Organic Gardening

Organic Gardening

In its most simple form, organic gardening is gardening without the use of fertilizers or pesticides. But it is much more than that. Organic gardening requires attention to small details – from regularly adding organic matter to the soil (such as grass clippings, leaves and vegetable scraps), to choosing plants that will adapt to your climate and conditions. Further, organic gardeners try to minimize and continually replenish any resources the garden consumes.

Healthy Soil

Keeping the soil productive is the main goal in organic gardening. It is important to continually restore the nutrients your plants use by adding organic matter (compost is the best) to the soil whenever possible. Productive soil is dark in color, smells sweet, is full of earthworms and easily forms into a loose lump in your hand when it is moist.

Some soils may need even more nutrients than compost provides. Organic Gardening.com suggests getting your soil tested to find out which nutrients are out of balance. The lab technician can recommend to add other elements such as bonemeal, greensand or rock phosphates (all derived from natural sources) to make your soil more productive

Starting Your Garden from Seeds

There are many benefits in choosing to grow your own seeds. First of all, you don’t have to wait until the weather warms up to see results – just plant the seeds in a pot indoors to get them started, and then transplant them when it is warmer. And by starting the seeds yourself, you can ensure the plants have been raised organically from start to finish. Here are some tips on how to get your organic garden started from OrganicGardening.com:

Place sure bets: Because some plants fare better than others with home germination, you should know which seeds will benefit the most. For vegetables, choose basil, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, chives, leeks, lettuce, onions, peppers and tomatoes. For annuals, choose alyssum, cosmos, marigolds and zinnias. And for perennials, choose Shasta daisies, columbines, and hollyhocks.
Get the timing down: Follow a seed-starting chart (click here for details)
Gather containers: Find containers that are two to three inches deep. Punch holes in the bottom for drainage and put them on a tray. Make sure all containers are clean before using to prevent plant disease.
Pick the right growing medium: You can buy bags of seed-starter mix, or you can make your own by blending equal parts of perlite, vermiculite and peat. Add 1/3 teaspoon of lime to each gallon of mix to neutralize the acidity of the peat. You may want to transfer your seedlings into larger containers before transplanting into the garden, but lettuce, melons, and cucumbers should go directly from the original containers to the garden.
Sow carefully: Before sowing the seeds, moisten your medium in the containers, then drop the seeds onto the surface of the mix, spacing them as evenly as possible. Next, cover the seeds to about three times the thickness of the seeds. Seeds such as ageratum, alyssum, impatiens, petunias and snapdragons shouldn’t be covered because they need light in order to germinate.
Top it off: Sprinkle milled sphagnum moss over everything to protect against fungal diseases that rots seeds and seedlings.
Keep seeds cozy: Cover the flats with plastic wrap or glass to keep the environment humid and place them near a heat vent or on a heat mat made especially for seed starting.
Keep seeds damp: Mist them with a spray bottle or set the trays into water so the soil mix picks up the moisture from below.
Lighten up: When you first see sprouting, uncover and move the containers to a bright spot – such as a sunny window, greenhouse or underneath fluorescent shop lights. These are especially important if you live in northern climates.
Cool down: Seedlings don’t have to stay as warm as germinating seeds. Move them away from radiators and air vents, or off the heating mat, as soon as they have germinated.
Feed the seeds: If you are using a mix without soil or compost, fertilize your seedlings as soon as they get their first true leaves.
Give the seeds room: If the seedlings outgrow their containers or become crowded, transfer them into larger containers filled with a mix that includes compost.
Pet the seeds: Lightly ruffling seedlings once or twice a day with your hand or a piece of cardboard will help them to grow stocky and strong.
Toughen the seeds up: About a week before the plants will be transferred outside, get them acclimated to the harsh conditions of outside. On a warm spring day, move the containers to a shaded, protected place such as a porch, for a few hours. Gradually increase the plant’s exposure to sun and breeze every day (unless the weather is horrible). At the end of the week leave them out overnight; then transplant them into the garden.

Controlling Insects

Because organic gardeners do not use chemical fertilizers or pesticides, they have to turn to alternative methods in controlling insects. Because organic gardening consists of growing plants in harmony with nature, it is important to realize that some of the insects that eat your plants are a crucial part of that system. Many plants can still survive and be healthy with minor damage. According to OrganicGardening.com, the best defenses against insect attacks are preventative measures:

Grow plants suited to the site: Don’t let the plants be too wet, too dry or too shaded. Set up your garden so that insects that tend to attack a particular plant won’t do harm to any other plants.
Encourage natural predators of insects to hunt in your garden: Ladybugs, birds, frogs and lizards help control the pests by eating them. Attract them by keeping a water source nearby and growing plants with small flowers on them to attract predatory insects who feed on nectar between attacks on pests.
Use barriers: Row covers, netting and plant collars are often very effective in protecting your crops. You can also use sticky traps and pheromone lures – none of these will harm the other living things in your garden.
Use natural products to deal with pest invasions: Bacillus thuringiensis is a naturally occurring bacterium that you apply to your plants to disrupt the digestion of caterpillars and other leaf-eaters. Horticultural oils, insecticidal soaps and garlic and/or hot pepper sprays also work well against many pests.

Controlling Weeds

Organic gardeners also have to use alternative methods to control weeds in their garden. Here are some suggestions from OrganicGardening.com for getting rid of pesky weeds:

Mulch: Applying a thick layer of mulch will keep the light from reaching weeds, which ultimately will stunt their growth. Organic mulches (made from straw, grass clippings, leaves and shredded bark) are effective weed barriers. You can protect your garden even more by using several sheets of newspaper, kraft paper or cardboard underneath the mulch.
Hoeing: When you sever the stems from the roots just below the soil surface, it causes the annual weeds to die. Sharp hoes allow you to cut the weeds easily.
Solarization: Sun exposure will help get rid of persistent weeds. In late spring or early summer, pull, hoe or rake out as many weeds as you can, then moisten the soil and cover it with clear plastic, burying the edges. Leave the plastic for six weeks – the sun will cook the weeds before they can sprout.
Corn gluten meal: By spreading it all over the area where weeds are growing, corn gluten meal can suppress the growth of weeds early in the season. It works best in established lawns and perennial beds.
Handpulling: Physically pull the weeds from the garden bed.

Source: OrganicGardening.com