Still, eco-friendly is a great choice and one that I heartily agree with, especially when it comes to gardening.  I often shudder when I see those signs, “stay off the lawn, pesticide use,” and I think of all the hours of enjoyment that will be missed simply because someone sprayed their lawn.

If you are eco-friendly, or trying to go eco-friendly, here are is a handy organic tip on weed control that will keep you and your garden happy and healthy.

Weed Control:

I remember one year my garden became overrun with dandelions.  I was in hell.  Not because of the dandelions, nope I’m actually quite fond of this sunny little weed, but because of my over zealous neighbors who, I was positive, were casting hexes my way on a daily basis.  Two long days were spent going over the lawn on my hands and knees and digging out the dandelions.  I had a huge stack to toss into the compost by the time I was finished and my neighbors smiled at me in what appeared to be relief. 

Unfortunately, not even a week after my adventures in weeding and the neighbor across the street, who could care less about how the neighbors felt, allowed his lawn of dandelions to mature and I watched in horror as they spread across my lawn again.

Now I take a completely relaxed view of dandelions and the only time you see me out there pulling them out is when I’m harvesting a treat for my son’s bunny. 

Of course, this probably doesn’t offer you much advice right there but the most organic way to control weeds is to dig them out.  Yes, it’s hard work and probably one of the worst jobs in gardening but it has to be done.

Now, the alternative to digging out weeds in places other than your lawn, is to use an old piece of carpet or a piece of black polyethylene.  All you need to do is place the strip over the weed(s) and leave it.  The lack of light will eventually kill the weed and it is not a next day cure to weeds.  Generally, you need to wait several months for all the roots to die but in the end, if the patch of weeds was large enough, you save yourself the backache and the planet from chemicals.

Sirena Van Schaik

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A Growing Trend

Each year more and more people are becoming more conscious of what kind of damage things like pesticides and growth hormones that are being used on the foods that we eat. We are starting to worry about what affect those kinds of man made products have on are own bodies after we consume the food. Since many of these products are relatively new we don’t know what kind of harmful side affects they might have. In an effort to preserve their health many people are turning to organic products. The problem with foods that are organically grown is that they are considerably more expensive then products that are not certified as organically grown. The high price of the food is enough to make people wonder what is organic gardening and why is it so expensive?

Organic Gardening

When people are told a meal is grown in an organic garden, many of them wonder exactly what an organic garden is and what is organic gardening? When farmers are able to produce food products without using the benefit of commercially produced pesticides, fertilizers, and growth hormones they are said to be growing their produce in an organic manner. If a farmer is committed to organic farming is can go through a series of test and inspections and eventually be certified to advertise their produce as organically grown.

If a person were to look up what is organic gardening they would find that the literal definition of organic gardening is a method for growing a garden while using materials derived from living things.

Tools Of The Organic Gardener

When a person knows what is organic gardening they will be able to identify if they are in the home of an organic gardener just by looking for a few key things. One of the things to look for is a compost heap.  An organic gardener needs to have a way to fertilize their garden, and according to the laws of organic farming that fertilizer must be derived from living things, the best way to get that type of fertilizer is to build their own compost heap. Not only is the compost heap an excellent way to create fertilizer for an organic garden it is also a wonderful way to dispose of table scraps. Another tool to look for when you are around an organic gardener is a pitchfork. The pitchfork will probably be kept near the compost pile. Organic farmers use the pitchfork to turn their compost heap.

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What Is Indoor Organic Gardening Anyway?

Simply put, indoor organic gardening is the indoor cultivation of plants without using synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Organic gardeners focus on every phase of a plant’s life and every component that goes into a plant’s health, from the water and soil to the climate and insect life. Applied to indoor gardening, organic gardening means that artificial lights are permitted, but artificial fertilizers and pesticides are not.

Organic Gardening With Indoor Herbs

One of the easiest ways to get started with organic indoor gardening is to culinary herbs indoors. Growing herbs is fun and easy to do, and you can use herbs for recipes in your kitchen, for homeopathic healing remedies, and for room-freshening potpourris and sachets.

Herbs need well-drained soil, so use an organic soil mix made for cactus or other plants that thrive in dry weather. Put your herbs in a south-facing window where they can get four to five hours of bright sunlight every day. During the winter, you may need to supplement the light by using fluorescent lights for up to 12 hours a day.

Inspect the leaves of your herbs often for signs of pest damage. If you find aphids or other leaf-eating animals on your herbs, pick them off and drown the bugs in tap water. Spray the infested plants with a diluted insecticidal soap, being sure to coat both the top and the underside of the leaves.

Organic Indoor Gardening Fertilizers

Fortunately, many organic fertilizers are available for use in indoor gardens. The ingredients organic fertilizers are made from often don’t sound or smell very pretty, but they are chemical-free, and they will produce amazing results in your indoor organic garden.

Fish fertilizer is a liquid made of bits and pieces of seagoing fish. Mix it with water according to the instructions on the container, and water your indoor plants with it. Fish fertilizer has a strong fishy smell, but the odor disappears soon after the soil dries.

Bone meal and blood meal are byproducts of the meat business. These fertilizers come in powdered form and should be stirred in to the top surface of the soil.

Indoor Gardening With Organic Pesticides

Regular plant inspections are the mainstay of indoor organic gardening. It’s best to spot problems, including pest infestations, early, before they get out of hand. Keep insects away from plants by lighting citronella candles regularly. Flying insects don’t like the scent of citronella oil in the air. Kill crawling insects by adding one teaspoon of dishwashing detergent to a quart of water. Pour the solution into a spray bottle, and spray the plant thoroughly, including the underside of the leaves.

Indoor organic gardening is fun, easy to do, and good for your plants and the environment.

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Individuals who wish to start their very own organic gardening system can do so by initially planning where to put up there garden. The area needs to have some form of exposure to sunlight at least for half a day. The area for organic gardening also needs to have easy access to water. The area also needs to drain well enough that the water does not pool around the plants promoting soggy roots and water damage.

Other things to consider for organic gardening are the soil that you intend to use for organic gardening and the mulch that you will need to fertilize your soil with. In most cases, the soil to be used for organic gardening might lack some minerals needed for better growth of plants. A few weeks before you start your garden, it is best to integrate the soil with mulch made from organic matter. You can even create your very own mulch to use for your garden.

Organic gardening also needs organic fertilizer for your plants. You can make use of kitchen wastes, dried up leaves and other organic matter like sawdust. Pile these in your yard to decompose. You can also cover the organic materials with soil to hasten decomposition. Organic gardening fertilizer needs to be made up from natural organic products not chemical based ones.

Keeping out pests and weeds may need vigilance and dedication on your part. You can carefully look out for pests daily and take them out of the garden. Encourage the growth of other insects that can control pests. Organic gardening control for weeds can also be the use of a plastic sheet that you spread out over you garden. Poke holes where your plants can go through but cover the soil surrounding your plants. Weeds can not grow easily without sunlight.

The benefits of organic gardening are numerous and mainly concern our health and that of the environment. Organic gardens also help us save money by providing natural fruits and vegetables year round for our consumption.

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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.

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Organic gardening and farming has many advantages. First, it reduces the amount of harmful chemicals in our food, second, it helps product the earth, and third, it is more sustainable compared to most conventional agricultural practices. Note that organic gardening and farming promotes the restoration of the natural fertility of the soil by using compost and other organic matters instead of chemicals. This practice is considered as more sustainable and environment friendly.

Setting Up Your Organic Garden And Farm

You do not really need hundreds of acres of land to go into organic gardening and farming. In fact, if you live in the countryside and you have some space in your backyard, you can already start doing some organic gardening and farming. You can start by planting some vegetables and herbs. Select varieties of vegetables and herbs that are resistant to pest and diseases. To find these kinds of vegetable and herbs, read a few books about organic gardening and farming. Most of books about organic gardening and farming offer list of plants that thrive well on different conditions.

When cultivating your organic garden, do crop rotation. Crop rotation simply means that you plant different types of vegetables and herbs every season. Crop rotation is very important to keep the fertility of the soil and to prevent certain types of plant diseases. According to experts, certain types of crops have different nutrient requirements compared to others. To give the soil a chance to recover before the next planting cycle, you should not plant the same type of crops twice in arrow.

Organic growers often practice certain crop rotation cycle. To make things easier for you, do some research on the commonly practiced crop rotation cycle and then apply this cycle when you do your own organic gardening and farming.

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Organic gardening classes should instruct the students to produce and use mulches, compost and natural fertilizers such as manure to grow vibrant plants.  Organic gardening classes will also help students learn about natural soil care that should eliminate harmful insects and other pests that often damage these wonderful plants.  Organic gardening classes are now instructing many students who have been most successful using the latest techniques.  The students who complete these classes often enjoy the challenge of growing great plants without the ordinary techniques that are often used.  There are now organic gardening classes throughout the United States and in many other countries that will teach dedicated gardeners the latest techniques to grow wonderful plants.

Organic Gardening Classes Provide For Planting And Maintaining Gardens

Organic gardening classes will begin with the basics and then move on to more detailed instructions.  Students can start with one course to see if their interest is truly with this subject.  A basic course that will get people started is usually about six sessions.  One lesson is needed just to learn the basic terms for these methods are relatively new to most people.  These gardening classes often start with soils which are the bases for growing any plants.  The students will learn about all of the qualities of great soil.  They will also learn about some of the pests and substances that can contaminate soil and restrict the growth of plants.

These gardening classes will help students to develop great soils with plenty of nutrients but without the pests that inhibit growth.  Students will also learn about the organisms and bugs that might be beneficial to the growth of plants.  Students will learn about planting the right plants in the right soil for optimum growth.  These courses usually get into the weeds.  There are some great substances for weed control, but many of these are chemical mixtures that are not desirable for organic gardeners.  Organic gardening classes will help students control weeds without artificial or chemical substances.

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What Is An Organic Garden Store?

Organic gardening is growing a garden and using only natural things that once came from the earth to keep them healthy. Organic farmers like to use animal waste to keep replace the nutrients their crops take from the earth. People who are growing organic gardens are often growing the gardens in their backyards and don’t have ready access to livestock waste as well as other tools necessary for organic gardening. People with organic gardens in their backyards rely on organic garden stores for their gardening supplies.

The Advantage of an Organic Garden Store

Although most gardening stores carry products for organic gardening amongst their other gardening supplies most organic gardeners prefer shopping at an organic garden store because they don’t have to read ingredient labels which adds a considerable amount of time to the shopping experience. A second advantage to an organic garden store is that all of the other customers and all of the employees are also organic gardeners. This provides an instant network of people that know all the ins and outs of organic gardening. Shopping at a gardening center that is full of knowledgeable people when you are first starting your organic garden is extremely helpful.

Most garden stores and nurseries sell some young plants that gardeners purchase, take home, and plant in their backyard garden. These plants are pre-started to accommodate parts of the country where the growing season is to short to grow vegetables from seeds. According to the laws of organic gardening, these young plants must have been started in organic conditions, with only natural fertilizers and no man made pesticides. One of the best ways to make sure that your young garden plants are genuinely organic is to purchase them from an organic garden store. The owners of organic garden stores go to great lengths to make sure that seeds and plants that they sell all come from certified organic nurseries. In addition to making sure that the young plants were organically grown they will also make sure you are purchasing a healthy plant.

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Recent news stories tell us that nutritious vegetables like spinach are contaminated with bacteria from factory farm animal waste, and that the average American child is exposed to cancer-causing pesticides four times as much as an average adult. Pesticides are also associated with birth defects, genetic mutations, and nerve damage.

It’s time to start thinking about buying produce grown locally, from small organic farmers, or about starting your own organic garden. Before we get into the organic gardening supplies you’re going to need, let’s be sure we’re on the same page about what the term “organic” means.

What Is Organic Produce?

Organic produce is food that is not grown in sewage sludge or raw manure. Organic food has not been exposed to synthetic fertilizers, weed killers (herbicides) or bug killers (pesticides).  Organic food is not genetically engineered or irradiated. It contains no antibiotics, no growth hormones, and no synthetic preservatives.

Organic Gardening Supplies

The kind of gardening you plan to do will determine the kind of organic gardening supplies you need. If you are going to be taking care of an organic lawn, you need a push reel mower, organic lawn fertilizers, and organic weed control products.

If you want to grow herbs, flowers, and vegetables, the organic gardening supplies you will need include organic dry and liquid fertilizers, and sprayers or pumps to apply them with; soil pH and test kits; soil amendments; heirloom flower, herb, and vegetable seeds; organic seeds; compost bins; and plant propagation supplies.

Organic Gardening Supply Gadgets

There are plenty of optional supplies to make organic gardening more fun, or to expand your organic gardening practices.

Rain Barrels

Use a downspout diverter to save the rain water that flows into your roof gutters in 60 gallon rain barrels. These attractive, food-grade barrels automatically store water every time it rains.

Lawn Aerator Sandals

Strap on a pair of these lawn aerator sandals and drive 1-1/2″ steel spikes into your lawn. Aerating your lawn literally breathes new life into it, as you form new channels for water, air, sun, and nutrients to reach the roots of your grass.

Butterfly House

Attract and retain butterflies with a handsome, hand-shingled cypress butterfly house with a solid copper roof. Enjoy watching the copper change color naturally. This is one of those organic gardening supplies that looks more like a work of art.

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Leave It Lay

Whenever possible, leave fallen leaves and grass clipping in your yard or garden.  This might sound odd, but this is one of the easiest organic gardening tips to practice.  Not only does the rotting leaves and grass clippings make excellent organic compost, but you will not be contributing to filling up already crowded landfills with bags of lawn clippings or fallen leaves.

Choose Native Species

Another commonsense organic gardening tip will make your gardening smarter and not harder.  Choose to grow only species native to your area.  Find out what you can about the plants growing on your property.  Are they invasive species or are they native?  And if you have a bare patch of earth to till, native species will take less water, food and effort to grow.

If you do decide to eliminate an invasive species, you need to remove it by hand or by shovel, not by herbicides or weed killers.  This will not only more effectively eliminate the species (by getting rid of the roots), but it you will not risk poisons being accidentally added to the public water supply through runoff from your property.

Choose Natural Repellants

Bugs are always going to be a problem in gardening, but please never resort to synthetic pesticides.  It’s a bit like killing a mosquito with a bazooka.  With a little study and minimum research on the Internet, you can find what natural herbs to plant to keep bugs away.  You can also use sprays you make yourself.

When you can, encourage native predatory species that prey on your plant eating bugs.  This means being tolerant of bats and frogs, as they eat a lot of bugs.  Ladybugs eat aphids and spiders also eat a lot of bad bugs.  By encouraging birds to your garden, you will also encourage them to eat bad bugs.

With commonsense organic gardening tips, you can relax letting nature take it’s course.  Perfection is in imperfection at times, especially with gardens.

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