Be A Chicken
| The way we live our lives on a daily basis is changing rapidly. The way we approach certain things in life is different to approach we may have taken 10 – 15 years ago because of the way we are educated by the television media and news paper media towards certain issues. One such issue is the way we eat and what we eat. In years gone by we would eat a fast food meal for convenience without giving a second thought as to what it might have been doing to our body, it was simply treated as fuel to get us through the day until it was time for our next meal. But in recent years there has been a concerted effort in the media and by health organizations to move us away from fast food and towards a more healthy way of eating, which can only be good news for us. The other thing that has changed over the past few years is the way we buy our food. More and more of us are now shopping in large faceless supermarkets because they are convenient and because they are cheaper than local stores. But there is an extra price to pay for cheaper food and that is generally in the quality of the produce or how that food was reared. So what is the real price of cheap food and what can we do about it? In simple economic terms the more you produce of something the cheaper it gets to produce, it is called economy of scale and it is true about every form of production whether it be glass production, plastic production or the production of a chicken for your dinner table. The production of the chicken is what affects you and I most of all, we have all heard and read about battery produced chicken and other forms of meat and we all take the choice of whether we buy the cheap meat that is produced for a price or whether we purchase a free range chicken that is reared humanely and sold for a higher price. But there is another alternative open to you, why not rear your own chicken and have a truly free range bird that will produce both eggs and a meat for you. More and more people are trying their hand at keeping their own chickens for these very same reasons, you can be 100 per cent sure that the animals have had a totally free life and that they have been reared in a natural way and even been fed on totally organic produce. Chickens take up very little space in your garden and can live side by side with other pets as long as they are kept secure. Keeping chickens is a great educational experience for adults and children alike, seeing the birds grow up, learning about their characteristics as well as learning about the value of food and meat when it comes to the time that you have to slaughter the animal. Chickens can be a great way to help you with organic gardening as their manure can be used as an organic fertilizer on plants and vegetables that can then in turn be fed to the chickens. Depending what you want from your chickens should depend on what breed of bird that you go for, certain birds produce better meat than others and certain chickens are better at laying eggs. Organic gardening is becoming more and more popular each year and with the improved education that we have regarding what we eat, where it comes from and how it is produced maybe the time is right for more of us to have a go. Organic gardening is not hard work and rearing chickens in a safe, humane and organic way is both educational and therapeutic so why not give it a go this year. |
| Author Resource:- For more info on organic gardening and organic compost please visit our site - www.organic-baby-toys.com Please feel free to republish this article provided a working hyperlink remains to our site Harwood E Woodpecker. Submitted By ArticleUnited.com |
| Article From New Ezine Articles |
Interested in Organic Gardening Consider These 10 Tips
Tip 1 - Use Natural Pest Control
Your garden is going to have pests. Once you have identified them, research natural controllers you could add to the garden. These natural controllers could be other insects, such as ladybugs to control an aphid population, or plants, such as garlic to prevent armyworms or apple maggots.
Tip 2 - Rotate Plants Regularly
Rotating your plant sites will keep them healthy and also help control some pest populations. When you rotate your plants, the soil has a chance to recoup. Each plant takes different nutrients from the soil, and some even return nutrients to the soil. Properly rotating your plants each year will keep your entire garden healthy.
Tip 3 - Prune Plants Carefully
Remove any dead parts you find on your plants. They are not going to heal, and they will cause the plant to become diseased. Do not leave them on the ground near the plant, either. Remove them from the garden and destroy them right away.
Tip 4 - Make Good Compost
Compost is the best way to feed your organic garden. Compost is not difficult to make. Simply layer leaves, lawn clippings, and organic kitchen waste in your compost heap. If you need to get the compost started quickly, you can add a compost starter to the mix. Keep in mind that the good compose is at the bottom of the pile, so you will need to have a way to turn it or access the pile from the bottom. Once you have a nice amount of compost, work it into your soil to create rich organic soil.
Tip 5 - Air Your Compost Pile
Compost needs air to properly decompose. You can add air by turning the compost pile regularly. You can also provide the pile with air by putting a PVC pipe into it in the center of the pile. Also, build the pile on a layer of branches and sticks to provide some air from the bottom.
Tip 6 - Choose Organic Fertilizers
Organic fertilizer will help your plants grow bigger and healthier. This is particularly important if you are growing food. Choose a low-dose fertilizer, however, because they will not burn the roots of your plants or provide too much of any particular nutrient.
Tip 7 - Purchase Organic Seeds
Since seeds come from plants, the only way to have a truly organic garden is to buy organic seeds. You cannot sell your produce as USDA certified organic if you do not use organic seeds. Organic seeds must come from open pollinated or hybrid plants. Seeds from non-organic plants have been exposed to pesticides and other chemicals, so they may not grow properly.
Tip 8 - Test Your Soil
Your soil is not going to contain all of the nutrients your plants need. Test it to determine what nutrients are missing. Then, alter your fertilizer and compost materials to provide the missing nutrients to the soil.
Tip 9 - Water Carefully
The soil in your garden needs to feel moist, but over-watering can lead to disease and strip nutrients out of the soil. Typically, plants need an inch of water per week. You can keep a rain gauge in the garden to help you determine how much water it needs.
Tip 10 - Intercrop
Intercropping, which refers to growing one crop in between rows of another crop, is an important organic gardening technique. Planting herbs and flowers, such as mint or marigolds, in between your vegetables will keep some pests away. Also, intercropping improves the soil nutrient levels.
BlueWaterArticles.com: - Interested in Organic Gardening Consider These 10 Tips
About the Author
Organic gardening store features organic tips and solutions to common garden problems. Find indoor plant ideas at Redenta's Garden.
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