Organic Gardening - Grow Your Own Organic Vegetables

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Organic Gardening - Grow Your Own Organic Vegetables
By Robert Pillans

Look up Organic Gardening in the dictionary and you will find that it means to grow plants without using synthetic chemicals. The preference is to use natural methods to make your plants flourish. You may well wonder how can anyone grow plants without using artificial fertilisers and chemical pesticides. The answer is very simple, so read on to find out how.

First of all, let's talk about fertility. Every gardener knows that if they feed their plants, they will grow well. The important point is how you feed them. The temptation is to mix up some chemical fertiliser and spray it onto your plants. Unfortunately, these fertilisers contain lots of nitrogen which speeds up growth of the leaves and stems causing them to be soft and therefore very attractive to pests and diseases. There is no doubt that the instant hit of nitrogen seems to produce great results, but the plants have no real strength in them. Organic gardening methods are different when it comes to feeding plants. What organic gardeners do is to feed the soil with lots of organic manures and fertilisers. The best way is to dig in plenty of homemade garden compost, mushroom compost or farmyard manure. These all contain the right mix of plant foods, but as they are in the soil the plant takes up what it needs through its roots. The plants may be shorter, but they are much stronger and more able to fight off pests and diseases.

Next, you need to think about all the pests that will feed on your plants. All the creepy crawlies like slugs, caterpillar, greenfly and aphids to name a few. Remember; avoid the temptation to reach for the chemical spray. As well as killing all the baddies, these also kill your allies. For instance, Hoverflies lay their eggs in clutches of greenfly so that their young will have a ready meal on hand. Ladybirds and Lacewings will also eat greenfly, and they do get through a lot as I have seen in my own garden. In turn, these insects will attract birds and they will quite happily eat up greenfly, aphids, slugs and caterpillars. Eventually, your garden will become home to larger creatures such as Hedgehogs if you provide them with some form of shelter. A pile of logs in a corner of the garden will provide all the comforts they need. Finally, if you can, build a small pool in your garden. The Frogs and Toads will soon find it and they will more than earn their keep by eating all sorts of pests.

When it comes to planting vegetables in your garden, the techniques described will work equally as well. The thing to remember is not to do what the farmer does by planting all your vegetables in rows in a separate bit of the garden. Instead, plant them in small blocks in between the other plants. The flowers and shrubs will provide some camouflage from the pests like butterflies which rely on finding cabbages and lettuces by sight. The carrot root fly finds your carrots by flying just above the surface of the soil, if it comes up against other plants it has to fly up to miss them. This way it also misses your carrots. You will also find that the pests get quite confused by all the different foliage and scents from your flowers and shrubs and will tend to go elsewhere in search of their preferred targets. You will still get some pests attacking your vegetables, but if you persevere with these methods, you will find that the level of pests is tolerable.

The other great advantage about organic vegetables is that you pick the freshest vegetables, and consequently the best tasting vegetables, straight from your garden and at the same time save a small fortune on shop bought organic vegetables.

We all know that we need to eat healthily, and organic vegetables are highly recommended by nutritionists and doctors as a vital part of the healthy diet. If you want to become an organic gardener, and produce wonderful vegetables that your family will rave about then visit How to grow Organic Vegetables for some more free advice.

I also run a blog called The Organic Garden where you can find out how I garden organically. Why not visit and leave me some comments about your own garden.

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