Showing posts with label Seed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seed. Show all posts
Growing vegetables | 33 things to do
Potting vegetable seeds as part of the 33 things to do before you are 10 project.
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Organic Vegetable Gardening Can Be Done Using Containers
Organic vegetable gardening containers have advantages. You can use it décor every time you decide to let it get some sunlight when you place it by the balcony or patio. If the weather gets too cold outside, you can bring it indoors. But best of all, you don’t have to deal with certain threats that can only happen outdoors like weeds, insects or soil borne diseases.
Organic vegetable gardening containers do not use soil. You need to use potting mix that is much lighter and provides excellent drainage. You need to use organic fertilizer though to help it grow. An example of this is mulch that can be made from chipped bark, garden compost, leaf moulds and manure which helps prevent it from drying out.
Another thing the plants inside these containers need is a lot of water. Ideally, you should put these in small amounts at least 30 minutes after an initial watering because putting in too much could drown your plant.
The containers can be hung aside from just putting these on the ground. If the container that you purchased does not have any holes, make a few.
By now you may be asking, “What are the ideal vegetables to be planted in these containers?” To give you can idea, these are bush beans, capsicum, carrots, eggplant, lettuce, onions, peas, radishes, spinach and tomatoes.
You know that organically grown vegetables need sunlight. If you have a lot of these containers and it is getting pretty windy outside, you can protect them from falling by grouping these together with the taller ones with these as your walls.
The best organic vegetable gardening containers are those made from clay, plastic or wood. The length of the roots and its width is the deciding factor when choosing what size you will buy from the store. For instance, if your vegetable happens to have 6 inches of roots and grows to about 10 inches wide, it is best to get a container that measures 8 inches deep and 10 to 12 inches wide. You must always give room for allowance as this may grow bigger.
We mentioned earlier that one of the advantages of the organic container is that you don’t have to deal with insects. But sometimes, bugs like the hookworm manage to get to your plant. If this happens, just bring the container to the sink and wash the leaves. Should there be slugs, get rid of them by sprinkling diatomaceous earth on the soil.
If there are aphids on your vegetables, fight fire with fire by getting other insects to do the dirty work. A pack of ladybugs will do the trick without causing any collateral damage.
The use of organic vegetables containers makes it people without a backyard the chance to plant their own crops at home. This is ideal for residents living in condos and apartments so they can save money to pay for rent or buy other things when the sustenance they need is just sitting by the balcony or window.
If you want to try it, go ahead and ask someone at the gardening store for some help to get you started.
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Tips for Organic Vegetable Gardening
The most important thing to do is to decide what you want to grow. There are so many vegetables to choose from but keep in mind that certain vegetables cannot be grown because of the climate so take that into consideration as well.
So you want have a hard time taking care of it, choose those that are well adapted to the soil, temperature, sun and shade exposure.
If you live in an area where droughts are frequent, make sure you are planting drought resistant vegetables since it does not eat up that much water and can withstand dry weather.
You should determine how much space you have. This will make it easy for you to plot on a sheet of paper the layout of how you want your vegetables to grow.
You should mulch your vegetables with organic material. This can be made from food waste, dead leaves or grass and manure. This helps conserve water, adds humus and nutrients as well as discourage weeds from growing.
The best part is that you don’t have to dig deep to put these in because 85% of the vegetable’s roots are found in the top 6 inches of soil.
Aside from compost, you can also use natural fertilizers and organic material to help the vegetables grow. They also encourage native earthworms that are nature’s tillers and soil conditioners.
The biggest threat that could destroy your vegetables are pests. To get rid of them, you should use other insects, birds, frogs. If your crops though have been infected, spray infected stems and leaves with dilute soapy water and then clear water that is very effective.
If you decide to buy vegetables that are grown instead of using seedlings, most of these come in plastic containers. Be careful when you remove them so you avoid tearing the outside roots especially if these have grown solidly inside the container.
When planting vegetables, don’t stick with just one but plant many different kinds because this invites insects to take up resident in your yard.
Believe it or not, only 2 percent of the insects in the world are harmful. This means the rest are beneficial. Some examples of these include ladybugs, fireflies, green lacewings, praying mantis, spiders and wasps since they eat insects that try to eat your vegetables. Another thing they do is pollinate the plants and decompose organic matter.
Don’t forget to remove weeds that come out in your garden. You can pull these out by hand or spot spray it with a full strength of household vinegar. Best of all, it is safe for the environment.
Practice crop rotation. This will make sure that the soil is always fertile. When planting the new vegetable, avoid regular deep cultivation as this will damage the roots, dry out the soil, disturb healthy soil organisms and bring weeds to the surface that will soon germinate.
If you follow these tips, you will surely be able to have a successful organic vegetable garden. You can plant and harvest them all year round so you don’t have to buy these goods anymore from the supermarket. That is assuming of course you have a huge parcel of land to work with.
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Organic Vegetable Gardening Information
Organic vegetable gardening does not use fertilizers and chemicals which can be harmful to humans. It also does not use genetic engineering or irradiation. Instead, it uses simple farming techniques like tilling the land, giving it enough water and sufficient exposure from the sun.
When harvesting is finished, something new is planted which is better known as crop rotation that helps keep the soil fertile.
Growing organic vegetables is not something that only farmers can do. This can be done by homeowners since they can plan some of these in their own backyard.
The first thing that you have to do is choose what kind of vegetables you want to grow. You also have to understand how big these can grow so it will be easy to plot how many can be placed per row.
The next step is to check the condition of the soil. There are kits you can buy from the store to check its fertility. If the soil is good, then you can start by clearing it of rocks and weeds by mowing, pulling or digging them out.
You should then add compost, bone meal or rock phosphate and greensand to the soil to supply it with nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. You can also add lime or sulphur to adjust the soil’s pH level only if you have to.
It will also be a good idea to till or dig in fertilizers using organic matter. This must at least be an inch of sharp sand if the soil you have is made of clay and then you rake the soil into beds and rows. You should leave it be for at least a month before you start planting.
Don’t forget to use organic mulch to blanket the garden. You can use ground bark for that since it will decompose over a season or two.
You can also use a compost file made out of recycled leaves, grass clippings, coffee grounds, eggshells and kitchen waste since these serve as a good fertilizer.
The organic vegetable garden will grow but it will be always under threat from weeds and insects. For that, you have to use other animals and insects to fight these pests. You don’t have to buy them because setting the ideal conditions will invite them in to your home.
As for the weeds, you can get rid of them by pulling them out or spraying home made vinegar as this stops them growing. If you plant thickly enough, you will be able to discourage weeds from growing in between the plants.
Planting your own organic vegetable garden isn’t that bad given that the only ones who will be consuming what is planted are those that live in the household. But it’s going to be a bed of roses from the time you till the land to the time that they will be harvested.
The advantage of working on a small spaced is that you can easily inspect the whole area so nothing is left behind.
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You Can Do Organic Vegetable Gardening At Home
The first thing you have to do is find an ideal location. A lot of people do organic vegetable gardening in their backyard. To make it work, whatever you are planting should get at least 6 hours of sunlight everyday and access to water.
Just like the ancient civilizations that relied on an efficient irrigation system, you too should do the same by making sure there is adequate drainage because if you don’t, you will have to do organic vegetable gardening using a raise bed.
When your ideal location has been found, it is time to cultivate the land. For that, you will need your gardening tools and a pair of gloves to pluck out the weeds on the ground. This might take a few days to make sure the area is ready for planting.
You will only know if the ground you are going to plant your vegetable is a good spot by testing it with some compost and mixing this with the soil. Should it be able to integrate and stabilize itself with the soil, this means that you can start planting your crops and see it grow in the succeeding weeks.
If you don’t like to buy compost from the gardening store, you can make your own using coffee grounds, dead leaves, grass clippings, food waste or even manure. They also serve as excellent fertilizers.
As for your vegetables, take note that some of these may not be suitable in the land you are planting these on. This is because of several factors that are beyond your control such as the weather, pests and other plant borne diseases. You can avoid making this mistake by doing some research on what vegetables are ideal to plant in your area and asking fellow organic gardeners.
One way to protect the organic vegetables you are planting is by planting a variety of them at a time since some of these protect each other from pests. Such practice is better known as crop rotation especially when you want to adapt with the weather in your area. Another defense system that works is getting the help of Mother Nature as birds, certain insects and even toads have proven to be useful.
If you live in an area where wild animals may eat your vegetables, you should put up fences so they are not able to get through. Other tools you can use are animal hair, baby powder and deodorant soaps.
Part of preparing the land is removing the weeds. But remember that new weeds grow after some time so you have to inspect the area from time to time.
Planting your own organic vegetable garden at home will surely save you money as these are quite expensive in the supermarket. If you have some excess stocks when it is time to harvest them, maybe you can give some to your neighbors or make some money by selling it at the local market which isn’t that bad given that you don’t shell out that much cash for this investment.
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