Organic Gardening How To Blog

It’s now late July and in this Organic Gardening How To we want to talk about starting a fall garden. I know, we’re still picking a lot of summer vegetables, but if you want a fall garden, you need to think about it now.

To determine when to start planting your fall vegetables, you need to have some idea about when your “neck of the woods” is likely to get it’s first frost. If you’re not sure, you can click on this Farmer’s Almanac link to get an estimated date for the first frost in your area.

Now, that you know when your area is likely to get its first frost, you have to decide what kind of fall vegetables you want to plant. Once you know that, determine how many days it takes those vegetables to reach maturity and then you can calculate your latest planting date.

For example, the Farmer’s Almanac estimates the first frost for our location will be November 1. I just love home grown cauliflower and I want to be sure that I have some in my fall garden. Cauliflower has a maturity date of 90 days, so the latest date that I should plant these seeds is August 1 (that’s why I planted those seeds this morning!).

Below is a list of vegetables that are ideal for fall gardening and an estimate of their maturity dates:

90 Day Maturity Cauliflower Cabbages Carrots Beets Rutabega Brussells Sprouts Globe Onions

60 Day Maturity Turnip Leek Early Carrot Collards Swiss Chard Early Cabbages Winter Cauliflower

30 Day Maturity Radishes Chives Broccoli Mustard Spinach Leaf Lettuces Bunching Onions

In many ways, fall gardening is so much easier than spring gardening. In the spring, we had to plant our seeds indoors and had to wait until the last frost to move the young plants outdoors.

In a fall garden, we just plant the seeds into the soil and Mother Nature does the rest.

Watch this Organic Gardening How To video for some additional tips about fall Gardening:

Remember, keep notes on everything you do, when you did it, and how well it worked. Notes like these will make your Organic Gardening How To so much easier in the coming years.

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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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This Organic Gardening How To is about growing your own hardy kiwi. Hardy kiwi is a particular type of kiwi and the plant can survive temperatures down to -30 degrees F. The fruit is very sweet and has a terrific aroma and flavor. Start your own hardy kiwi from seeds and start them in 5-gallon buckets. If propagated, from the ground, hardy kiwi plants often don’t survive the first year because of inadequate drainage. Transplant the kiwis from the bucket into the ground after their root system is well established. This is normally done after their first winter and after the last chance of frost.

Hardy kiwi are not heavy eaters, but putting some compost or well-cured manure into the hole that you dug for them is beneficial. They like full sun to partially shaded areas. Be sure the soil drains reasonably well. Mulch the topsoil around the plants to help keep moisture in the ground. Hardy kiwi prefer soil with a pH of 6.5.

Plant hardy kiwi in rows, spacing them about 15 feet apart. Kiwi’s are a fast growing vine that can grow up to 10 feet high and produce over 100 lbs. of fruit. Thus, it’s important to grow your hardy kiwi on a trellis so you can properly manage the growth and access the fruit. Below, I’ve included an Organic Gardening How To video on how to build this trellis.

Once planted, prune the kiwi back to two buds. These two buds will develop into shoots. Once the shoots have developed, choose the stonger shoot to become your main trunk and remove the other one.

Tie this trunk to the main post of your trellis. Once it has achieved the height of the trellis, cut off the growing tip. Buds will develop here and grow into shoots. Choose 2-4 shoots to become your growing branches and remave all others.

Now that you’ve created the shape of the plant, future pruning will be done to ensure fruit growth. Hardy kiwi fruit develops on vines that were created in the previous year. Prune your kiwi plants in the early spring before buds develop. Remove any vines that are over 1 year old and remove any vines that had fruit in the previous year.

Harvesting kiwi fruit that is grown on a trellis is easy. To determine when to harvest, pick a few and let them sweeten on their own for 2-3 days. When you find the sweetness that you’re looking for, pick the remainder and refrigerate.

Kiwi fruit can be kept in the refrigerator for 5-6 weeks. Remove the ones that you want to eat 2-3 days ahead of time and let them reach their full flavor.

The following Organic Gardening How To video provides some more detailed information on growing your own hardy kiwi’s:

And this Organic Gardening How To video is a good video to help you build a stong trellis for all those kiwis that you’re going to grow:

And if you would like to learn more Organic Gardening How To tips, read Organic Gardening Magic or My Organic Food Garden. Or, read them both! They both have a 60-Day Money Back Guarantee.

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Water has always been important to us, but with our exploding populations, water is becoming a scarce resource. Every drop you can save is a little extra you can use for your organic growing needs. Many families use too much water to keep their lawns green. In humid areas, lawns only need to be watered every 5-7 days during the summer and even less in the winter months. In drier climates, lawns need to be watered every 2-3 days in the heat of summer and probably not at all during the winter.

Lawns should be watered in the early morning hours when temperatures and wind speeds are at their lowest – this allows for less evaporation.

Adjust your sprinklers so that they are watering only areas that need moisture. Too much water is wasted on driveways, pavement, and sidewalks and that’s not helping us with our organic growing needs.

Plants are often watered more often than they need to be. Plants prefer a deep watering every few days to encourage growth in their root systems. Watering every 1-2 days leads to a shallow root system.

To determine if a plant needs watering, dig 2-3 inches into the ground and feel the soil for moisture. Water is not needed unless the soil is completely dry.

If water is needed, water with a watering can instead of a hose. You will use a lot less water. And, besides, who doesn’t need the exercise?

If you place plants in baskets and hang them outside, hang them over the top of plants that are already planted in the ground. When you water the plants in the basket, water will likely drip out on to the plants underneath.

Inside, save your “grey water” to water your plants outside. Grey water is simply water you use to wash dishes and such. Most dish washing detergents will not harm your plants. Simply save the water, let it cool, pour it into a bucket, and carry it outside.

A great way to save as much water as you can is to collect rainwater. I’ve previously written a “How To” article on this and you can read it at Drought Insurance For Your Organic Garden. If your collection system is big enough, you may never need to use city or well water.

Every drip of water saved will help you with your organic growing needs.

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