There are so many natural alternatives available to you if you want to turn your garden organic. Once you learn about them, they are surprisingly easy to put into place.
If you want to keep your garden free of pests, start with healthy soil! Healthy plants are stronger and more able to resist both pests and disease. Start your garden off with a high-quality soil that you can enrich over time.
If you want your garden to sport flowers in the spring as well as summer, plant bulbs. Bulbs are one of the easiest plants to grow and are hardy perennials that return each year. Bulbs bloom during different seasons, if you pick them carefully you will have flowers almost all year.
Do you enjoy fresh mint leaves though hate how they grow so fast and take over your entire garden? You can slow down this growth by planting them inside a pot or container! You have the option of planting the container with the plant to keep the roots from taking the garden over.
Don’t use broad-spectrum pesticides in the garden. These pesticides will kill every type of pest in your garden, including beneficial bugs that eat garden pests. The beneficial insects, which kill the pests, are much more sensitive to pesticides than the pests. Using them will reduce your population of good bugs, and increase the bad. Your problem will only get worse and you will find yourself using more pesticides.
If you have problems keeping the dog out of the garden, spray things like aftershave, perfume or other scents on the grass surrounding the garden. This will mask the garden smell that is attracting your dog, and it will make it a less appealing place for your dog to visit.
To attract the right kind of insects, plant heather. Heather is desirable to bees; when heather emerges in early spring, it can be a source of nectar. It is common to find all types of insects inside of an undisturbed heather bed. Protect yourself from being surprised by these bugs by donning gardening gloves before disturbing your heather beds.
Your children can help you with your garden. Growing a garden is a great way to teach your children about nature while allowing you to have time to bond with them.
If you’re really serious about environmentally-friendly gardening practices, refrain from developing some of your land and use it as an animal habitat. You will find that many of the supporting cast of insects and birds that aid in plant production and pollination will be present on your land and actually help your developed gardens to produce better.
Pine Needles
Pine needles should not be overlooked as a great source for mulch. Some plants are more acidic, and prefer soil that contains higher acidic levels. Use pine needles to increase the acid level in your soil if you have plants that require higher acid. Simply add a layer of pine needles a couple of inches deep to the plant beds. The needles will decompose over time and provide the soil with acidity.
Procrastination leads to problems in a variety of areas, including organic gardening. Not everyone has time to tend their gardens every day, but by doing little things whenever you have a chance, you can avoid having things pile up. Grab a handful of weeds, throw down some mulch, or toss some water on it anytime you walk by.
You may find an old plastic laundry basket ideal for gathering vegetables from your garden. Laundry baskets which have holes in them act as giant strainers for your home grown produce. You can clean and rinse the harvest when it is the laundry basket and the water will go out of the holes.
Use a soaker hose to water your organic garden. These hoses deliver water directly to the roots of your plants and keep their leaves dry. These are more efficient than sprinklers, which use more water, and can save you the trouble of hand watering.
Anybody can grow a garden, but those who bother to understand what they’re doing will be the only ones to reap rich rewards from their crop. Implement these important concepts in building a truly organic garden.
Originally posted 2013-09-20 01:35:11.
