Tips And Tricks That Every Organic Gardener Should Know

TIP! Make sure to lay the sod properly. Before laying sod, you have to make sure the soil is accurately prepared.

In the world of organic horticulture, there are plenty of great resources available to both new and experienced organic gardeners alike. There are many e-guides, books, videos, and other resources available. This set of tips contains some of the best advice for helping a good organic gardener become a great organic gardener.

TIP! It is important to do your homework so you choose plants that produce higher yields. Frequently, a hybrid that is able to deal with extreme temperatures will bring higher yields than the more traditional variety of a plant.

Clay soil is hard and will also stick to a shovel, making it difficult to work with. To make working in clay easier, rub the shovel with floor or car wax and then buff it with a cloth. This causes the clay to slide rather than stick, and prevents rust as a side effect.

TIP! Your tool handles can double as measuring sticks. Larger handled tools like rakes, hoes, and shovels make great measuring sticks.

If you want the best results, you need to choose the right soil. The soil that is already in your garden might need amending, depending on the particular plants that you want to grow. It’s also possible to make a fabricated area that contains only one type of soil.

TIP! Starting off your garden with healthy soil can be the best defense against those pesky garden bugs. Healthy soil leads to healthy plants with more strength to deflect those insects and various diseases.

As fall arrives, it is the time to prepare for planting fall edibles. If you’d like to change things up a bit this season, put away your standard clay pots and plant your lettuce and kale inside of a pumpkin instead! Cut an opening in the top of your pumpkin, scoop out the inside, and spray the entire thing with Wilt-Proof. This will prevent rotting. You can now use it to plant in, as you would a pot.

TIP! While caring for your garden in the fall, you will want to keep a lookout for stinkbugs. They love to inhabit peppers, beans, tomatoes and all kinds of fruit varieties.

You can alleviate this problem by planting grasses that your cat will naturally gravitate towards. You could also place something that will cause your cat to go away from your plants, such as citrus peels or mothballs.

TIP! When gardening, avoid the use of strong broad-spectrum pesticides. Broad-spectrum pesticides not only kill pests, but also “good” bugs like ground beetles that eat pests.

If you are growing a vegetable garden, you may find that pests can be difficult to control. You can’t use chemicals as they’re the last thing you want to be eating when you enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can prevent pests from appearing in the garden by adopting a vigilant attitude. If you catch pests right away, the easiest way to eradicate them is to pick them off plants by hand.

TIP! In the middle of the day the vegetables have softened, which means they are easily damaged. Use garden shears to remove your vegetables from the vine to avoid damaging the plant.

Be smart about how you water your garden. Soaker hoses save time by watering all of your plants at once, rather than individually with a standard hose or watering can. To avoid damaging delicate plants, you should water them with low pressure. Keep the water turned on for about two hours; while your plants are being watered, you will have time for other activities.

TIP! Organic gardening is a safe hobby to share with your children. A garden can teach your children about the joy of rewarding work and nutrition while bonding.

A typical English garden combines various plants of differing heights in a single bed. If you use plants that grow vertically at the same rate, you will end up with some flat, boring, uniform looking beds.

TIP! Strawberries are a great plant to grow in any organic garden, especially if you happen to have kids or any strawberry lover in your home. Children are thrilled to harvest fruit from their own garden, and doing so often makes them more enthusiastic about helping out with the more hum-drum aspects of tending a garden.

Let your children be involved in your organic horticulture efforts. Helping a garden grow is an excellent learning experience for kids, and it allows your family to spend time together while creating healthy, nutritious foods.

TIP! Water containing some aspirin helps your plants fight illness. Dissolve three aspirin in four gallons of water.

Protecting your knees while gardening is essential. Bending over while gardening can be painful and unhealthy for your back. Kneeling can relieve pain in your back, but can instead be painful to your knees. For extra comfort, purchase a knee pad for use as a cushion between your knees and the ground.

TIP! One of the problems that people come up against when trying to grow organic plants indoors is a lack of natural light. If you’re living in a home that doesn’t receive much sunlight, you should consider growing plants that thrive in environments with low to medium amounts of light.

Spacing is an important factor to consider when planting your garden. You can easily underestimate how much space the plants need until they begin to grow. The plants need space due to sheer size and also for air circulation. Plan your garden accordingly, and make sure the right distance is between the seeds.

TIP! When a seed actually sprouts, it doesn’t need to be in as warm an environment. Move your plants further away from your heat source as they grow.

Procrastination leads to problems in a variety of areas, including organic horticulture. Even if you are too busy to tend to your gardens needs every day, you can try little things that will prevent you from having a lot of work when you return to your garden. You can pull a few weeds when you take your dog outside.

TIP! Use plastic bags to cover muddy gardening shoes. This helps you stay in the zone so that you can continue gardening when you have completed your tasks in the house.

When maintaining your organic garden, try lightly petting your seedlings — either with the palm of your hand or something like a sheet of cardboard — once or twice each day. Although this method may seem counterproductive, it actually helps the seeds to grow quicker and stronger.

Treated Wood

TIP! Killing weeds the natural way? Layer sheets of newspaper on the surface of areas where you are trying to control weeds. Weeds need sunlight to grow.

You can make a raised bed with untreated wood, brick, or stone. If you choose to use wood, make sure it is naturally rot resistant and untreated. Some great choices to choose from are cedar, locust and cypress. Treated wood has chemicals that can be harmful to a vegetable garden. If you have some space treated wood, you can still use it, however, be sure to line it with some type of barrier like plastic sheeting.

TIP! A good way to plant seeds is in containers. Plant them three times as deep as their overall size.

Any form of horticulture helps you get in tune with the environment, but organic gardening takes this concept to the next level. Organic gardening allows you learn the entire plant cycle, from the beginning to the end.

TIP! Be particular when selecting the plants you will include in the organic garden. Different variations of a certain flower or vegetable need different kinds of environments.

Plant your own garlic with organic methods. Cloves of garlic should be planted in well-drained soil with frequent watering in either the fall or spring. Plant the cloves one to two inches beneath the soil about four inches apart and with the pointed end up. You can cut green garlic shoots while they grow, you can then use them in place of scallions and chives. The garlic will be matured when the green tops start drying out and turning brown. Leave the bulbs out the sunshine for a few days until the skin gets hard. Finally, store the garlic in an area with low temperatures like a pantry, either by themselves or tied into bunches.

TIP! Mulch your garden with no less than 3″ of organic bedding material. This is a technique that provides benefits to the land itself, but that also minimizes water usage, allowing you to save money and the environment simultaneously.

Now you know a little more on how you can be a successful organic gardener. There is much information on the subject; you only need to know what to do with it. If you remember these tips, you can make the most of organic gardening methods.