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.
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.
Once you have tasted some vegetables from your own organic vegetable garden, you’re going to wonder why you haven’t been doing this all along. There is so much more flavor from freshly picked organic vegetables compared to their store bought hosts. And, it’s so easy to do.
If you’re a newbie, here are some of my best tips to help you and your organic vegetable garden:
* Select a garden space that’s as close to your house that you can. It should be easy to get to and the area that you choose should receive at least 8 hours of sunshine per day. This will allow you to plant a wide range of organic vegetables.
* As a beginner, start of with a small garden. Don’t get overwhelmed with maintenance by planting too much. You don’t need 10 tomato plants if they’re all the same type of tomato and are going to mature at the same time.
* Grow only vegetables that you and your family enjoy. There’s no use planting peppers if nobody in your family enjoys them. Also, consider growing fresh organic herbs that you and your family may enoy such as basil, oregano, mint, coriander, parsley, and rosemary.
* Look into companion planting (read my article Organic Gardening How To – Companion Planting). Certain types of plants and herbs will help other plants grow better and keep a lot of nasty bugs away.
*Think about the long-term. There are some expensive store-bought vegetables such as asparagus that once planted can can survive 15 years or longer in your organic vegetable garden (read Organic Gardening How To – Grow Organic Asparagus for details on this).
* Don’t plant the exact same vegetables that you can find in the supermarkets – plant different varieties. Vegetables in the supermarket are often grown because they have a long shelf life and taste was not a consideration. For example, plant heirloom tomatoes such as “Brandywine”. Once tasted right off the vine, you’ll be thankful for having an organic vegetable garden.
It’s now February and it’s now time to start your organic vegetable garden. At least, if your going to start your garden from seeds.
You can save a lot of money by growing your garden from seeds. You can save dollars and not just pennies. And, if you are going to grow your organic vegetable garden from seeds, you need to try to use organically certified seeds. If you have trouble finding organically certified seeds, you can find many varieties at Amazon.com .
Starting your organic vegetable garden from seeds in February will mean that you will be starting your garden indoors. For more information on how to do this, please read my article titled Start Organic Growing Indoors.
The first seeds that you want to plant indoors are those that the seedlings can survive the most in cold weather ground. This includes crops such as onions, peas, and spinach. These are considered cold weather crops and can survive a frost.As the seedlings develop, these will be the first to plant outdoors.
About 2 – 3 weeks later, it will be time to plant the seeds for your cool weather crops. These crops can survive in a light frost. This includes lettuce, beets, carrots, radishes, dill, cilantro, cabbage, broccoli, celery, kale, and potatoes.
The last batch of crop seeds to plant indoors are considered warm weather crops. They will not survive in a frost. So, in early-mid March, plant the seeds for beans, corn, melons, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkins, eggplant, and basil.
As noted, different crops can withstand different ground and air temperatures when planted outdoors. The biggest danger to most crops is a freeze. That’s why many seed packets will say, “Plant after all danger of frost has passed”. You can determine what your chances are of a freeze in your area by date by checking with the National Climatic Weather Center. All you have to do is enter the state that you line in and the city that is closest to you and it will give you an estimate of the last frost date for your area.
When planting seeds, do not over-plant or waste seeds, especially if your using organically certified seeds. If I want eight cabbage plants, I will plant 16 seeds. That allows me a 50% failure rate to get eight cabbage plants. Also, try not to touch the seeds with bare hands. Your bare hands contain moisture and oil that could harm unused seeds.
Properly stored, unused seeds are usable for 3 – 8 years. The seeds need to be stored in a cool, dry location. Placing the unused seeds in a clean jar with a lid and keeping it in a cool refrigerator is ideal.Watch this video for some futher tips on seed storage for next years organic vegetable garden:
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 maney back.
If you have limited space in your organic vegetable garden, growing plants vertically can save a lot of space. Many plants that are vines can be grown vertically. This includes melons, squash, and pumpkins. Watch this video by Patti Moreno to get an idea on how to do this.
Besides saving space, there are other reasons to consider growing an organic vegetable garden vertically. Here are some of those other reasons:
You may have some unattractive areas in your yard that you want to hide. Growing your plants vertically can hide these areas.
Growing vines on a fence or along a wall will give your home added privacy.
Vertical gardening can take stress off your back by allowing you to stand up more while your gardening.
Many plant pests and diseases will have a hard time reaching your vertical organic vegetable garden – they simply can’t reach it.
Once you have installed a structure for vertical gardening, you can also attach baskets and grow bags to the structure to enable you to grow other organic vegetables, herbs, or flowers. Easier to reach and much safer from soil borne diseases.
You can also grow plants upside down fron your vertical structure. With the use of a Topsy Turvy , you can grow tomatoes, hot peppers, and strawberries.
It doesn’t matter why you choose to do it, practicing vertical gardening is fun and easy. Give it a try and see how much more you can grow in your organic vegetable garden.
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to the structure to enable you to grow other organic vegetables, herbs, or flowers. Easier to reach and much safer from soil borne diseases.