Tag: Beetles

Some Organic Gardening Advice

Most people who cultivate their own gardens miss the fact that the whole gardening activity is actually a good opportunity for strengthening family bonds. Organic gardening should be a family activity enjoyed from the parents to the youngest sibling. Therefore, our first organic gardening advice for gardeners is to engage the whole family to make the experience more meaningful and worthwhile.

For gardening, it has been popular lately for growers to go organic especially with regards to growing vegetables. People are looking for a healthy lifestyle and eating vegetables free from toxins of chemical fertilizers and insecticides are becoming more and more the ideal.

If youre just starting out, or if its your first time planting a garden and you encounter problems like weeds and pests, you might have this inclination to go to the store and get yourself a can of chemical herbicide and pesticide. Dont succumb to this internal need to spray to kill. Most of the time, you garden dont even need such strong chemicals in the first place. All they need is some assistance from you and they will grow fine. For simple weeds, you just need to pull them out by hand especially when they are still just sprouting out of the soil. By removing them while they are young, your plants can grow stronger and in time will be strong enough that weeds or no weeds, it doesnt matter.

The same goes with pests. When you see some bugs in your garden, some damage on the leaves, or a few flying beetles here and there, dont be alarmed and drop that can of pesticide spray. Remember that by using pesticides to your gardens, youre killing not only the pests but the beneficial insects as well.

Beneficial insects? There are insects that feed on fellow insects or other animals whose diet consists of insects. If you allow the beneficial insects to enter your garden or allow friendly animals in, the percentage of damage from other insects will be at a minimum. Also, you wont have to deal with insects growing immune to chemical pesticides.

If things, however, still do not improve and your garden plants are receiving more and more damage from pests, what you can do is to apply environment friendly concoctions that you know off to effectively drive the insects away from your priced plants. A diluted mix of water and soap has proved to be quite ingenious way of getting rid of those pesky pests.

What you can do is mix a tablespoon of liquid dish soap into a half gallon of water and spray the solution to your garden. Bear in mind that this is not a very powerful one unlike most pesticides. You will have to spray the garden a couple of times to make this homemade solution to work.

Another useful piece of advice: as much as possible, get your seeds from organic workers. This will ensure that your seeds will grow into free from disease making a better chance to provide a good harvest.

Also, another good organic gardening advice is to plant your garden directly to the ground. Although creating a garden from containers is highly possible and can really be successful, you will eventually need to take care of your plants more often when they are placed in garden containers. Your plants will eventually outgrow its containers and will require more time to maintain and care for.

Pests in Organic Gardening? No need to worry

If youre into organic gardening, there are a number of things that you need to consider and one of them is a very interesting one: if you see a bug, its not the end of the world, or in this case your garden, as you know it. A bug doesnt mean you have a problem. A pest in organic gardening is only normal. But there are times that one bug becomes a pair, and then more bugs join in forming a small group, and then eventually the population of the insects will grow beyond your control. Only at this point, you are allowed to panic and be paranoid. Im just kidding you on that last statement. You should follow the opposite. Be calm, carefully observe the insects, look at the damage they cause, and then properly consider your course of action.

Among the most common pests that will bug your garden are ants, aphids, armyworms, cabbageworms, grasshoppers, slugs and snails, pillbugs, spider mites, whitefly, thrips, and all sorts of beetles.

Controlling your pests the organic way has a number of benefits. First, the use of chemical pesticides can cause a number of diseases and other health problems including but not limited to infertility, birth defects, cancer, allergies, encephalitis and even lymphoma. Aside from that, chemical based pesticides can damage the water, soil, air, and other animals as well.

Not to mention, that pesticides can be quite hefty to your wallet. There are cheaper alternatives which you can easily get from your kitchen.

You can manage your organic garden by paying particular attention to your plants itself. Try and understand how specific insects affect different plants. The asparagus beetle for instance can be quite damaging to your cultivated asparagus vegetables so you need to watch out for those earlier on.

Also, a tip that most organic farmers give is to plant native varieties as much as possible. Native plant species usually have their own systems to repel common pests. By planting local varieties, you will have a bigger success rate when harvest time comes to an end.

It is a good thing to mix plants species among other varieties. Each plant has their own unique abilities to protect themselves from the onslaught of pests. By placing them in the same area, they will be able to help each other out when pests start invading their town.

A healthy soil is important as well. It has been found out that healthy soils attract fewer pests. You can achieve and maintain a healthy soil by crop rotation, adding of composts or other animal or plant based fertilizers like manure.

You can also time your planting season to avoid the weeks or months where bugs are at their peak.

Be aware that there are friendly bugs out there that will help you control other pests. Ladybugs and ground beetles are some insects that are very helpful in control pests. If you use chemical fertilizers, the good bugs will also get caught in the crossfire.

Again a pest in organic gardening is a natural phenomenon that cannot be totally avoided. You will eventually come across pests and therefore should be prepared to address the situation with a clear mind and a serious disposition. Be prepared to do the dirty jobs as well. If you see one bug, just pick it off your plant. Its crude, I know, but it still remains an effective means to eliminate pests in your garden.

Organic Gardening Supplies

Organic farming is the trend these days and farmers and hobbyists are getting into it. This is because it is cheap and environment friendly compared to inorganic farming so the first thing you have to do is get some organic gardening supplies.

Organic gardening supplies consist of many things. In fact, the number one which you have to get is compost because this helps condition the soil, enhances beneficial soil microbes, neutralizes soil pH and provides a range of nutrients.

You can also use waste in the home to make compost. You can use cut weeds, dead leaves, manure, fruit, and vegetable and meat waste products. This helps restore the soil and at the same time cuts down the amount of garbage that is dumped into our landfills.

Next, you will have to get the seeds which you will plant into the ground. Before these are purchased, you have to check which ones are ideal to your existing environment. For that, you can do some research or ask the sales clerk at the store.

But what if you want to buy plants that are already grown? When you are selecting them from the store, make sure they are short and sturdy with only a few flowers. Pay attention to the leaves so you will avoid buying those that are discolored or wilted.

The biggest threat to organic gardening is the pest so you will need various things to protect it. These include bird netting, floating row covers, sticky traps and some insects of your own. For instance, ladybugs eat aphids. If this is not available, another option is to buy beetles instead.

You can also use toads and birds to kill pests that threaten your garden. You simply have to make a home for them by putting a bird house or a bond so they become part of your home.

If you happen to encounter caterpillars and insect larvae, use microbial insecticides. Horticultural oils can also do the trick. They break down quickly and pose little toxicity to humans or pets.

Another threat that grows in between your crops is the weed. You can pull them from the ground but since they keep coming back, you can spray them with horticultural vinegar or drop corn meal gluten granules. This corn by product prevents weeds from germinating and releases nitrogen into the soil. This should be applied during early spring or fall when most weeds come out.

You can also use fish or seaweed based liquid based fertilizers as it also releases nitrogen, phosphate and potash that is good for your crops.

Organic gardening supplies can be purchased at the local store or online. Aside from compost, seeds, fertilizers and pots, some even offer advice and tips like telling gardeners not to plant during a warm day and instead do this at night or when you know it is about to rain. The reason is not because you will get a tan but because new plants need a lot of water.

So, make sure you have everything ready before you plant anything. This will save you time so you will be able to harvest your crops and plant new ones.

If you want to live a healthier life, you better go organic. It will save some money and be fun at the same time as long as this is done properly with the right organic gardening supplies by your side.