Organic Gardening How To Blog

Finally, winter will soon be ending. That’s what brings me to this organic gardening how to – soil preparation.

With the approach of spring, most avid gardeners are getting excited, just as I am. Soon, we will all be getting our hands in the dirt and start our spring planting.

One of the very first things we need to do in preparation of planting is to prepare our garden soils. This is so important! If properly done, our gardens will thrive in the spring, summer, and fall months.

Begin by removing any old foilage that is in your garden area. Remove rocks, twigs, branches, or anything else that does not belong there. You may want to remove and weeds that have grown there to help prevent them from growing back after your garden has been planted.

Dig a hole in your garden, down to 8-10″. Check the soil to see how loose it is by grabbing a handful of soil and squeeze it into a ball. Slowly open your fingers and check to see what the ball of dirt does. If it crumbles as you open your fingers, the dirt is fine. If it stays in a ball shape, you probably have too much clay in your dirt. This will cause problems with water drainage. If you have this problem with your soil, you will want to add sand to your garden area before tilling it.

Immediately after the last frost in your area (see my article Start Your Organic Vegetable Garden to determine estimated last frost dates in your area), it is time to till your garden area. This means digging your garden area up and turning the soil over. This will loosen the garden soil, mix in nutrients, and aerate it. This will me much healthier for your new plants.

Till your garden area twice. The first time, do as I described above. Within 4-7 days, till it a second time. This time, however, add 2-3″ of fresh organic compost  to your garden bed before you till it (read Organic Garden Compost for more information on compost). This will insure you that your soil has plenty of rich, organic nutrients within the soil.

There are a number of tools that you can use to till your soil. If you do it manually, you should use a pitchfork . This is difficult and backbreaking work, but some gardeners prefer this method. Another method for tilling your garden is to use a gas powered tiller. This is the method I use. I use the Mantis 2-Cycle Gas Powered Tiller/Cultivator .It’s a reliable tiller. I won’t say this makes tilling simple, but it’s much easier than manually doing it and it’s certainly not backbreaking. I also use it during the growing season to cultivate my garden and it keeps the weeds out. Watch this Organic Gardening How To video for a demonstration:

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 gardening how to, or your money back.

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It’s February, and if you have not already done it, it’s time to trim the ornamental grasses that you have in your organic garden. You need to do this before new growth starts.

Ornamental grasses are hearty plants that add a lot of distinct beauty to your gardens. They provide a fine texture that off-sets the broad texture plants that you have in your organic garden. They provide a lot of movement as they sway in light breezes.

To trim your ornamental grass, it’s easier to do if you tie all the grass together with a small cord about half way up the plant. Since the grass is tied together, it won’t fall on you as you cut it and it makes it much easier to dispose of it. Cut the grass evenly as close to the ground as you can get. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt the plant. Most grasses have a deep root system and as spring approaches, you want the plant’s initial energy directed towards its own root system. After  trimming, run your hands through the remaining grass and remove any loose, dead stems. This provides room for future growth.

Take the grass that you have trimmed and cut it into pieces 6-8 inches long and discard it into your compost pile (if you don’t have a compost pile, yet, read my article Compost For Your Organic Garden). Watch this video for some further tips on trimming ornamental grasses in your organic garden:

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The Organic Gardening How To Blog originated shortly after I started organic gardening. I have always done a lot of gardening, even when I was a very young girl. But, for many years, I performed gardening the way most people do – I used a lot of store bought chemical fertilizers and pesticides. My gardens always looked great, or, at least I thought they did.

As I grew older, my views and thoughts gradually changed. I think this was partly due all the news and TV coverage concerning global warming and other environmental issues. My eyes and my mind started to open and I began to look at things differently. My garden was green, my grass was thick, and my roses were red, but I started to see the “dirt” that my gardening methods were leaving behind. It was “dirt” that Mother Nature had nothing to do with. It was “dirt” that I was applying and that I had complete control over. Things had to change.

I started practicing organic gardening three years, ago. I must say that when I first started, I was afraid at what might to my lovely gardens. Would garden pests eat all the foliage and just how was I going to keep the grass green without Scott’s Turf-Builder? Well, those fears are gone.

My roses are still red, my plants are still green, and I still have to mow the lawn every week. Only, now, all the “dirt” is gone. Organic gardening does work. In fact, not only does it work, but it makes gardening even more enjoyable.

When practicing organic gardening, you have to learn more about all of your plants and the nature that surrounds them. I now make my own compost (see Compost For Your Organic Garden), my own fertilizer, and my own pesticides (see An Organic Gardening How To On Pest Control).

The Organic Gardening How To Blog was created to do two things. First, to provide information and tips to other organic gardeners. And, secondly, to try to convince other conventional gardeners to give organic gardening methods a try. Organic gardening is healthier for you, your garden, and Mother Nature.

Spring is quickly approaching and most avid gardeners are starting to get the itch. If you are not an organic gardener, why don’t you give it a try? It’s less expensive, safer for the environment, enhances flavors, attracts wildlife, and promotes a healthier lifestyle.

Watch this Organic Gardening How To video pic:

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 gardening how to, or your maney back.

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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.

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