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Organic Vegetable Garden: What’s Old Is New Again

September 5th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Although it might seem like a radically new and trendy concept, growing an organic vegetable garden is far from being new. This was the way our species grew any kind of garden or crop for thousands of years. Vegetable gardens were relatively small and could be completely tended by only a few people or even just one person.

Then we had to go and screw things up by developing gigantic agribusiness which relied on synthesized fertilizers and pesticides. And then we even had to go and genetically modify some of the plants we grow. Due to fallout from these “advances”, we are turning to having an organic vegetable garden once more.

Choosing Where It Should Go

You won’t do yourself or the environment any favors if you choose to place your organic vegetable garden in a bad location. Shady areas are not good. Areas with really sandy soil don’t do too well, either. Ideally, you are looking for a patch of ground in a sunny area with soil that drains well. If you can’t find it, then you should consider a greenhouse.

Don’t make your organic vegetable garden too big. Start small at first to get the hang of it and not make it too much like a second full time job (unless you plan this on being your second full-time job). An organic vegetable garden of thirty inches wide should be more than enough to handle. You don’t want it so big that you can’t easily reach all areas of it. Make it as long or as short as you can handle.

Preparing A Planting Bed

You will have much better chances of success with your organic vegetable garden by first preparing a planting bed instead of just planting seeds in the ground. You also don’t want all of that good growing soil to wash away. A planting bed raises your organic vegetable garden off the ground by ten or twelve inches. You can make a frame or buy prepared ones in gardening stores.

Put down a good layer of organic compost into the planting bed about three weeks before you start doing any planting with your organic vegetable garden. Organic compost tends to be made from plant materials or animal manure. There are now commercially available organic composts. You can also read gardening books, go on the web or on organic gardening forums to find organic compost recipes for your organic vegetable garden.

How Does An Organic Plant Nursery Become Organic?

September 2nd, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Organic foods are becoming increasingly popular. People are thrilled that they are eating food that is one hundred percent natural, that there is no risk of consuming any harmful pesticides. What people don’t understand is how they know the tomatoes and chicken that is sold in the produce section is actually organically grown. What is to prevent the nurseries and farmers from saying they are growing organic produce, and charging their customers a higher price for the product? What, many consumers wonder, makes an organic plant nursery organic?

Becoming Organic

Along time ago people said that a man’s word was his bond. That unless it was proven otherwise anything they said was taken as gospel. While that old adage sounds wonderful and for the most part true, there are times when a person will lie, this is especially true when there is money involved. Because there is money to be made in selling organic produce the government requires that farms and organic plant nurseries prove that they truly produce food products that are grown 100% organically.

Becoming Certified

An organic plant nursery to sell organically grown plants the government has to be certified by the government. One of the first things the organic plant nursery owner needs to do is contact the Department of Agriculture who will put in touch with a organic certification agency.

Once the organic plant nursery owner has been given the name of the certification agency they will have to fill out and turn in a application for certification. The organic plant nursery should be prepared to send in an application fee with their application. A large part of the application will be a questionnaire that will ask about the nursery’s seeds and seedlings, soil fertility planning, storage and handling routines, nursery history, weed and pest management practices, and the materials that are used in the organic plant nursery.

After the completed application has been turned in, members of the agency will consider the application. One of the big things they will be looking at is whether the nursery owner is worth the time it will take to inspect the nurseries organic growing process.

If the certification agency likes the organic plant nursery’s application they will arrange to inspect the nursery. When they are inspecting the nursery they will be asking questions and making sure that the nursery complies with all of the regulations and criteria of organically grown plants. The nursery owner should be prepared for the agency to inspect every building, shed, and bag that is on the property, as well as any equipment the nursery owner uses. They will also want to look at the nursery owners record books.

After the on site inspection the only thing left for the nursery owner to do is to continue growing plants until they get a final review from the organic agency. With any luck the review will be an approval for organic certification and the nursery will be able to legally sell organically grown plants.

Types Of Organic Plant Food

September 1st, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Many people think that organic plant food comes in just one kind but actually; this comes in several different types. The source of the organic plant food differs from each other. These can be used for many different purposes and does not harm both the person handling it and the environment. Ideally, no chemicals are used in the processing and manufacture of these different types of organic plant food.

Manure

Animal excrement is one of the most common organic plant food available in the world. Not all kinds of excrement is ideal as plant food because there are many different levels of acidity and composition corresponding to the source animal. The ideal sources of manure as organic plant food are horses, cows, pigs, sheep and chicken. The most commonly used manure, without any need for processing, are those of the horse and cow. Plants of all kinds benefit from manure as their organic plant food and so does the environment.

Bone Meal

This type of organic plant food is sourced from bones of different animals or one particular animal. These sources are usually chicken and cows, animals that we slaughter for our food. Bone meal is derived from crushing the bones and grinding the bones of the animals. Plants that benefit from bone meal are those that are planted as bulbs. Since bone meal decomposes slowly, you do not need to add it as frequently as manure.

Blood Meal And Fish Emulsion

Both these types of organic plant food are rich in nitrogen which makes them not as usable as the others mentioned above for general kinds of plants. Mushrooms will benefit from these. Blood meal is derived from cow’s blood while fish emulsion is derived from fish that have not passed standards or is on its way to rotting. Both can have a strong smell upon initial application but the smell goes away after a day or two.

Home By Products

Many people use the garbage disposal to get rid of their meal leftovers. Actually many of the leftovers of the foods that we eat can be used to start your own organic plant food source. It is usually the foods that are from plant sources that are ideal to put into a compost heap at the back of your garden but animal sources can also be used if you want. The process is somewhat long and tedious but you can have your own organic plant food heap in just a few months. Ideally the leftovers should be mixed with old dried leaves and then covered with soil. After a month or two you can use your organic plant food for your gardening needs.

What Is Organic About Organic Plants?

August 30th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

The word “organic” is tossed around these days more than a basketball that’s been set on fire. A lot of people confuse the word “organic” with the word “natural”. There are some differences. A natural plant is a plant that grows where it wants to, no matter when any human might think. An organic plant is a plant that has been grown by humans in an area chosen by humans – but does not use man-made products to grow or maintain it.

Holistic Viewpoint

Instead of just looking at an organic garden as the place to grow a desired organic plant, organic gardening tries to consider the impact that organic plant is going to make on the local (and even global) environment. About a hundred years ago, all gardeners were concerned was growing what they wanted on their properties because they owned that property and everyone else be damned.

Now an organic gardener asks himself or herself some questions before planting. How many resources will it take to grow? Are those resources sustainable? Will this organic plant wind up in the food chain? Is this organic plant a domesticated species, native species or introduced species? Will this organic plant play nice with other plants? Will this organic plant kill a native animal, bird or reptile species?

An organic gardener realized that his or her patch is connected to all of the other garden patches in the area. What you do in your patch can have a great affect on other patches. For example, commercial synthesized fertilizers and pesticides wash away with water when they are flooded or over watered. This stuff winds up in the public drinking water supply.

Function Before Fashion

Growing an organic plant might not result in as pretty a garden, but it will result in a garden using less resources to grow and maintain. For example, many people love grass lawns. They have become a kind of status symbol. However, green lawns are purely ornamental and take up vast amounts of labor, water and money.

An organic lawn would be left alone with no weed killer added and dandelions left to proliferate. When mowed due to legal requirements, the clippings would be left on the lawn as natural compost. No extra water would be spent on maintaining the lawn – if it shrivels in the summer, too bad. The water and resources could be put to better use growing native plants, trees, fruits and herbs that do much better in the soil than grass.

Composting For Your Organic Home Garden

August 29th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

The most important part of growing an organic home garden is properly preparing the soil. What you’re trying to do is create a rich, nutrient filled soil without using the aid of chemical products. After all, you want the final product to be as healthy as possible, no matter what you are growing. The best, and most natural way to do this is by starting a compost pile.

Why Compost?

Creating a compost pile is beneficial for many reasons, especially when growing an organic home garden. It’s a way of naturally creating a soil additive that contains all of the nutrients and organisms that are essential to successful gardening. In addition to this, it’s also a way to reduce the amount of trash you have by reusing your garden and kitchen scraps. There are numerous materials that you can naturally recycle in your compost pile.

Getting Started

Long before you begin planting your organic home garden, you will want to create your compost pile. There are about as many different techniques for composting as there are people who do it. Fortunately, composting is not an exact science. You can pile up just about any biodegradable materials, and eventually, it will break down into compost. There are, however, techniques for speeding up the process and maximizing the benefits that this material offers.

There are four basic ingredients in any good compost pile – carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and water. This can be as easy or difficult as you want it to be. There are numerous materials you can use to make your pile, from lawn clippings to kitchen scraps, but you can get these four basic elements by using grass clippings and leaves. Grass clippings will provide the carbon, and you can get nitrogen from adding the leaves that you collect in the fall. Your pile should get enough water from the rain that falls, but you may have to water it occasionally. Try to make the top of your pile slightly concave so that the water doesn’t run off. To get the proper amount of oxygen you simply need to mix or turn your pile from time to time. This will create air pockets that will provide it with the oxygen it needs.

It will generally take several months to get compost that is suitable for your organic home garden, so make sure you begin right away if you are planning to grow one. The more you mix your pile, the faster it will break down. Use caution though, because if you mix it too much, the pile will become to hot and possibly destroy some of the organisms that you need to be successful. A good compost pile will eventually provide your organic home garden with all of the nutrients and bacteria that it needs.

How To Grow An Organic Herb Garden

August 27th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Organic gardening is becoming more and more popular all the time. People are growing almost anything you can think of in these types of gardens. Many gardeners grow their own vegetables and things in these gardens because they believe it will result in a healthier product. Many people also grow their own herbs in organic gardens. The following tips and techniques will help you begin and maintain your own organic herb garden.

Herbs

If you’re fairly new at this, you might be wondering just what type of plants herbs are. There are many useful plants you can include in your organic herb garden. Some have many health and medicinal uses, and some are more fragrant and used for their pleasing aromas. Others are used for flavoring food and even decorations. Whatever you are planning to use them for, it can be very rewarding to raise them yourself in an organic herb garden.

Organic Gardening

Organic gardening is slowly becoming a lost art in many places. This is due to the development of chemical products that are now widely used in all types of gardening. The goal of organic gardening is to simulate the conditions that your plants grow in naturally without the use of these chemical aids. This may take some time to perfect, but in the end, it will result in plants that are healthier and more natural.

The key to creating a successful organic herb garden is properly preparing the soil. Since you won’t be using any chemicals, you need to make sure the soil will contain all of the nutrients that it would have gotten by chemical means. The best way to do this is by creating a compost pile. Basically, you add all of your yard clippings and kitchen scraps to the pile and let it decompose into a rich nutritious substance you can add to your soil.

Starting Your Garden

When your soil is prepared and you’re ready to plant, the best thing to do is purchase some plants that are already started. It may be difficult to find a nursery that supplies plants that have not been treated with some type of chemical. Be patient, and keep searching, otherwise you’re defeating the purpose of creating and organic herb garden. If you need to, you can also grow your own starter plants from seed. You can start them in pots inside, and then transplant them to your outdoor garden when they are ready.

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