Organic Gardening How To Blog

The answer to this question really depends on what type of organic garden you have.

For example, if you have an aquatic garden…or a water garden…then snails can be beneficial. Snails are helpful in this type of ecosystem because they will help stir up the sand and gravel and will eat decomposing material. Snails are helpful in this situation.

Snails are NOT Helpful in most Organic Gardens

On the other hand, if your garden is a vegetable garden or a garden of flowers and bushes, snails are a problem. Snails will eat and destroy much of your foliage in this type of garden.

SOLUTION to this PROBLEM in your Organic Garden

If you find snails in your garden, there are four main ways to rid yourself of these slimy pests (these solutions are very similar to the ones I outlined in my article about slugs…read Slug That Beer). Watch this video to find those solutions:

Julie Chai recommends using Sluggo as one of the ways to get rid of snails. If you’re interested in this method, I recommend Monterey Sluggo Snail & Slug Control …it’s an organic product.

I mentioned that there are four ways to get rid of snails and this video only mentioned three. The fourth way to rid your organic garden of snails is to spread Diatomaceous Earth throughout your garden…a thin, light layer is all you need. In 3-4 days, you’ll find the snails dead around the garden.

Diatomaceous Earth is soil with sharp edges that will slice the skin of the snails as they crawl through it. The snails dehydrate and die. You will need to reapply this Diatomaceous Earth in your organic garden after it rains.

That’s it…until next time from the Organic Gardening How To Blog!

Technorati Tags: Aquatic Garden, Bushes, Chai, Diatomaceous Earth, Foliage, Garden Of Flowers, Garden Snails, hydroponic gardening, organic foods, organic garden, organic gardening, organic gardening how to, organic gardens, organic growing, Organic Product, organic vegetable, organic vegetable garden, pests, Sand And Gravel, Sharp Edges, Slug Control, slugs, Snails, Type Of Ecosystem, vegetable garden, vegetable garden organic, vegetable organic, Water Garden, Water Snails

It’s June and you know they’re coming…if they haven’t already arrived. Bugs, that is…bugs by the thousands. Don’t wait. Act now! Spraying your plants with organic insecticidal soap is today’s Organic Gardening How To tip.

Rather it be your roses, organic vegetables, or hibiscus you know that insects are going to soon be chewing away on your tender loving plants. Don’t wait until they’ve created damage…attack them before they attack your gardens.

One of the easiest and least expensive remedies is to spray your plants with an organic insecticidal soap. Here’s the recipe that I use the most:

• 2 Tablespoons of Dr. Bronner – Pure-Castile Soap Peppermint
• 1 Quart of water

Simply mix and transfer to a spray bottle.

This spray works best on soft bodied insects such as aphids, thrips, mealybugs, white flies, spider mites, leafhoppers and caterpillars. The fatty acids in the soap disrupts the outer membreane of the insects and their cell contents are able to leak out killing them quickly.

For larger insect or insects with harder outer membranes, spray with a pepper spray that I discussed in an earlier article…it’s also inexpensive to make.

Organic gardening is not difficult, but for the best results the gardener needs to be pro-active. Don’t wait until your garden is infested with these un-wanted insects…spray now and spray often!

Watch this Organic Gardening How To video for some more info on organic insecticidal soap:

Yes, you can buy already prepared insecticidal soap , but use the recipe I gave you above if you want to save money.

Also, a few words of caution…always spray your organic insecticidal soap on a few leaves of all the different types of plants that you want to spray and wait 1-2 days. Some plants will have a negative reaction to organic insecticidal soaps. If the leaves wilt, don’t spray!

For more info on controlling insects in your organic garden, check out one of my other posts called Pest Controls From Your Kitchen Cabinets.

Until next time from the Organic Gardening How To Blog…

Technorati Tags: Bodied Insects, Caterpillars, Cell Contents, Dr Bronner, Fatty Acids, Few Words, Gardener, gardening, hydroponic gardening, Insecticidal Soap, Insecticidal Soaps, Leafhoppers, Loving Plants, organic foods, organic garden, organic gardening, organic gardening how to, organic growing, organic insecticidal soap, organic vegetable, organic vegetable garden, organic vegetables, pepper spray, Peppermint, Pure Castile Soap, Spider Mites, Spray Bottle, Thrips, vegetable garden organic, vegetable organic, Words Of Caution

A few days ago, my husband and I had dinner at a local seafood restaurant. As they delivered menus to our table so we could decide what to order, they also delivered a small bowl full of raw sliced jicama along with a Ranch dressing dip… “on the house” our waiter said.

My husband and I were pleasantly surprised and we found the jicama to be extremely tasty. My husband looked at me and said, “How come we’ve never grown this?” That’s why I’m writing this post today in the Organic Gardening How To Blog.

I had never thought about growing jicama before and I feel a little foolish about it considering how tasty this root vegetable is. If you’ve never eaten it before, it tastes a little bit like water chestnuts, just a bit sweeter.

Having never grown it before, I started doing some research. Here are some things that I found out about jicama that you might be interested in:

1. Jicama is also called Yam Bean, Mexican Potato, and Mexican Turnip.

2. Native to Mexico and Mexico is still where most of it is grown.

3. Farmers in California’s fertile valleys have been largely unsuccessful at growing it.

4. A long, warm growing season (up to 9 months) “under relatively short day length is required to initiate good quality fleshy root development.” But, the plant can be grown in shorter growing seasons, but the roots will not be as big.

5. Jicama is grown from a green vine that can reach 3 feet in height. It’s a beautiful plant with heart shaped leaves. The vine blooms with white to lavendar colored flowers.

6. After blooming, the vine produces a pea-like pod. CAUTION: These pea-like pods are toxic and narcotic. Pinch these off to prevent children or animals from eating them. However, if you let them fully mature, the seeds can be used to grow next year’s crop.

7. Jicama is propogated by seed.

8. Jicama can be eaten raw or cooked.

And, here is one last Organic Gardening How To fact…. followers of this blog realize that I always include a video on my posts. Well, I could not find one video on YouTube or the internet that showed how to grow this plant… thats got to be a first!

It’s already June and too late for me to try to grow Jicama this year. But, you can bet it’s on my list of things to do next year!

My challenge to you is to try it, also. If you would like some more info on how to grow it from seed, read this eHow article for more details. Seeds can be purchased from Amazon.com … they’re inexpensive.

Until next time from the Organic Gardening How To Blog…

Technorati Tags: 3 Feet, 9 Months, Blooms, Caution, Colored Flowers, Fertile Valleys, Fleshy Root, Followers, growing jicama, Growing Seasons, hydroponic gardening, Jicama, Mexican Potato, organic foods, organic garden, organic gardening, organic gardening how to, organic growing, organic vegetable, organic vegetable garden, Pods, Ranch Dressing, Root Development, Root Vegetable, Seafood Restaurant, vegetable garden organic, vegetable organic, Vine, Waiter, Water Chestnuts