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.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Pillans
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Growing Flowers in Your Garden

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Growing Flowers in Your Garden
By Timothy Spencer

Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. It provides soothing therapy for some people especially when they see their work bloom in season. These are the sort of people who want to use their hands to make living things grow strong and healthy through their patience and hard work. Thus, gardeners often feel a strong connection with the soil and a powerful appreciation for beauty that only flowers can provide. The hours may be long and the work backbreaking, but the rewards of seeing a single flower bloom can lift all the hours and the aches away.

If you're looking for a new hobby or just something to do to spend idle time while at home, try gardening. Why? Well, one good reason is that a garden will definitely make your home look more attractive and beautiful. Besides that, the air in your private space will be cleaner and fresher since the plants absorb carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. Growing flowers is easy, if you have the time and patience for it. The tools are not that expensive and there are various resources in books, magazines and the Internet to help you with your project.

A small piece of land, tools, and knowledge is all you need to start a gardening project in your backyard. Here are some basic instructions:

1. Choosing the right spot. A sunny area with well-drained, fertile soil is the best for flowering plants. Make sure that the area is sheltered from strong winds that could defoliate and destroy the blooms.

2. Preparing the soil. Dig the soil thoroughly with a shovel until it is fine and loose. Add a large amount of compost or organic fertilizer to the top layer and mix it a bit with the soil. Fertilizers are vital to ensuring that your plants have all the nutrients they need for growing strong and healthy so make sure to do it properly.

3. Planting the seeds. You can buy the seeds at any department store or gardening shop here in the Philippines for a relatively cheap price. Follow the instructions in the package in planting the seeds. Depending on the requirement of your flowering plants, plant the seeds deep or only at the surface.

4. Watering. Water the seeds or plants at least twice a day. Moderate the amount of water as over-watering could kill your garden easily.

5. Fertilizing. Fertilize the flower bed periodically to make your flowers grow well.

6. Pest control. Always watch out for pests that could damage your flowers and take care of them early. Common pests are easily killed with the pesticides out in the market so ask your retailer for advice when you come down to buy.

7. Deadheading. Remove diseased, infested, rotting or old blooms and leaves. This will prevent the disease from spreading or attracting the pests. Also, the plants will bloom longer since dead flowers signal that the plant should start producing seeds.

These are only basic tips so make sure to read more details on creating your own garden. Happy gardening!

This article was written by Timothy Spencer for Island Rose - Philippine Flower Delivery. We hope you enjoyed this article and encourage you to visit our website. Through Island Rose, you can Send Flowers Philippines or simply browse through our blog for more informative articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Timothy_Spencer
http://EzineArticles.com/?Growing-Flowers-in-Your-Garden&id=1899447

Why Rainwater Harvesting is Essential

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Why Rainwater Harvesting is Essential
By Tom J Walker

To begin with the goodness of rain water or natural water, our world purifies water and caters us for using it up. And we in turn, rush after bottle drinks, soft drinks to quench our thirst. Rainwater harvesting has grown to be a germane topic with the rise of syndromes and the lessened life span of human beings. Do we need a science lecture to emphasize the importance of rainwater?

Well, human beings, the brainiest of living creatures, are not up to snuff to comprehend the integrity of rainwater and the need for rainwater collection.

Rainwater is the crucial spring of uncontaminated water existing in the globe. When we just make an attempt to execute the rainwater harvesting job, we are in fact saving our era, power and money. But it seems people feel shameful to collect rainwater or not. No one cares about this phenomenon. Well, it is not a tough job like who will bell the cat? Or is someone waiting for a few people to start rainwater collection?

Questions can baffle your mind. All you have to do is start the task today itself without waiting anymore. Because our planet is in near to the deadline, we are to face tremendous scarcity of water and so on. Rainwater contains a handful of minerals which cannot be found in any other source of water. In fact, the process of rainwater collection is quite natural and we are to get more and more water in the near future if we do so

Rainwater harvesting is by no means a hassle job. All you have to create a storage for rainwater, and if you do not have enough space, plan it on your rooftop. Now, let us try to dig out some imperative reasons for rainwater harvest.

These days, groundwater is in short supply and infected. Topography is uneven otherwise precipitous. Another factor to follow rainwater collection is that the seismic and overflowing incidents are frequent. Again, the aquifer is in jeopardy of sea water infringement.

We are again aware that the inhabitants mass is near to the ground and we require more water. The price hikes in electricity and water is going to burden us soon. The normal water is excessively hard or else mineral burdened. The water we get in this juncture is filled with too much of salt and chlorine.

Rainwater collection or harvest is not in fact a big issue. It is totally free, and you are availed with pure and smooth water. No shortage of water occurs once you start collecting rain water. They do not get contaminated easily. There is no need to filter rainwater, and in fact you can save more money, energy and even time.

Rainwater collection will be a boon at times of disaster and havoc. Your home and surroundings will never cheat you or take away the stored water. Yet again, thermal accumulation can unsurprisingly chill houses. If man tends to be welcoming to nature, no doubt, nature is promisingly awaiting to bestow all the gifts she has.

Tom is an avid gardener as well as the owner of Rainwater Barrels and Compost Tumbler .

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_J_Walker
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Tomato Gardening - The Best Way to Grow Tomato Plants

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Tomato Gardening - The Best Way to Grow Tomato Plants
By Ric Wiley

Now is one of the best times of the year to start your tomato plants. Why, well you want to give them the best start to life and tomatoes need a long growing season to produce a good crop. I can hear you saying, it is too cold or too wet to start my tomato plants in the ground. Yes, I agree for the Northern hemisphere but you need to start your plants off in very early spring to be sure that they are good croppers. This applies in both the North and South. It is just that Spring happens at different times in the year in different parts of the world.

You need to judge when to start your tomato plants and mine go in during January. These will be potted on into larger pots and eventually put into the growing area of a greenhouse in May. This is giving me about 4 months of growing before they go into their final planting position and I would expect to start cropping my harvest sometime during July, probably towards the beginning of July. I will also be able to keep these cropping until late October and this is a growing period of nearly 10 months.

First of all you need to identify the best seed for what you want to produce and there are many different types of tomatoes to choose from. The seed type will also affect when and where to plant your seeds.

There are 2 main types of tomatoes to choose from and these are indoor or outdoor tomatoes or a type which will grow indoors or outdoors. I grow both but start these off at different times of the year. You also need to look at whether to grow small, medium or large tomatoes. Small tomatoes are often known as cherry tomatoes and bushes are often weighed down with the number of tomatoes growing on their vines. I tend to grow these outside in my high density garden and there is nothing I like better than just eating one when out gardening. The other types of tomatoes are medium and large tomatoes. The large tomatoes are often called beefsteak and are great sliced on sandwiches.

So how best to grow them? Well I start these off in flats. As I do not need many tomato plants at as time, I use a quarter size flat, (or seed tray), and I fill these with a multi purpose compost. There are specialist seed composts, soil based composts and peat free composts. We should use peat free composts and for most things I do, but for sowing seeds I find a peat based compost is best. Press the compost down a little but not too much so it becomes hard and the seedling roots will develop better in a looser soil than a harder one. Once I have done this I sow the seeds on the surface of the compost. As I only need 6 of each type for the greenhouse I sow 10 seeds in 2 rows of five in a quarter size flat. Once I have done this I cover them with a thin layer of vermiculite. This is a useful product to cover seeds with as it is lightweight but retains moisture. Finally water the flat. I do this by placing the flat in small container of water and let the compost absorb the water. You can tell it has absorbed the water as the color of the vermiculite changes.

You then need to place the flat somewhere warm. I usually use a windowsill and put the flat inside another flat with a plastic cover over it to make a mini greenhouse. I often use a heat pad underneath this just to start things off and give the seeds the ideal conditions to germinate. As soon as there is any sign of germination remove them from the heat and grow on until large enough to pot into 3 inch pots.

I find that by starting my tomato seeds now, I get a better crop earlier in the year, and just as important, a heavier crop later on.

You can learn more about High Density Gardening and growing tomatoes by checking out www.highdensitygardening.com/home.html which also has free downloadable worksheets on building hotbox compost bins.

Ric Wiley is an internet writer and gardener. His website about High Density Gardening can be found at http://www.highdensitygardening.com/home.html and his latest ebook is High Density Gardening.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ric_Wiley
http://EzineArticles.com/?Tomato-Gardening---The-Best-Way-to-Grow-Tomato-Plants&id=1911492

Growing Flowers in Your Garden

Growing Flowers in Your Garden
By Timothy Spencer

Gardening is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. It provides soothing therapy for some people especially when they see their work bloom in season. These are the sort of people who want to use their hands to make living things grow strong and healthy through their patience and hard work. Thus, gardeners often feel a strong connection with the soil and a powerful appreciation for beauty that only flowers can provide. The hours may be long and the work backbreaking, but the rewards of seeing a single flower bloom can lift all the hours and the aches away.

If you're looking for a new hobby or just something to do to spend idle time while at home, try gardening. Why? Well, one good reason is that a garden will definitely make your home look more attractive and beautiful. Besides that, the air in your private space will be cleaner and fresher since the plants absorb carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. Growing flowers is easy, if you have the time and patience for it. The tools are not that expensive and there are various resources in books, magazines and the Internet to help you with your project.

A small piece of land, tools, and knowledge is all you need to start a gardening project in your backyard. Here are some basic instructions:

1. Choosing the right spot. A sunny area with well-drained, fertile soil is the best for flowering plants. Make sure that the area is sheltered from strong winds that could defoliate and destroy the blooms.

2. Preparing the soil. Dig the soil thoroughly with a shovel until it is fine and loose. Add a large amount of compost or organic fertilizer to the top layer and mix it a bit with the soil. Fertilizers are vital to ensuring that your plants have all the nutrients they need for growing strong and healthy so make sure to do it properly.

3. Planting the seeds. You can buy the seeds at any department store or gardening shop here in the Philippines for a relatively cheap price. Follow the instructions in the package in planting the seeds. Depending on the requirement of your flowering plants, plant the seeds deep or only at the surface.

4. Watering. Water the seeds or plants at least twice a day. Moderate the amount of water as over-watering could kill your garden easily.

5. Fertilizing. Fertilize the flower bed periodically to make your flowers grow well.

6. Pest control. Always watch out for pests that could damage your flowers and take care of them early. Common pests are easily killed with the pesticides out in the market so ask your retailer for advice when you come down to buy.

7. Deadheading. Remove diseased, infested, rotting or old blooms and leaves. This will prevent the disease from spreading or attracting the pests. Also, the plants will bloom longer since dead flowers signal that the plant should start producing seeds.

These are only basic tips so make sure to read more details on creating your own garden. Happy gardening!

This article was written by Timothy Spencer for Island Rose - Philippine Flower Delivery. We hope you enjoyed this article and encourage you to visit our website. Through Island Rose, you can Send Flowers Philippines or simply browse through our blog for more informative articles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Timothy_Spencer
http://EzineArticles.com/?Growing-Flowers-in-Your-Garden&id=1899447

A Wild-Flower Garden

A wild-flower garden has a most attractive sound. One thinks of long tramps in the woods, collecting material, and then of the fun in fixing up a real for sure wild garden.

Many people say they have no luck at all with such a garden. It is not a question of luck, but a question of understanding, for wild flowers are like people and each has its personality. What a plant has been accustomed to in Nature it desires always. In fact, when removed from its own sort of living conditions, it sickens and dies. That is enough to tell us that we should copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers. As you choose certain flowers from the woods, notice the soil they are in, the place, th conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbours.

Suppose you find dog-tooth violets and wind-flowers growing near together. Then place them so in your own new garden. Suppose you find a certain violet enjoying an open situation; then it should always have the same. You see the point, do you not? If you wish wild flowers to grow in a tame garden make them feel at home. Cheat them into almost believing that they are still in their native haunts.

Wild flowers ought to be transplanted after blossoming time is over. Take a trowel and a basket into the woods with you. As you take up a few, a columbine, or a hepatica, be sure to take with the roots some of the plant's own soil, which must be packed about it when replanted.

The bed into which these plants are to go should be prepared carefully before this trip of yours. Surely you do not wish to bring those plants back to wait over a day or night before planting. They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold. The under drainage system should be excellent; plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged. It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods.

Before planting, water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants, put into each hole some of the soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there.

I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium. For May there are the dog-tooth violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon's seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne's lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.

Let us have a bit about the likes and dislikes of these plants. Once you have started you'll keep on adding to this wild-flower list.

There is no one who doesn't love the hepatica. Before the spring has really decided to come, this little flower pokes its head up and puts all else to shame. Tucked under a covering of dry leaves the blossoms wait for a ray of warm sunshine to bring them out. These embryo flowers are further protected by a fuzzy covering. This reminds one of a similar protective covering which new fern leaves have. In the spring a hepatica plant wastes no time on getting a new suit of leaves. It makes its old ones do until the blossom has had its day. Then the new leaves, started to be sure before this, have a chance. These delayed, are ready to help out next season. You will find hepaticas growing in clusters, sort of family groups. They are likely to be found in rather open places in the woods. The soil is found to be rich and loose. So these should go only in partly shaded places and under good soil conditions. If planted with other woodland specimens give them the benefit of a rather exposed position, that they may catch the early spring sunshine. I should cover hepaticas over with a light litter of leaves in the fall. During the last days of February, unless the weather is extreme take this leaf covering away. You'll find the hepatica blossoms all ready to poke up their heads.

The spring beauty hardly allows the hepatica to get ahead of her. With a white flower which has dainty tracings of pink, a thin, wiry stem, and narrow, grass-like leaves, this spring flower cannot be mistaken. You will find spring beauties growing in great patches in rather open places. Plant a number of the roots and allow the sun good opportunity to get at them, for this plant loves the sun.

The other March flower mentioned is the saxifrage. This belongs in quite a different sort of environment. It is a plant which grows in dry and rocky places. Often one will find it in chinks of rock. There is an old tale to the effect that the saxifrage roots twine about rocks and work their way into them so that the rock itself splits. Anyway, it is a rock garden plant. I have found it in dry, sandy places right on the borders of a big rock. It has white flower clusters borne on hairy stems.

The columbine is another plant that is quite likely to be found in rocky places. Standing below a ledge and looking up, one sees nestled here and there in rocky crevices one plant or more of columbine. The nodding red heads bob on wiry, slender stems. The roots do not strike deeply into the soil; in fact, often the soil hardly covers them. Now, just because the columbine has little soil, it does not signify that it is indifferent to the soil conditions. For it always has lived, and always should live, under good drainage conditions. I wonder if it has struck you, how really 'hygienic' plants are? Plenty of fresh air, proper drainage, and good food are fundamentals with plants.

It is evident from study of these plants how easy it is to find out what plants like. After studying their feelings, then do not make the mistake of huddling them all together under poor drainage conditions.

I always have a feeling of personal affection for the bluets. When they come I always feel that now things are beginning to settle down outdoors. They start with rich, lovely, little delicate blue blossoms. As June gets hotter and hotter their colour fades a bit, until at times they look quite worn and white. Some people call them Quaker ladies, others innocence. Under any name they are charming. They grow in colonies, sometimes in sunny fields, sometimes by the road-side. From this we learn that they are more particular about the open sunlight than about the soil.

If you desire a flower to pick and use for bouquets, then the wild geranium is not your flower. It droops very quickly after picking and almost immediately drops its petals. But the purplish flowers are showy, and the leaves, while rather coarse, are deeply cut. This latter effect gives a certain boldness to the plant that is rather attractive. The plant is found in rather moist, partly shaded portions of the woods. I like this plant in the garden. It adds good colour and permanent colour as long as blooming time lasts, since there is no object in picking it.

There are numbers and numbers of wild flowers I might have suggested. These I have mentioned were not given for the purpose of a flower guide, but with just one end in view - your understanding of how to study soil conditions for the work of starting a wild-flower garden.

If you fear results, take but one or two flowers and study just what you select. Having mastered, or better, become acquainted with a few, add more another year to your garden. I think you will love your wild garden best of all before you are through with it. It is a real study, you see.

Requirements of a Home Vegetable Garden

In deciding upon the site for the home vegetable garden it is well to dispose once and for all of the old idea that the garden "patch" must be an ugly spot in the home surroundings. If thoughtfully planned, carefully planted and thoroughly cared for, it may be made a beautiful and harmonious feature of the general scheme, lending a touch of comfortable homeliness that no shrubs, borders, or beds can ever produce.

With this fact in mind we will not feel restricted to any part of the premises merely because it is out of sight behind the barn or garage. In the average moderate-sized place there will not be much choice as to land. It will be necessary to take what is to be had and then do the very best that can be done with it. But there will probably be a good deal of choice as to, first, exposure, and second, convenience. Other things being equal, select a spot near at hand, easy of access. It may seem that a difference of only a few hundred yards will mean nothing, but if one is depending largely upon spare moments for working in and for watching the garden and in the growing of many vegetables the latter is almost as important as the former this matter of convenient access will be of much greater importance than is likely to be at first recognized. Not until you have had to make a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools, or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass, will you realize fully what this may mean.

Exposure.
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But the thing of first importance to consider in picking out the spot that is to yield you happiness and delicious vegetables all summer, or even for many years, is the exposure. Pick out the "earliest" spot you can find a plot sloping a little to the south or east, that seems to catch sunshine early and hold it late, and that seems to be out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds. If a building, or even an old fence, protects it from this direction, your garden will be helped along wonderfully, for an early start is a great big factor toward success. If it is not already protected, a board fence, or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens, will add very greatly to its usefulness. The importance of having such a protection or shelter is altogether underestimated by the amateur.

The soil.
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The chances are that you will not find a spot of ideal garden soil ready for use anywhere upon your place. But all except the very worst of soils can be brought up to a very high degree of productiveness especially such small areas as home vegetable gardens require. Large tracts of soil that are almost pure sand, and others so heavy and mucky that for centuries they lay uncultivated, have frequently been brought, in the course of only a few years, to where they yield annually tremendous crops on a commercial basis. So do not be discouraged about your soil. Proper treatment of it is much more important, and a garden- patch of average run-down, or "never-brought-up" soil will produce much more for the energetic and careful gardener than the richest spot will grow under average methods of cultivation.

The ideal garden soil is a "rich, sandy loam." And the fact cannot be overemphasized that such soils usually are made, not found. Let us analyze that description a bit, for right here we come to the first of the four all-important factors of gardening food. The others are cultivation, moisture and temperature. "Rich" in the gardener's vocabulary means full of plant food; more than that and this is a point of vital importance it means full of plant food ready to be used at once, all prepared and spread out on the garden table, or rather in it, where growing things can at once make use of it; or what we term, in one word, "available" plant food. Practically no soils in long- inhabited communities remain naturally rich enough to produce big crops. They are made rich, or kept rich, in two ways; first, by cultivation, which helps to change the raw plant food stored in the soil into available forms; and second, by manuring or adding plant food to the soil from outside sources.

"Sandy" in the sense here used, means a soil containing enough particles of sand so that water will pass through it without leaving it pasty and sticky a few days after a rain; "light" enough, as it is called, so that a handful, under ordinary conditions, will crumble and fall apart readily after being pressed in the hand. It is not necessary that the soil be sandy in appearance, but it should be friable.

"Loam: a rich, friable soil," says Webster. That hardly covers it, but it does describe it. It is soil in which the sand and clay are in proper proportions, so that neither greatly predominate, and usually dark in color, from cultivation and enrichment. Such a soil, even to the untrained eye, just naturally looks as if it would grow things. It is remarkable how quickly the whole physical appearance of a piece of well cultivated ground will change. An instance came under my notice last fall in one of my fields, where a strip containing an acre had been two years in onions, and a little piece jutting off from the middle of this had been prepared for them just one season. The rest had not received any extra manuring or cultivation. When the field was plowed up in the fall, all three sections were as distinctly noticeable as though separated by a fence. And I know that next spring's crop of rye, before it is plowed under, will show the lines of demarcation just as plainly.