Organic Vegetable Gardening

If you are new to organic vegetable gardening then these tips are essential in making sure that you grow the best vegetables that you can and without having too many problems from bugs and insects.

1 Healthy Soil

Getting the right soil is essential when it comes to organic vegetable gardening so it is important to make sure you mix the soil with a nice compost, this will ensure that the soil has all of the vital nutrients needed for growing your lovely, healthy vegetables.

2 Companion Planting

Growing plants that have a strong scent along side your organic veg can attract the nasty insects away from your vegetables. This is one of my favourite ways of keeping the bugs at bay.

3 Making your own compost

I find that it is so much better to make my own compost out of tea bags, vegetable peelings, bits of newspaper…. basically anything that you would normally just throw away. (within reason of course)

4 Natural Pesticides

Experimenting with natural pesticides can be a very rewarding and a simple way of keeping the bugs away from your vegetables. For example, you could try using a lemon grass plant to repel the mosquito’s, or if you plant garlic around fruit trees, it will repel borers. So if you are having problems with a specific insect or bug then it isn’t too hard to just look up a way of using a natural pesticide to deter them.

5 Wildlife Is Your Friend

While organic vegetable gardening, having an abundance of wildlife is a fantastic way of keeping your vegetables healthy.

These 5 tips will ensure that you are able to produce some fantastic vegetables and not have too many problems with them being nibbled on. But if you are totally new to organic vegetable gardening then i would strongly recommend the Food4Wealth program as it totally takes the guess work out of your gardening and is ideal for first time gardeners.

Organic vegetable gardening definitely has a lot of benefits but before you begin your first vegetable garden there are a few things that you need to know. Once you know these basics then you will have a much better chance of success. Read on to find out what I am talking about….

Although there has recently been a big gain in popularity regarding organic vegetable gardening it is surprisingly still a topic that a lot of people do not know much about. In essence organic gardening is very much similar to normal gardening, with the main difference just being the method in which things are done due to not using any chemicals on your crops.

The vegetables are grown using only natural means by taking advantage of all of the nutrients that are already in the soil. In terms of fertilizer organic gardeners will use kitchen and garden waste to make a natural compost. If you are interested in making your own compost then be sure to check out My Guide To Compost

Like any other garden or even more so in fact, pests, insects and weeds can be a real problem. But there are many natural ways of dealing with these pests without too much hard work. Or you can even get 100% natural pesticides these days which get the job done pretty well.

As many people only have a small amount of space available for growing their organic vegetables it is vital that the correct planning should be undertaken to ensure that you are making the most out of the space you have. This should include choosing vegetables that your whole family love and making sure you don’t grow too much otherwise you will have a lot of waste which would be a real shame. One more thing you should check before going ahead with your organic garden is to make sure that the soil in your garden is good and healthy for your veg to grow in.

As you may know, certain vegetables will grow better than others under certain conditions so crop rotation is an important part of any organic vegetable garden. This just means that you plant different vegetables according to season. This way you are able to maximize the space that you have as well as achieving better results..

Organic vegetable gardening is a great way of growing your own healthy and delicious food, If you are a little confused as to which vegetables you want to grow then just think about which vegetables you eat most often. By doing this you will be able to reduce your grocery bill as well as making sure your whole family is eating a healthy diet, what could be better than that?

As you well know, bugs and insects eating your vegetables is one of the biggest problems when it comes to organic vegetable gardening and can be very frustrating and hard to handle, but there are a number of organic pest control measures that you can put in place in order to protect your precious vegetables.

With these tried and tested tactics under your belt you will start beating these nasty bugs and you will have your lovely vegetables back to yourself again in no time at all.

Plant Some Flowers

Believe it or not, there are some insects and bugs that will help protect your vegetables for you by eating the nasty pests, so what you should do is make your garden inviting and welcoming for these friendly insects. The best way to do this would be to plant a variety of different flowers that these particular insects love so they will come and set up home in your garden and be your vegetable bodyguards Some of these flowers include:

Marigold

Daisy

Candy Tuft

Viola

Californian Poppy

Golden Rod

So as you can see there are plenty to choose from as this is just a very small example and there are even certain herbs like Sage, Parsley and Chives (just to name a few) that will help as well which is very handy indeed.

Attract Friendly Wildlife

As well as using flowers in order to attract the friendly insects you should also be doing everything you can to attract other forms of wildlife that will help you protect your precious vegetables. If you have enough room in your garden it would be a fantastic idea to get a pond put in, that way you will attract frogs and dragonflies. Birds are also very helpful when it comes to organic gardening so putting up a bird box and/or bird bath would be also be a good idea. A few of the other animals that are good to have around are:

Centipede

Garden Spider

Hedgehog

Lady Birds

So once you have started attracting this friendly wildlife into your garden you will see a remarkable increase in the health of your vegetables and the best thing about this method is that once you have attracted these animals they will generally stay around as long as you make sure your garden is full of the things that they like.

Many people may think that you need loads of space in a huge garden in order to grow organic vegetables but this is just not true. In fact as long as you have enough room to place a few containers (which everybody does!) then you can easily grow your very own organic vegetables. Many vegetables have ‘mini varieties’ which are absolutely ideal for container gardening, some of the more popular vegetables are cherry tomatoes, asparagus and spinach.

Growing vegetables in containers has some very good benefits over standard growing as well because you are able to provide ideal growing conditions for your veg making sure the soil is just right for them, plus it can be easier to win the war over the pests as well.

You can use a wide variety of different containers to plant in, ranging from terracotta pots, wooden pots, clay, plastic or my favourite things to use are old containers that you may find around the house like paint tins, jars, cake tins, kitchen colander’s, the list is endless! But be sure to make some drainage holes in the bottom of whatever you decide to use so that the excess water is able to drain out.

If you put a layer of broken terracotta pot or chunks of polystyrene at the bottom of your pots this will prevent drainage holes from becoming clogged up with compost and soil from falling out. Also if you stand your pots up on something like bricks then that will help it to drain more effectively.

So you have no excuse for not giving it a go now! You can start off with one or two containers at first but I’m sure once you get the hang of it you will end up with a lot more than that.

Whatever your growing, vegetables, fruits or herbs having some good compost is going to massively improve the quality and health of your soil and therefore produce wonderful results when it comes to your vegetables, plants etc. Plus making your own compost will save you money and help you to recycle your rubbish, which can’t be a bad thing.

Having a good quality compost enables your soil to retain nutrients, air and water as well as protecting your valuable plants from certain diseases. Not only will it help your plants to grow bigger and stronger but it will give the worms and other such animals in your garden lots to munch on and keep them happy.

So I guess you are now wondering what goes into making a good compost exactly…. Well here are some of the things that I use when making my compost:

• Kitchen left overs like old fruit and vegetables, vegetable peelings, fruit peelings/cores, ground coffee, tea bags.
• Manure is a great thing to add if you are able to get hold of any from a local farm.
• Garden waste like leaves, dead plants, wood chippings or bark, straw and hay, soft hedge clippings.
• Waste from around the house like newspaper (shredded) but not magazines with the shiny paper.
• Pet droppings from animals such as guinea pigs, rabbits and budgies. But NOT from dogs and cats.

Some of the things that you should keep off your compost heap are:

• Meat or fish
• Dairy products
• Cooked food
• Disposable nappies

In order to make the most of your compost it is important to use a mixture of different ‘greens’ and ‘browns’ the greens being things like vegetable peelings etc. and the browns being all of your newspapers, pet droppings etc.

It is important not to have your compost too wet or too dry so if yours is looking a little on the wet side then you should think about adding more ‘browns’ or vice versa.

If you seem to be having trouble with too many flies buzzing around your compost heap then you may have it a little too wet, in which case if you add some more of your ‘brown’ ingredients like the shredded newspaper then that should sort out the problem.

Once your compost has turned into a dark brown crumbly type consistency with an earthy smell then it should be ready for you to begin using on your plants.