Cost effectiveness and the ability to produce almost the same yield of crops are reasons more farmers are getting into organic vegetable gardening. You too can do this at home but first, you have to understand the principles of organic vegetable gardening. The use of fertilizers, nutrients or pesticides is forbidden in organic vegetable gardening. Nature is your partner here because you will be using two things to make it all work namely sunlight and water. You have to find the ideal area and provide adequate drainage because we don’t produce these ourselves.
Besides sunlight and water, you can mix together leftover food, chipped bark, garden compost, leaf moulds and manure using a compost heap and then spread it throughout your garden to help the crops grow. 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 could use dead animals or meat products as others do but these cannot be put in the soil. Leave them in the bin for a fortnight and maggots will soon appear which is what you use to help fertilize your garden.
Another helpful creature is the earthworm because it digs deep into the ground and aerates the soil bringing various minerals to the surface which also provides better drainage. This long pink colored creature also leaves casting behind that experts say is five times as rich in nitrogen phosphorous and potassium. Nearly all gardening stores or garden centers will have this in stock.
Organic gardening is a challenge because pests such as army worms, crickets, gypsy moth caterpillars, slugs and squash bugs are unwanted guests. The best weapon in an organic setting is the toad which, despite the fact that at one time people used fertilizer to kill them, is known to eat almost every type of insect. Get a bird if you have caterpillars or spiders lurking in the garden because this is not in the toad’s diet.
In some cases, you don’t have to buy a toad or a bird from the pet store because they may come in to your home as long as you set the ideal environment for them. If you can put up a bird house or a small pond, within days, you will have some new occupants protecting your garden. The preying mantis and the ladybug are other insect killers which you can get to do the job as they mark their territory and eat anything that dares enter their area.
You can buy organic lawn fertilizers to create a green lawn along with other types of lawn fertilizers and worm castings for a natural and beautiful green lawn. For free tips on how to use worm castings.
Plants are effective deterrents: Crop rotation is seen as the best way to keep the soil fertile, 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.
