Organic Gardening Set Up Guide
Today, we will discuss the Organic Gardening Set Up Information. Most of the gardeners find it difficult to understand what is organic gardening all about and how to start it. Generally, organic gardening can be defined as a type of gardening which does not use any type of synthetic products such as pesticides and fertilizers. It will make use of only the products which are available naturally for the growth of plants in your garden. There are many benefits of organic gardening. Organic gardening will help to restore the natural resources as it uses them. In organic gardening, your plants will be considered as part of the natural ecosystem which will start with the soil and involves wildlife, water, people and insects. Every person will want to know the food we will serve our families as well as for our environment in order to be safe and also healthy.
You can perform organic vegetable gardening which will help you serve your family with healthy food. An organic gardener will try hard to make sure that his activities in the garden are in harmony with the natural ecosystem and also he aims at reducing the exploitation of nature. He will also make sure that the process is restoring all the natural resources consumed by him and his family. Before starting an organic garden, you can refer to a few organic gardening magazines to know more about organic gardening techniques and how feasible it is to you to maintain an organic garden.
The basics of organic gardening will need the cultivation which is completely focussed on the creation of an ecosystem which nourishes and also makes the microbes present in the soil to sustain. Moreover, it also benefits the insects instead of keeping the seeds in the ground and allowing them to just grow.
To start with, there are three areas which need to be concentrated for the maintenance of the organic gardening objectives.
Management of soil: This is usually dealt with by making use of fertilizers which are organic.
Management of weed: This is usually managed with the help of manual labor and also by making use of ground coverings which are organic.
Controlling pests: This can be managed by the promotion of the insects which are beneficial and also by companion planting.
The above three are the top important strategies to become an organic gardener. You need to have proper knowledge which is important for organic gardening and you will also need to learn a few fundamental lessons which will help you get reliable results.
Organic gardening at home:
Soil preparation for an organic garden:
The soil is the key resource in organic gardening. Good soil can be achieved through adding of organic matter to the soil regularly by making use of the resources which are available locally in every possible way. If you want your plants to grow healthy, you have to first prepare the soil on which your plants grow.
Just like humans, plants will also need food and food is the one which generally comes from the soil. Hence, you have to make sure that the plants in your garden are getting a large number of nutrients which are fresh. Conditioning of soil in a proper way will give the required nutrients to your plants.
Soil treatments which include chemical will not only spoil the composition of soil but also cause harm to the microbes, worms, and bacteria present in the soil which are important. To start, you need to test the pH of the soil. This test can be done by buying a soil test kit or you can collect a few samples of soil and send them to your local agricultural extension office for testing and analyzing your soil properly.
Preparation of compost:
While you are waiting for the results of your soil samples, you can prepare your kitchen compost from either kitchen waste of through vermiculture. Compost will help in giving your plants nutrients and also helps in the conservation of water. Compost will also be of great help in decreasing the weeds.
You can get compost from the resources which are available locally like leaves, yard garbage, wastes from the kitchen, trimmings of grass. On the other side, compost will always be available for buying from the suppliers of mulch or the centers of organic gardening. You can follow the below steps in preparing the compost.
- First, you will need the measure space which is of minimum 3 sq ft.
- After that, you will need to get a bunch of the plants and leaves which are dead.
- Start adding leaves in the alternate layers, trimmings of the garden which acts as carbon and green materials for nitrogen, for example, leftovers of kitchen and manure, You should separate all of them with a soil layer.
- Now cover the pile with about five inches of soil.
- Now turn the pile for each and every addition of new layer to the mixture. While performing this process, make sure that you are adding water to the mixture in order to keep it moist so that there would be an enhancement in the activity of microorganisms.
- The compost should never smell. If it smells, you need to add few more dry leaves, straw or sawdust and then turn it normally. You need to do this for about 28 to 30 days so that you will have a good compost prepared which is required for your organic garden.
Preparation of Organic garden:
While you are waiting for your compost to get ready, you can start preparing your organic garden. After the local agricultural extension officer gives a positive note about the soil and also about the right soil type, you can start the preparation of your garden area. You can use the gardening tools which are available for the careful preparation of your garden. It is always important to make sure that you are not destroying the soil completely.
Select the right type of plants for your organic garden:
Once you have completed the preparation of your garden, you need to choose the right plants for your organic garden. The sampling of soil and testing it will be of great help in this stage. It is very important to select the plants which will survive well in particular micro-conditions of the type of soil. Select the plants carefully which will survive well in different parts of your organic garden in terms of light, moisture, quality of soil as well as drainage. Always remember that the health of the plants will make them resistant to pests.
Another method of growing plants in an organic way is to choose the plants which are suitable for your garden. The crops which are well adaptable to the climatic conditions of the garden will be able to grow healthier with very less input. Moreover, the crops which are growing and also well adaptable to the area will make sure that they defend the plants naturally from the pests. You will need to pay very little attention to enhance the productivity of the crops.
When you are buying seedlings, make sure that you are choosing the plants which are grown without using any sort of pesticides or synthetic chemicals. Your local market of the farmers is a place where you need to do purchases. Here, you will find the plant varieties and also the ones which are suitable for your locality. Select the plants carefully which look healthy and do not have the roots overcrowded.
Plantation in an organic garden:
When you are ready for the plantation of crops, make sure that you are planting them in beds which are wide. Plantation of crops in wide beds will prevent you from stepping on them and spoiling the surface of the soil at the time of harvest or when you are cutting the flowers. Adding to this, grouping crops will help you by decreasing weeds, water wastage and will make it much easier for you in the application of compost. It will also enable the plants to make use of the nutrients and water available. Make sure that there is a large amount of space in between the rows. This will help in the promotion of circulation of air which will in turn help in facing the attacks caused by fungi.
Read: Requirements for Home Gardening.
Watering:
After the plantation of crops, you will need to start watering them. It is always good to water them as soon as the plantation is done in order to provide them with the water which is much-need. This will enable the plants to continue growing. You should also water the plants every morning as there would be no strong winds at that time. The morning will be cool and the water which is lost in the process of evaporation will be reduced to much extent. Experts in agriculture will always recommend infrequent watering of plants. They must be watered whenever the soil becomes dry. Too much watering may cause rotting of roots.
Weeding:
Weeds will decrease the yield of the crop by competing with crops for water, nutrients of soil, light, and space. In the agricultural crops, weeds will decrease the quality of the crop by contaminating the soil. They will work as hosts for diseases or will give shelter to the insects. Though it is tough to pull the weeds manually, it will provide you with the best exercise and fresh air.
Providing nutrients to plants:
When you are working on an organic garden, you will need to check out for the ways which are eco-friendly for the protection of plants from pesticides and fertilizers which are toxic. For this, you will require to ensure that your plants will get sufficient light, moisture, and nutrients which help them to grow in a better way. Also, a garden which is diverse will help for the prevention of pests.
Rather than making use of chemical pesticides, organic gardening will focus on the promotion of insects which are beneficial and companion planting. There will be no need for organic farmers to eradicate the diseases and insects by making use of chemicals. Instead, control of pests is done by keeping pests and diseases below the levels of damage. One of the mechanisms is that the promotion of beneficial insects and the predators of pests such as lizards, toads, bats, birds, and spiders.
The key to succeeding in organic gardening is to grow many varieties of companion crops which support the ecological place of these species. Avoid the usage of synthetic pesticides which will ensure the survival of beneficial microorganisms. Removing the leaves or buds which are infected or infested, uprooting the crops which are infected, crop rotation and manually removing the insect pests and eggs are the best methods to control the population of pests. Cleanliness of the garden is another important tool for pest control to be done in an organic manner.
Sprays or pesticides which are prepared naturally can be used in addition to the pest control methods which are followed culturally. These will be available from the organic garden centers and the products of these will be consisting of the bacterium called Bacillus, minerals such as copper and neem oil. Their capability to break down rapidly has promoted the usage of natural sprays or pesticides in the place of chemical ones. Moreover, there are few vegetables or fruit pests and diseases which are beyond the control of nature. For this, there is a requirement to make use of natural sprays.
Usage of organic fertilizers:
The organic matter and compost will help in the improvement of water and nutrients in the soil. Until this is done, the supply of the nutrients which are needed for the healthy growth of the plants is limited. Organic gardening will need additional fertilizers which are drawn naturally from wood ash, rock phosphate and by-products of animals including manures.
Agricultural lime is also one of the natural products which are added to the soil often for the improvement of the soil quality. This agricultural lime is produced from the limestone which occurs in a natural way and is added to the soil to bring the pH level of the soil to its best if it is too much acidic. pH levels of the soil will change as per the locality. Local extension offices are the ones which will give guidance on the pH levels of the soil by testing them. Most of the soils will not need any sort of additional lime.
Care and maintenance of your organic garden:
There are few organic gardening tips in order to grow your plants healthy. Below are a few practices to be followed:
- Watering the plants in your organic garden is a must.
- Make use of compost in place of chemical fertilizers.
- The manure which is used should be taken from the animals which do not eat meat.
- Weeding should be done at the right time.
- Pruning should be done on a regular basis to let proper aeration so that the nutrients and light will be used by the plants in an effective way.
Read: How To Trim and Prune Guava Plants.