Organic Gardening How To Blog

It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional gardener or a novice at it, it’s always good to have some expert help in raising an organic vegetable garden. Now, there is some super new online software that will provide you that expert help. It’s called EZGarden.

EZGarden will walk you through the entire process. It will help you design, plant, tend, and harvest your organic vegetable garden.

The software is designed to help anyone to be successful at gardening, no matter where you live. To begin with, EZGarden will ask you to provide the zip code for your gardening area. EZGarden goes out and retrieves valuable data concerning your soil type and climatic conditions.

Based on other information that EZGarden will ask you, EZGarden will help you to decide what to plant and when to do it. It will provide you information on how deep to plant and what the spacing should be. EZGarden will even make suggestions on companion planting and crop rotations.

Once your organic vegetable garden is planted, EZGarden will provide you a weekly task list on things that should be done in your garden. You can even ask EZGarden to send you this weekly task list in a separate email.

Watch this video for some more info on EZGarden:

Pretty cool software, isn’t it!

Give EZGarden a try. It certainly makes growing an organic vegetable garden a whole lot easier!

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Fall is quickly approaching and all organic gardeners know what that means – frost followed by snow. Extend your organic vegetable garden’s life by building this simple-to-build dome house. You’ll be able to grow delicious organic vegetables long into the fall season and perhaps all winter long!

The only materials that you’ll need are:

5 Pcs. – 1/2″ PVC schedule 40 pipe, each 10′ long

3 Pcs. – 1/2″ x 1″ x 8′ (1×2′s) pine boards (preferably treated)

2 Pcs. – 1-1/2″ x 1-3/4″ x 8′ (split one 2×4) pine boards (treated)

16 Ea. – 1/2″ roofing nails

1 Pc. – Sheet of heavy duty clear plastic

String or wire to secure the wood to the top of the PVC

Construction is simple. Watch this short video to see how easy it is to keep your organic vegetable garden growing during the approaching cold weather months:

And, what’s great about this is that you’ll be able to start next year’s organic vegetable garden much earlier in the spring!

An EASY ORGANIC GARDENING HOW TO.

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Growing vegetables upside-down may just be a fad, but I think it’s a fad that’s here to stay. It’s much easier to grow an organic vegetable garden upside down, because insects don’t have as much access to the plants.

The popular product Topsy Turvy made this method of growing vegetables popular. Television commercials repeatedly advertise the Topsy Turvy and I know those commercials have peaked the interest of many gardeners.

Why would you want to grow tomatoes or other vegetables upside-down? Well, as I mentioned above, many insects cannot access these upside down plants that are hanging from posts or a trellis. Besides that, it can save space in your garden for other plants that can’t be grown upside-down or it’s a means to grow certain types of vegetables for people that live in apartments and townhouses. Also, you won’t have problems with weeds and this method will deliver nutrients and water more efficiently.

The best vegetables to grow upside-down in your organic vegetable garden are:

*Tomatoes – Particularly interdependent tomatoes.

*Cucumbers – Slicing or pickling, although pickling are the easiest.

*Eggplant – Opt for small fruit varieties.

*Beans – Pole and bush beans.

*Peppers – Any variety.

Do these vegetables grow better and yield more if they are grown upside-down? Well, I’ve visited many forums where many gardeners claim they do have better luck with these vegetables grown upside-down, but particularly amongst organic gardeners. Organic gardeners have greater control over the potting soil used in the pots and they don’t have to worry as much about garden pests.

If you would like to try upside-down gardening, you can certainly buy a Topsy Turvy from places like Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Lowes. Or, you can make your own planting system. These systems can be made out of buckets, plastic bottles, heavy-duty plastic trash bags, kitty liter containers, laundry hampers, and even old tires.

I’ve provides you a video below to show you how to do it. For this project, all you will need are: 3-gal.bucket , organic potting soil , coffee filter (or, newspaper), and a utility knife .

Now, watch this video to learn how you too can create an upside-down organic vegetable garden:

Simple, wasn’t it? Many claim that building these systems from a 5-gallon bucket are better than a Topsy Turvy because the latter is too small and the soil dries out so quickly.

After hanging your system, you’ll need to water it every 1-2 days depending on the heat. To help retain moisture, you can put a lid on the top of the bucket, or put peat moss on top, or plant Marigolds and herbs such as Basil (I prefer this one).

One last tip: Super Tomato Soil Recipe – Mix 2 shovel fulls of organic steer manure with 1/4 cup of dolomite lime and 2 Tbs. bone meal . Mix well.

That’s it. Try creating an upside-down organic vegetable garden and you’ll have a lot of fun.

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Companion planting is an eco-friendly way to manage your organic vegetable garden. Most plants have natural substances in their roots, stems and leaves that can repel and/or attract certain types of insects. Companion planting helps nature do its own thing in a natural way.

Companion planting has been practiced for many years. The Iroquois indians planted beans, squash, and corn together and they were called their Three Sisters (read my article Three Sisters/Organic Vegetable Garden). What one plant took out of the soil, another would put back in. These plants complemented each other.

Practice companion planting in your own organic vegetable garden. Planting basil or bee balm close to your tomatoes helps their growth and improves their flavor. Plant caraway in areas where you have compacted soil and the long roots of the caraway will loosen it. Dill planted next to cucumbers will attract beneficial predatory insects.

Have fun and experiment with companion planting. Find out what works and keep a record of it.

You can also learn a lot more about companion planting in the eBook Organic Gardening Magic. You have a 60-day FREE trial and if you don’t like it, simply return it. You’ll learn a lot of secrets that’ll help you in your organic vegetable garden.

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The Iroquois Indians were masters at growing organic vegetable gardens. Their main gardens consisted of corn, beans, and squash – all inter-planted. These three vegetables were considered the Three Sisters and it’s said that they all sprouted from Sky Woman’s daughter.  

About 1000 years ago, these three vegetables changed the Iroquois way of life. Prior to being introduced to these vegetables, the Iroquois were a patriarchy and hunted and gathered food in the forests. After their introduction, the tribe became a matriarchy and they lived principally off their bountiful organic vegetable gardens.

The Iroquois would plant the corn, first. They planted these about one step apart in rows. Two-to-three weeks later, beans were planted in-between the corn. Squash and pumpkins was then grown to the sides of the corn and beans.

The Iroquois Indians didn’t know it at the time, but their method of gardening is now known as companion planting. That’s where different types of plants are planted in close proximity so that they will assist each other in nutrient uptake, pest control, pollination, and increasing crop productivity. The Iroquois were some of the first to practice this in North America.

In the case of the Three Sisters, the corn takes nitrogen out of the soil, but that’s replaced by the beans which adds nitrogen back to the soil. The leaves from the squash shades the ground, thus, helping the soil to retain moisture and helping to prevent weeds. The corn stalks also acted as bean poles allowing the beans to climb. Ingenious for that time!

Watch this video on the Three Sisters’ Organic Vegetable Garden:

As a side  note to this video, you can add any kind of animal manure at the end of the growing season. Cover this manure with compost and by the time spring arrives, you can mix it in with the soil. Also, make sure your corn is at least 5″ high before adding the beans.

If you are new to organic gardening or would like to learn more, try either one of these two great eBooks: Organic Gardening Magic and My Organic Food Garden. Or, try them both! Satisfaction Guaranteed for your organic vegetable garden, or your money back.

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