Down To Earth Home and Garden | vegetable garden

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AeroGarden 6-Pod Seed Kit
Organic Gardening Advantages

The definition of organic gardening is a garden that does not use pesticides to kill pests. This method can be used in either vegetable or flower gardens. In vegetable gardens organic is the safest for you since you will be consuming what you have grown. But, if you utilize it in flower gardening also, it is safest for the environment.

Raising an organic garden has many sound reasons to encourage gardeners to go this route. As mentioned above all of your vegetables will be pesticide free, which means no poison on the food you are growing. While in flower gardening, many people plant flowers that will attract butterflies or bees which you won’t attract if you use pesticides. You especially want to remain pesticide free if you have small children or pets because chemicals could be harmful for them.
Gardening Nature’s Way Organic Gardening Step 1
Your organic garden will be anything but simple gardening. Every garden takes effort and research and your organic garden is no exception. As with all gardens you must start with a plan. Research the plants you wish to grow. Find out what their needs are when it comes to light, fertilizer, PH in the soil and drainage. Be diligent in picking a spot that is well suited to your plants. If you are planting an herb garden select a site that is close to your kitchen door for easy harvesting. Find out if there are companion plants and if there are, consider using them.

When planting an organic garden you will need some really good compost. You can make your compost out of soil and organic matter. Organic matter includes leaves, manure, vegetable refuse, coffee grinds and eggshells. You can include peels from fruits and vegetables. (Potato skins, apple skins, orange rinds, etc.) Start your compost early, find a place to put your compost and work it frequently. By working it I mean turn it with a shovel so the organic material will break down. When you are ready to start planting work your compost into the garden beds before you plant.

Your garden location is very important. You need to pick a spot that gets lots of light and drains well. If it is a very windy spot you will have to figure out some way of sheltering. Don’t pick a low spot on your property since that might flood during heavy rains. You really want to put the garden in a place that has easy access for you and for watering with your hose.

Mentioned above were companion plants. Companion plants are plants that repel unwanted pests. If you plant roses, plant some garlic. It is said that garlic will repel rose’s nemesis, aphids. Cucumber beetles will not be a worry if you plant oregano. Marigolds will also repel many pests. For a good natural pesticide follow this recipe:
The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses
In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.

If you come up with a good plan you can have flowers and vegetables mixed together. Make sure that you know your zone and the conditions that apply in your area. Flower and vegetable gardens will be very different in Alaska than in Florida.

Your organic garden will take some work, but it will not be in vain when you can sit back and enjoy your beautiful blooms or make some culinary delights from the vegetables and herbs you have grown.

Happy Gardening!

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at Gardening Landscaping Tips Gardening Outside and Herb Gardening

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Luster Leaf Rapitest Garden Tomato Grower-Foots Test Kit #1610
Secrets to Growing Tomatoes in Containers

Suffering from the limited gardening space? If you are into the hobby of home gardening and would like to grow tomatoes, then fear not! Because as long as you have sunlight, tomatoes can be grown anywhere. Growing tomatoes in containers is a practice not only constrained to people with limited gardening space. Plenty of home gardeners grow their vegetables in containers, even when there are free space in the backyard. There are many reasons for container gardening, but we grow tomatoes in containers mostly for convenience, control, and flexibility.

Growing tomatoes in containers is not too different from growing tomatoes in the outdoor soil. Like planting in the ground, it’s best to raise young tomato plants carefully indoors until they’re strong enough for transplant. Transplanting is similar for containers as for ground- bury as much of the plant stem as possible. Doing so will promote root formation along the portion of the stem that is buried, giving the plant excellent base foundations, a good thing regardless of where the tomato is grown.

With vegetables grown in containers, it’s possible to control the exact state of your growing medium. Once you’ve found the secret recipe to all your prior garden success, you can reuse it over and over again for future success. You can choose to go completely soiless, or completely organic, or a mixture of some of both. Growing tomatoes in containers give this important benefit. The most basic recipe for a good container soil mixture to grow vegetables is 40% compost, 40% peat moss, and 20% perlite.

Although tomatoes grown in containers frees you from messing with garden dirt, container vegetables do require more maintenance in terms of watering and fertilizing. Unlike traditional garden tomatoes, tomato plants in containers have limited root coverage, and their growth is limited by the amount of water and nutrients in the container. Container vegetable plants may need to be watered daily in the heat of the summer, and sometimes even twice a day to prevent the plants from wilting up. Of course, this depends on how big your growing container is (bigger is always better), and whether you mulch or not. Tomatoes are especially water thirsty plants, so the better you can satisfy their watering needs, the better results you will be rewarded with come harvest.
The Heirloom Tomato: From Garden to Table: Recipes, Portraits, and History of the World’s Most Beautiful Fruit
Of course, you can mitigate all the disadvantages of container growing by simply installing automated drip irrigators for your containers. Though it sounds complicated, the setup is not expensive and actually quite easy to install. An automated drip irrigation system set up for a price range anywhere between $50-100, and you will save yourself a lot of hassles later. Depending on how many containers you have, this could be a worthy investment with great payoffs in the long run.

Applying mulching to containers may sound like an unnecessary chore associated with traditional gardening, but it’s a great way to reduce water evaporation and keep weeds down (if you’re using compost or garden soil). Pine bark mulch will work great, as will black plastic mulching. Mulching has the added benefit of keeping your tomato plants looking neat and organized.

When the first blossoms have set in on your plants, don’t be afraid to use more fertilizers. Twice the amount of normal usage will work. Increasing fertilization during first blossom formation will kickstart fruit production and result in bigger yields. But whatever fertilization rate you use, try to keep it constant.

And don’t forget to pick your tomato fruits as soon as they’re ripe. It’s not a good idea to leave tomatoes on the vines for too long, and for every tomato you pick off, you’ll encourage the production of a new fruit.

Growing tomatoes in containers is indeed a very flexible and productive gardening practice. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your container gardens, as tomatoes are generally hardy plants.

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For more interesting tricks and techniques for growing tomatoes, please visit Growing Tomatoes. Additional information related to gardening could be found at Home Gardening.

Terms: Articles may be reprinted provided content is not edited and links are kept live

Source: www.articledepot.co.uk