Intro to Organic Gardening

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Related Articles: Organic Composting | How to Make Compost

Intro to Organic Gardening

For many, gardening is a great past time that helps take your mind off of the daily grind while putting your body to use in growing plants and vegetables. It is both relaxing and rewarding when you see that first tomato blossom and are making salsa from the plants that you helped grow. However, many people don’t know some of the negative effects that traditional gardening can have on the environment and the food you produce. This is where organic gardening comes in. Organic gardening is a way of conserving resources and using natural fertilizers to create a beautiful garden that has less of an effect on the environment and uses no pesticides on your food. In this guide we will talk about a few of the main things you should consider if you want to start an organic garden.

The key to any type of garden is making sure that you give your plants just the right amount of the water that they need. One of the best ways to have that water is to set up a simple rain water collector, which can be nothing more than a large trash can and a funnel to catch the water. If you live in an area where there is a lot of rain fall you can easily get gallons of water while saving money on your electric bill. If you have a small condensate pump you can even set up a system to pump your collected rain water to your plants.

Compost piles are a perfect way to create fertilizer for your plants while reusing products you would normally waste. Compost bins can take many of the scraps from your kitchen, as well as animal byproducts, and allow them to decompose into perfect fertilizer for your garden. For more information on how to start a compost bin there are many great articles all over the internet.

This is the hardest part for most organic gardeners; not being able to apply pesticides makes it hard to keep bugs and other insects from eating your plants. However, there are many natural ways to do this. The most common is if you go to a local store you can purchase lady bugs and let them out on your organic garden to try and get rid of the aphids that will attack the plants. If this doesn’t work, you can always shop at a home and garden store and purchase some organic pesticide that is designed to get rid of specific types of insects; however, if you are working on producing a great organic garden it is always best to stay away from the pesticides, even organic ones.

Another great idea when planting an organic garden is to plant companion plants that can grow off of each other and actually help combat bugs and other problems. Click here for a complete list of companion plants.

These are some of the basic tips to use when starting your organic garden. If you are serious about starting an organic garden this is a great place to start.

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