Today is: Wednesday, 10th March 2010
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How To Grow Vegetables Organic Vegetable Gardening?
Organic vegetable gardening is something more farmers are getting into because it is cost effective and they are able to produce almost the same yield of crops. Before you can do this at home, the principles of organic vegetable gardening must be understood. No fertilizers, nutrients or pesticides can be used in organic vegetable gardening. The two things you will use to make it all work are sunlight and water so nature is your partner here. The ideal area and adequate drainage must be provided since we don’t produce these ourselves.
Aside from sunlight and water, you can help the crops grow by using compost heap from leftover food, chipped bark, garden compost, leaf moulds and manure which you can mix together and then spread this throughout your garden. A lot of people are uneasy about manure but this is sold in stores so you don’t have to scoop this from the toilet and if you keep Chickens then they are great to have - just let them roam around in the garden. You can’t put dead animals or meat products in the soil which is what some people use. Yet, left for a couple of weeks in the bin, maggots will soon appear which is what you use to help fertilize your garden.
The earthworm digs deep into the ground and aerates the soil bringing various minerals to the surface and providing better drainage, making it is another helpful creature. This long pink colored creature also leaves casting behind that experts say is five times as rich in nitrogen phosphorous and potassium. Again, this can be purchased from almost any gardening store or garden center.
Pests such as army worms, crickets, gypsy moth caterpillars, slugs and squash bugs are unwanted guests and make organic gardening a challenge. The toad is known to eat almost every type of insect despite the fact that at one time people used fertilizer to kill them so it is the best weapon in an organic setting. It is not in the toad’s diet if you have caterpillars or spiders lurking in the garden so get a bird.
It isn’t necessary to buy a toad or a bird from the pet store as long as you set the ideal environment for them so they may come in to your home. You will have some new occupants protecting your garden within days if you can put up a bird house or a small pond. The job could be done by insect killers such as the preying mantis and the ladybug as they mark their territory and eat anything that dares enter their domain.
Rosemary, sage or thyme can be used to protect your vegetables against butterflies and marigolds protect vegetables against nematodes. The best way to keep the soil fertile is crop rotation, despite all the flowers and creatures that nature has to offer. Plant a kind of vegetable every other season once the first one is harvested and alternate it with another vegetable type. As the principles behind organic gardening are very simple, all that is required to harvest the vegetables you have planted weeks ago is practice.
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