Organic Gardening How To Blog

This organic gardening how to should not be followed by the novice or average gardener. The bhut jolokia chili, also known as the ghost pepper, is probably the world’s hottest pepper. It has over 1,000,000 Scoville units and is 3 times hotter than the habanero. Watch this video to get an idea on how much heat this pepper has.

That looks like some serious heat! Take that man to the hospital!

I know that many organic gardeners love to grow peppers and this video has probably peaked their interest. Here are some details for those that may want to try growing this pepper.

The bhut jolokia thrives on heat and humidity. Five months are required from germination to harvest. These two factors make it difficult to raise in many parts of the world.

The ghost pepper is difficult to grow. The blooms will drop from over-fertilization or any type of environmental stress.

Germination from seeds takes about 36 days and the soil must be consistently moist and between 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. The germination rate can be improved by first soaking the seeds in a solution of three parts bleach to two parts water for no longer than 20 minutes (make sure the bleach does not contain fragrance nor sodium hydroxide).

To grow the bhut jolokia in places where five month of consistently warm temperatures are not possible, give them a head start in movable containers that are placed indoors under florescent lights. Move them outdoors when temperatures are consistently warm and back indoors during the fall (read Organic Growing Indoors).

If you are interested in trying to grow this intensely hot pepper, you can acquire your seeds from this link – Bhut Jolokia Seeds .

Good luck on this organic challenge! Just remember that this organic gardening how to has warned you on how hot this pepper can be.

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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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Want to raise your own delicious Shiitake mushrooms? This organic gardening how to will show you how easy it is to do. You will soon be cooking and eating your own home grown Shiitake mushrooms. To raise Shiitake mushrooms, you will need access to almost any kind of freshly cut hardwood logs, or you can purchase these specially made Shiitake Mushroom Logs . The seeds for raising the mushrooms are called spawn and Amazon.com can provide them in a form called Shiitake Mushroom Growing Plugs . After you have these two items, the balance of what you need are:

• Rubber gloves.
• Pure rubbing alcohol for sterilizing.
• Good quality cheese wax.
• High speed drill with bits.
• And, an “x” shaped saw horse is helpful, but not required.

Most of these items can be found on the internet or at a mushroom farm near where you live. Watch the following excellent video to find out just how easy Shiitake Mushroom farming really is.

Now that you see how easy it is, you can make it even easier by ordering the Ma & Pa Shiitake Mushroom Kit . Everything you need to get you started on this organic gardening how to.

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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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