Tag: Growing Plants

Organic Gardening Compost: Saves You Money and Helps Save the

Organic Gardening Compost: Saves You Money and Helps Save the Earth

Synthetic fertilizers are out and organic gardening compost is the in thing with farmers who are trying out the holistic way in planting.

Organic Gardening
With organic gardening, farmers are going back to the most basic way of growing plants and trees and that is by being one with nature. The latter phrase meaning that they no longer use artificial fertilizers and the commercially available pesticides, but instead rely on the natural environment to be able to grow produce.

Organic Gardening Compost
Compost is the mixture of decaying plants, animal manure or other organic materials that is being used as a fertilizer. While nature can work on compost by itself, men can speed up the process by using the equation air plus water, carbon, then nitrogen is equal to compost.

Composting in Simpler Terms
Don’t be overwhelmed by the word equation stated above. This is not really a complex thing. This can actually be done in a simple and step-by-step ways.

Hot Compost
While others opt to burn fallen leaves, such is wealth for gardeners as this is the start of their composting process. The first thing they have to do is to bag those leaves. Clipped grass from mowed surfaces can also be put in the bag.

To bring in oxygen and a quantity of water enough to dampen the leaves systematically, put several holes near the bag’s top and at its bottom. The holes will also let the carbon dioxide out and excess water as well. Pour in about two shovelful of garden soil into the bag where the leaves are, then shake it to mix the contents. Or if not possible, just roll the bag thoroughly.

Mixing should be done on a schedule after every other week. Check on the leaves and pour water to moisten those if they’ve dried out. In about two to three months, alas, your compost is ready. The contents of the bag that look like dark and flaky stuff are your compost.

To use that dark and flaky stuff as a fertilizer for your plants, put an inch thick layer on the soil’s top layer. That will then be absorbed by the plants. It actually acts as fertilizer and at the same time pesticide and can even prevent weeds from growing. It also contributes in conserving water as your plants won’t need as much.

To be able to come up with the same output at lesser time, you can also try shredding the leaves first before sacking it all up.

Cold Compost
The difference between cold and hot compost is that the first is easier to do than the latter which takes more effort.

Cold compost can be done by simply gathering wastes from your own backyard, may it be leaves, grass clippings and weeds, then piling them up. Allow a period of six to twenty-four months for earthworms and other microorganisms break the stuff down. While waiting, you can add up materials to your pile. In this scenario, the stuff at the bottom decomposes first.

But aside from the long wait, this type of compost is not as effective as the hot compost. It cannot kill weeds and pathogens. Also, before using such, you should screen out for undecomposed materials from the pile.

Whatever you may choose between the two, you’re still on the winning side by using organic gardening compost because not only you are saving up money but more so, you are helping out conserve and clean our environment.

Organic Gardening is Perfect for Mother Nature

Organic Gardening is perfect for you and perfect for the environment. With the world’s problem now with global warming, one must wonder and suggest ways of helping find answers to such. Big or small, everybody can have their share in the solution.

Organic farming may be one because it is like recycling what is already available in the environment to be able to produce the greens. The gardener is helping the environment by growing plants and more so, by helping in diminishing waste in a natural way.

Synthetic is Out
With organic gardening, one must rely only on his/her ability and on whatever nature has for them to be able to come up with the crops. This requires more work, patience and long hours and trial and error procedures on the part of the farmers but once they see the results, they won’t feel bad at all.

With organic farming, the gardeners depend on the environment to supplement their crops. For example, composting fallen leaves, clipped grass, animal manures and other resources would create fertilizers. In making compost, one may opt to do it by oneself, periodically checking on the compost to see if it needs more water to it, or more materials should be added on it. Or they may just pile up what others may consider as trash and let nature, the microorganisms, earthworms and the soil itself do the composting naturally.

The latter is easier to do but takes longer period of time and the result will not be as good as the compost done the way that was first discussed. A good compost will serve as the plant’s fertilizer and likewise a pesticide. If you opt to do the latter, make sure to use only the decomposed materials from the pile so as to come up with better use of such with your crops.

Choose Your Plants
In organic gardening, it is best to know first the condition of the environment that you are in. Study the soil and weather before choosing the right produce fit for your site. This way, it will not be as hard maintaining the crops.

Gardening Systems
There are certain terms in organic gardening that has evolved through time because this is being done since the early years.

Rudolf Steiner quoted Biodynamic farming. While a no-till approach for small time production of grains was invented by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese writer and at the same time, a farmer. This he also called the Natural Farming. Other gardening techniques for small scale production are the French Intensive, Biointensive and Small Plot Intensive kinds of farming.

The abovementioned are formal organic farming systems that have specific requirements and techniques.

Gardening Tools
To complete your gardening set-up, you would have to have tools. Now don’t be swept by the oh-so-many fancy gardening tools that are available in the market. Some are just to fancy as to having a real use with what you really need to do.

But to start with your organic experience, you might want to try having some or all of the following. A folding saw with a rubber handle is recommended as long as its blade is replaceable. A Moth-Blocker will be most beneficial, on the other hand, for crops like that cauliflower and broccoli because this will hinder the moths from laying its eggs on the produce. A Row Cover or Shade Fabric can be bought or can be done at home if you know how to do such. This will provide the needed shade for your plants. Of course, you have to invest on a good digging tool because you will need this a lot, just like a hat, which you should also have to protect yourself from the sun’s rays.

With everything ready and with the proper information that you are now equipped with, organic gardening is perfect so you may want to start with it as soon as possible. Mother Nature will surely thank you for doing so.

Planning Before Planting Vegetable Gardens

In periods of financial difficulty, planting vegetable gardens becomes a viable option that achieves two things: it helps the family reduce expenses related to buying food, and it offers the opportunity to sell excess yield to friends and neighbours. Starting a vegetable garden is not particularly difficult, for so long as you put enough thought, time, and effort.

The first decision you have to make is the location of the vegetable garden. You must place this vegetable garden in an area where it is exposed to at least 6 hours of sunlight. The location must also be near where you will source the water you will use to water the plants. It must be near enough for you to make a short trip if you are carrying a pail of water, or it must be near enough to be easily accessible to the hose you will connect to a faucet inside your home. Also, check if the area has soil conducive for growing plants. It must have good drainage, and must be free of silt, stones, and other hard objects. Lastly, the location of your vegetable garden must be somewhere accessible, so that you can frequently check for pests and weeds when you walk by.

Included in your plans should be the sort of plants that you intend to plant, and how many of them you intend to grow. This will help determine the size of the plot you will need. Afterwards, make a list of all the plants you want to grow in your garden. This decision cannot be completely random, especially because the yield of the garden will be what you will consume as a family. Make sure to plant vegetables that your family would love to eat, or vegetables that you often use for cooking. This way, you are ensured of a direct benefit from growing your own vegetable garden.

Make a plan for the arrangement of the vegetable plants in the garden as well. The first consideration is the frequency of yield. Perennial plants, or those who yield vegetables for constantly throughout the year must be placed at the back of the garden, where it will be undisturbed by whatever gardening activities you may have in the rest of the garden. Put the crops that produce early yield together. These crops include radishes, spinach, carrots, beets, and the like. Make some space for replanting successively. Once these crops have seen their yield, you can plant in their place crops that produce yield later in the season.

The last consideration for arrangement is the reality that there are plants that cannot grow beside other plants. For instance, there are those plants that enhance the growth of another when planted together; there are those that inhibit the other. It is important to take into consideration which crops inhibit the growth of the other. For instance, potatoes are capable of inhibiting the growth of both squash and tomato plants. Broccoli also inhibits tomato growth. Beans, on the other hand, inhibit the growth of onions. Carrots also inhibit the growth of dill plants. This does not stop you from planting all these plants in the garden. This only acts as a reminder of which plants you should separate from the other when planting vegetable gardens.