Suburban Ecology » Organic matter

How to Start a Fruit and Vegetable Garden

cathi — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:12:39 +0000

Vegetable gardening can be a very rewarding experience. But if you’ve never had a vegetable garden before, the task can seem overwhelming. Here are several easy ways to start your first fruit or vegetable garden.

First, some vegetable gardening basics. Most vegetables need full sun, well-tilled soil, and the right fertilizers to bear fruit (or vegetables). Using the wrong soil enhancements will cause your plants to produce leaves and flowers, but little fruit. Most vegetables need long and deep water – water the roots, not the leaves. Pick your harvest regularly to encourage more fruit or vegetables. Finally, know when to plant, and when to harvest. This information will be found on the seed packet or the plant container. As you gain more experience, you will be able to rotate crops based on how early they mature.

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Organic Vegetable Gardening. A Labor Of Love.

Rick — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:25:37 +0000

Successful organic vegetable gardening can require a lot of work and careful planning. This includes the preparation of the soil by enriching it and protecting the soil from the infestation of harmful insects.

Organic vegetable gardening is different from conventional gardening in two major ways. They differ from the usage of fertilizers and pest control. The fertility of the soil depends upon three components: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

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Post tags: Compost, Fertilizer, Garden, Manure, Organic matter, Pest control, Plant, Soil

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Something Rotting In Your Garden!

cathi — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:29:28 +0000

Your organic garden needs rotted organic material, compost, in order to thrive. Don’t just rely on any old detritus to feed your organic garden though. Depending on your soil and what your growning there are materials that won’t help much, and there are others for which your garden plants are starving. Random composts do not match the correct carbon-nitrogen ratio and water content. The main thing you need to know about compost is that you the gardener must control and stabilize the otherwise natural decomposition process in order to attain the ideal compost for your garden.

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Post tags: backyard garden, Compost, Fertilizer, Manure, Organic matter

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Where to Place Your Organic Garden

cathi — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:27:39 +0000

One of the most important things to think about when planning your organic garden is placement. Nothing will influence your organic garden’s success (or failure) more than its location. Where you place your garden will also affect your choice of plants — you need to choose plants that can thrive in the location you choose. With demanding plants like roses, location and the fluctuations of the weather must be tolerable so as to ensure growth.

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Post tags: backyard garden, Compost, Garden, Organic matter, Vegetable garden

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Preparing Your Soil For Organic Gardening

cathi — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:35:32 +0000

Soil preparation is one of the most important aspects of creating an organic garden. It affects everything in the garden, from germination rates and seed failure. So making a good bed for your plants is the single most important thing to make the best and most productive garden.

There are a good number of conditions that must be fulfilled in order to insure that you have the perfect soil for your plants. First is that the soil particles must be small enough so there will be room for the roots to spread and the water to circulate. A good size such as 0.5 to 5 millimeters is perfect for this, a good metaphor of which is that the soil must be as small as rice. Moisture is also important in creating a soil bed because this signifies not only the ease that the plants roots will spread, but it also tells about amount of nutrients present in the soil. But do take into heart that too much of something is counterproductive, so a soil that is too moist won’t work. To see if the soil is firm yet moist enough, see if it breaks down under the rain or not, this is a good indicator of the soil particles size and the soils overall firmness.

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Post tags: backyard gardening, Loam, organic gardening, Organic matter, soil testing

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