Your children can help you with your garden. Toiling together in the garden brings your family closer together and offers many different opportunities to learn new things and instill green values.
Organic gardening can be a majorly relaxing hobby, or a major headache. If you want to be a great organic gardener, follow these hints.
Using a solution of aspirin and water can prevent certain plant diseases. Dissolve aspirin (1.5 pills per 2 gallons of water) in a bucket and administer to your plants. Simply spray your plants with the mixture, and this will help them fend off various diseases. Try to apply the mixture to the plants at least once in each three week period.
It can be extremely fast and easy to plant perennials into your garden. Slice under the grass with a spade, flip the layer you have lifted over, and spread three inches of wood chips on top. Wait two weeks, then dig in and plant the new perennials.
For in-home organic gardeners, you are looking for an ideal temperature of around 60-75 degrees for your plants. Young plants need a temperature within that specific range to grow. If there are times during the year when you would prefer not to have the temperature that high, another solution you can utilize is to purchase heat lamps for your organic plants.
Flower Beds
Pine mulch can be highly effective under the right conditions. There are many common acidic plants that prefer acidic soil. If you are growing these types of plants, simply gather up fallen pine needles for use in your garden. Go ahead and cover the beds you have with needles a couple of inches and while they decompose, they actually disperse some acid into the soil.
For your flower beds, organic material should be used as mulch. Two or three inches should be enough. Not only will you be adding nutrients, but weeds will be less likely to grow and moisture will be retained more easily. By adding mulch, you can give your flower beds a finished appearance.
When developing your compost pile, use equal measures of dried and green material. Green plant material can include old flowers, fruit waste, grass clippings, vegetable waste, and leaves. Dry materials, like sawdust, cut up wood pieces, cardboard, straw and shredded paper are good for your compost pile. Don’t include ashes, diseased plants, charcoal meat, or carnivorous animal waste.
Store a few plastic bags near your garden to slip on over your dirty gardening shoes. This helps you stay in the zone so that you can continue gardening when you have completed your tasks in the house.
Create raised beds with stone, brick or untreated wood. If you choose wood, ensure that it has not been treated with a sealant or other chemicals. Some good choices include locust, cypress, and cedar. If you use treated wood in your vegetable garden, the chemicals in the wood can make their way into the soil, and in turn, to your crops. If you have to use treated wood, you should line it with a bit of plastic to create a barrier.
Add used coffee grounds to your soil. Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plant growth. It is best for your plants to use coffee grounds that are part of a blend of ingredients in the compost or soil you are using for your plants, rather than directly adding coffee grounds to your garden plants.
Add mulch to your garden to improve the vitality of the soil. The soil will be efficiently protected. It keeps the soil cool on very hot days, thus protecting the roots in the ground. Since it decreases the rate at which moisture evaporates, the soil also stays more moist. It also doubles as weed control.
When you are planning on growing a garden, you should think about the space you will need to provide a healthy growing area for your plants. Leave a little more space than you think your full grown plant will need to make up for overgrowth. Space is necessary not only for physical growth but also to help keep air circulation flowing within your garden. Plan your organic garden while keeping this in mind, and space your seeds accordingly, when planting.
Gardening of any type can be a great hobby that helps you to feel more at one with the earth, but organic gardening is especially good at this. When you grow organic, you will learn much more about the planting and growing process, from A to Z.
Do you want to kill weeds naturally? Use several layers of newspapers for weed control. Weeds require sunlight to continue growing. When you place layers of newspapers on top of them, the weeds will suffocate from the lack of light. The paper will break down quickly and cleanly, adding to your compost. Put mulch over top to increase the attractiveness of the pile.
Grow some garlic that is organic. You can place garlic cloves directly into the moist, fertile soil during spring or autumn months. Plant each bulb at least four inches from each other. Bury them about two inches in the soil with their pointed end facing up. Cut the green garlic shoots and use them as a substitute for chives or scallions. You will know when to harvest the garlic, because the tops will gradually turn brown. You should dry them outside in a sunny spot for a couple of days to harden the skin. Finally, store the garlic in an area with low temperatures like a pantry, either by themselves or tied into bunches.
As illustrated above, there is more to becoming a successful organic gardener than most people first imagine. Getting your organic garden to produce rich results requires much effort and patience, but you will find the end results quite worth it. Utilizing the advice provided in this article will definitely help you improve your organic gardening techniques.
Add mulch into your garden, you want to use at the very least organic material of three inches. The soil will be nourished and will be able to retain more moisture. Also, weeds won’t grow as easily and the whole area will more professional.