At its root there's a lot of overlap between organic gardening and sustainable gardening - organic gardening seeks to minimise the use of man-made chemicals and industrial agriculture techniques, while sustainable gardening seeks to minimise long-term detrimental environmental impact. This is not quite the same thing despite a large overlap in techniques used, though on a systemic level the impact on the environment are similar between the two.
Organic gardening requires considerably more planning than regular gardening, but with the right combination of plants, land use management and biological pest control it can involve a lot less manual labour than regular gardening techniques.
Organic Garden Fertilizer
All gardens need fertilizer, but organic gardening presents a bit more of a challenge as the goal is to not use chemicals for fertilization.
Luckily there are plenty of things you can use for an organic garden fertilizer that are good for the environment as well as your plants.One thing you want to do first, though, is to have your soil tested. How do you know what type of fertilizer is needed if you dont know the quality of your soil in the first place? You can usually bring a soil sample to your local garden center and find out what types of nutrients it is lacking.There are 3 main nutrients needed in a good fertilizer - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Most organic fertilizers are high in one but low in the other two, so a balance needs to be made between the 3. The exception to this is probably manure, whichis more balanced in all 3 nutrients but doesnt really have a high nutrient content to begin with.Some people consider compost to be a good organic garden fertilizer, but I consider it to be more of a soil conditioner. It does have nutrients, and I do think it is important to till it into your soil, but I also think you need to use a fertilizer in addition.Organic fertilizers actually need the organisms in the soil to break down the nutrients. For this reason, they require moist warm soil.But they also might not work as quickly as your plants need them so you need to apply them early. On the other hand, because they do break down slowly, you run less of a risk of the plants burning from too much fertilizer.There are plenty of organic fertilizers that you can buy for your garden. You can get anything from rooster poop to fish emulsion. The thing you need to keep in mind is the particular nutrient that it is high in and the crops you intend to grow. Different plants, at different stages will need more of different nutrients. For example, lettuce family plants, leeks and onions prefer a fertilizer high in nitrogen. Root crops like potatoes and carrots like to have phosphorus. Tomatoes and fruits like a lot of potassium.Using a good organic fertilizer will help your plants thrive. Check with our local garden center to see what they have on hand for the kinds of vegetables you will be planting, then sit back and watch your garden grow!Organic Gardening Compost - Tips For Perfect Soil Conditioner
Making your own compost is a great way to have a nutrient rich conditioner for the soil in your organic garden and it really isnt that difficult to do. In fact, making organic gardening compost can be very rewarding since you are using things that might have gone in the trash to add life to your garden. Its recycling at its best!
You can buy composting bins or you can simply make a pile in your yard. One thing you want to be sure of is that you set aside a specific place for your compost pile. You need to be able to access it readily as you will have to turn the pile periodically, unless you have a specially made device that uses tray or has a turning mechanism.
You want to include a good variety of kitchen scraps as well as leaves and clipping from your yard and garden. Be sure to only include organic scraps from the kitchen else you might pass on some toxins or pesticides from your non organic foods. Also, dont add any diseased plants to the pile as it could carry through and infect your garden when you add the compost. Dont use any meats or animal fat or bones as this could attract animals to your compost pile.
When starting an organic gardening compost pile, you need to include both green and brown materials in a certain ratio. The green materials include vegetable peelings, garden cuttings and grass clippings. The brown include things like leaves, hay, eggshells and tea bags. Basically, the green materials are live things that contain a lot of nitrogen. The brown materials are dead things which contain a lot of carbon. When added to the pile in a certain ration, the carbon rich and nitrogen rich materials help the pile break down faster. Basically, you want about 3 times as much brown materials as green.
When you start to make your pile, add brown, then green in layers with the brown layers being larger, of course than the greens. As you add each layer, pour on some water - not too much but about enough to make the material about as wet as a damp sponge. Then let it sit for a few days.
You need to turn your compost pile about once a week. Letting the air get in is critical to the composting process. Some people put in bulky materials like straw to allow for some air inside the pile. When you are turning the pile, you will notice that it is much hotter in the middle, sometimes you can even see steam coming off it in the cool of the morning. This is a good sign - it means all the microbes are at work turning your kitchen and yard waste into nutrient packed fertilizer!
So, how do you know when your compost is ready?
The organic gardening compost is ready to mix with your soil when it doesnt look like a rotting pile of scraps anymore. Somewhere during
the process, it will turn into rich, dark, crumbly material that has a pleasant earthy smell. At this point, you can take it and mix it in with your soil
Bonsai Gardening Secrets. Discover Over 95 Pages Of Insider Secrets To Creating Stunning Bonsai Trees. Click Here!
Worlds Best Compost. Make The Worlds Ultimate Natural Fertilizer, Colloidal Humus, Without Bins, Turning Or Odor. Click Here!
The Complete Grape Growing System. A Complete System With E-book And Audio Book To Help You Grow Grapes The Correct Way. Click Here!
How To Start Beekeeping. Want To Start Beekeeping? This New EBook Reveals It All. Start Keeping Bees This Season! Click Here!
Orchid Care Expert - A Practical Guide. The Most Practical Guide To Orchid Care To Be Found On The Internet. Click Here!
Organic Food Gardening Beginners Manual. 87 Page Step-by-step Gardening Manual For Beginners To Learn How To Grow Their Own Healthy, Organic Food - Saving Money And Eating Chemical Free! Great Bonuses With This E-manual. Revised Edition Just Released.
Click Here!
Forceful Orchid Fertilizers: Homemade Recipes. Know How To Feed Your Orchids To Quickly Get Astonishing Results. Click Here!
The Hypertufa How-To Manual. 100 Page EBook On How To Make Garden Art Objects From Hypertufa. Easy To Follow Instructions & Expert Advice. Click Here!
Homemade Hydroponics. Hydroponics Secrets Shows You How To Grow The Plants, Fruits And Vegetables -even In Limited Space--without Using Soil. Pays 75% Commission With Excellent Conversion Rates. Click Here!
Bonsai Gardening Secrets. Discover Over 95 Pages Of Insider Secrets To Creating Stunning Bonsai Trees. Click Here!
Forceful Insecticides Home Made Formula. Discover Secret Informations That Big Multinationals Dont Want You To Know! Click Here!
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Organic gardening
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment