Organic Gardening How To Blog

It’s November and that cold arctic air is moving further South. In the past, I’ve always given up on my organic vegetable garden by now, but not this year! This year, I’m extending my organic growing season with the use of some plastic and a few wood stakes. Thanksgiving is coming up and I’m determined to have a fresh organic salad for this year’s holiday feast. You can, too! Watch this short video to get an idea on how you can extend your organic growing season:

Small greenhouse’s are inexpensive to build. If you’re interested, check out my article on making An Organic Vegetable Garden Dome House For under $50. It’s a fast and easy way to extend your organic growing season.

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I know that most of the readers of this Organic Gardening How To Blog have only small organic gardens. But, if done properly, organic growing of all of your vegetables is not that difficult to do, even for feeding a family of 4-5 people. I’ve found two videos that shows you some of the key secrets to growing all kinds of vegetables on organic farms. This particular farm is in Austria, but the practices and methods used can be used anywhere.

In the first video, they make note that to feed a family of 4-5 people, you would need about 300 square meters of ground – that’s about 3,230 square feet. Or, an area slightly less than 60 feet wide x 55 feet long.

Watch this first Organic Growing: Secrets Of Organic Farming video:

It’s interesting how they use straw and grass cuttings placed on top of the ground to keep micro-organisms active in the ground all year long.

Now, watch part 2 of this video:

Amazing…once planted, they estimated that it would only take an average of 1 hour per day labor to feed a family of 4-5 people. Most people spend more time than that in grocery stores.

I hope these two videos help you in your organic growing endeavors.

Until next time…

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It’s going to be a tough year for the organic growing of tomatoes, particularly in the southeast of the US. That’s because of the late blight that unexpectedly hit this area last year.

Late blight, known for causing the 1850′s Irish potato famine, struck 23 states including Canada last year causing millions of dollars of damage. This year, it’s expected to reach from New England to Florida and as far west as North Dakota.

Caused by a fungus-like organism called oomycete, late blight is spread by airborne spores. Normally, late blight won’t survive the colder winter, but it will survive in potatoes left in the fields.

Watch this video on organic growing/late blight:

The biggest problem with this disease and organic gardening is that you have to avoid the pesticides. Amy Hepworth, an organic farmer in New York, sprayed her tomatoes with copper. The blue residue that it leaves on the tomatoes has to be re-applied after each rain.

If you do suspect that your tomatoes do have late blight, you are encouraged to contact a cooperative extension agency to confirm it. It’s a community disease and everyone needs to know about it to protect the farms.

Organic growing is fun and delicious, but avoiding diseases like late blight is in the best interests of everyone.

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Before this organic growing season begins, you need to make sure that you have plenty of the necessary nutrients in the soil that all organic gardens need. These nutrients are nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium and they are vital for a healthy organic garden.

Nitrogen (N) enables plants to build protein which enables them to grow. All plants need nitrogen, some more than others. Leafy plants such as cabbage, lettuce, beans, rhubarb, kale, chard, and peas need high amounts of nitrogen. Some caution with nitrogen is required because too much of it can also burn the plants.

Phosphorous (P) is needed in the soil from day 1. Phosphorous helps the plants to convert the sun’s energy into energy that the plants can use to grow. It is essential in the photosynthesis process. If your soil is low in phosphorous, your plants will grow slowly and look sickly.

Potassium (K) is also essential for plant growth. Potassium is sometimes called potash. It helps the plants to absorb and hold water and helps to make them disease resistant. Sufficient amounts of potassium in the soil will lead to higher crop yields and more flowers in the flower beds.

Organic growing can be strengthened with the proper preparation of your garden soil. Apply organic fertilizer to your garden beds and mix in with the soil about 2-3 weeks before actually planting. Also, apply small amounts of organic fertilizer to your potting soil to help those potted plants (read Organic Gardening How To On Potting Soil).

Home Made Organic Fertilizer Recipe

Combine:

4 Quarts – Cottonseed Meal

1 Quart – Bone Meal

1 Quart – Greensand

1/2 Quart – Gypsum

1/2 Quart – Dolomite Lime

Mix these five ingredients thoroughly and apply at the rate of approximately 4 pounds per 100 square feet.

All of these ingredients should be available at a nursery near you or you can click on the links posted above to buy them online.

Adequate soil preparation is organic growing at its’ best!

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It’s almost late January and its almost time to start organic growing indoors. Raise your organic garden from seeds and that way you have total control over your plants origination.

I am always suspicious about the young plants that I find at Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, and the local nurseries. I don’t know if the potting soil that these plants were raised in was totally organic or not. I have total control over that when I raise my own organic garden from seeds.

Depending on where you live, planting your seeds in indoor containers should be done in either February or early March.

The most important thing about organic growing your own plants from seeds is the potting soil that you raise them in. Make sure that it is all organic materials. It should be a combination of sand, compost, and vermiculite that is well aged. The potting soil should not contain manure or bone meal. If you want to buy this potting soil, Ocean Forest Organic Potting Soil is an excellent choice. Plant your seeds no more than 1/2″-1″ deep.

The best way to grow you seeds indoors is with the use of a grow light system. If you don’t have one, try the Sunshine Systems GlowPanel 45 LED from Amazon, or you can find many others online. You need a 400 watt system to cover a 4′ x 4′ area or a 1000 watt system to cover an 8 ‘x 8′ area. Keep the light system as close to your plants as possible without letting them touch the light source. Be sure to include a timer with your system so that the lights can remain on 15 – 18 hours per day.

If possible, grow your seeds as near as possible to a window that faces south. Natural sunlight is healthy for your plants as they begin to grow. Also, be sure to rotate your plants containers as they begin to grow so that they don’t grow in only one direction.

Watch this video for some more tips on organic growing from seeds:

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