Many people are interested in organic gardening but are unsure how to get started. Perceived complexity or simple lack of familiarity with general gardening practices can be not only intimidating, but daunting as well. Read on to find many tips which will help you to create your own organic garden quickly and easily.
Using a shovel in clay soil is a lot of work, not only is the clay hard, but it will stick to the shovel and make it twice as hard to handle. Coat the shovel with floor or car wax, and buff it with a clean rag to make the job a lot easier. Not only will the clay slide off the surface, but it will keep the end from rusting.
Plant perennials that are slug-proof. Snails and slugs can destroy plants in just one night. These pests are particularly fond of young perennials and those varieties with leaves that are tender, smooth, and thin. Perennials with hairy, tough leaves as well as those with unpleasant taste are not appetizing to snails and slugs. Achillea, euphorbia, helleborus, heuchera and campanula are good choices that slugs don’t like.
You don’t need expensive chemicals to treat powdery mildew on plants. Instead, combine baking soda with water and liquid soap. Then, spray this mixture onto all of your infected plants once each week till the mildew is gone. This solution is perfectly safe for your plants and gently treats mildew in a short amount of time.
Plant bulbs in your garden if you want flowers through spring and summer. These are hearty choices, choices that will reward you for years despite the little effort that is involved in their care. Keep in mind that different bulb types bloom differently and at different time periods, so when you choose a bulb plan accordingly, you can have your plant blooms lasting spring into summer.
Draw up a garden plan before you plant the first seed. This helps you remember where each plant was planted before they begin to sprout. You can also avoid losing the smaller plants, or in larger gardens, the small plant groups.
You can spray scents such as after-shave and cologne around your garden to deter your dog. This will help mask the scents that attract your dog, and will make your garden a less interesting place for your pet to be.
During the hottest hours of each day, your vegetables become too soft, and even gentle harvesting will cause damage and bruising. For vegetables growing on vines, cut them carefully rather than twisting them off to avoid damage to the plant.
Having a garden of perennials can be an easy and quick process. Simply use a spade or small shovel to get under the grass or turf and flip it over. Then, using wood chips, cover the area to a depth of three or four inches. Wait for a few weeks and plant new perennials in this area.
Add more value to your property. Landscaping has a powerful home improvement return. Strategic landscaping can increase the resale value of your home up to 20%, if you choose the right plants. Seek out plants and shrubbery that require limited maintenance and will adapt well to the natural climate that you live in.
Laundry Basket
You may find an old plastic laundry basket ideal for gathering vegetables from your garden. The laundry basket can be used as a colander for your produce. If you leave your produce in the basket while rinsing it, the basket will be able to serve as a strainer, with the extra water dripping out the holes in the bottom of the basket.
Use equal parts of green and dried plant material in your compost pile. Garden wastes, such as grass clippings, are classified as green materials. For the dry end of the spectrum, think of things like paper and cardboard, sawdust, hay, etc. You should not use things like meat scraps, charcoal, blighted plants or the manure of meat-eating animals in your compost.
The simple beer trap is still one of the best methods of ridding your organic garden of slugs. Place a jar into the soil so that the top of it’s mouth rests parallel with the soil. Next, fill up the jar with beer until there is around one inch between the liquid level and the jar top. The slugs will be attracted to the beer and will end up being trapped within the confines of the jar.
Grow garlic in your organic garden. Cloves should be planted whole during the fall or early spring months. Garlic grows best in soil that retains moisture but drains well. Set them four inches apart, approximately one to two inches deep into the soil, with their ends up. As the garlic shoots grow, you can snip them and use them for cooking. The bulbs of the garlic are ready for harvesting when the very tops of them begin to brown. Leave the bulbs out to dry and exposed to the sun for a few days so that the skin hardens a bit. They could be stored in an area that is cold, tied or loose in bunches.
When you remember these suggestions from this article, you will not be as afraid to go about organic gardening. Apply these tips and you will quickly be eating luscious and wholesome foods, that you grew yourself!