Holistic lifestyles are starting to become more popular, and people are starting to live more organically. In order for someone to live a holistic lifestyle, and obtain the desired health benefits, they usually have to learn to grow their own herbs and plants. They have to know how to start and maintain an organic garden. Read on to glean some new organic ideas in the following article.
Plants Outside
Gradually acclimate plants to temperature changes and conditions, if you want to avoid shocking them. Put the plants outside in the sun for one to two hours in the beginning. Over one week, gradually build up the amount of hours you leave the plants outside. By the week’s end, your plants should then be ready for the big move!
Clay soil can be a real pain to work with as it often sticks to the end of the shovel. To make digging clay soil easier, try applying a light coating of wax, either car wax or floor wax, and then buff off and commence digging. This will make your task easier because the clay won’t stick to the shovel. It will also keep your garden tool from rusting.
Use both biennials and annuals to add color to your flower bed. Fast-growing annuals and biennials can brighten up a flower bed, and allow you to change the look from season to season and year to year. Use these beautiful flowers to line your driveway, surround trees and shrubs, and for decorative hanging baskets. The most popular varieties to use include petunia, zinnia, cosmos, snapdragon, marigold, hollyhock, and sunflower.
Before you start planting your garden, plan it! This will help you to remember where you planted the different plants when sprouts begin to shoot up from the ground. It can also aid in identifying the less prominent fledgling plants that lie withing a larger landscaped garden.
Keep your plants dry and aerated daily. Parasites are attracted to the moisture on plants. An example of a common plant parasite is fungi. To control fungi, use a fungicide spray on the area before you notice any problems.
It is particularly important for new gardeners to read and follow instructions that come with tools, as well as chemicals. Some of the chemicals in these products can cause skin irritation, or worse, if you fail to take this simple precaution. So make sure you take precautions, follow the simple directions and be safe.
Invest in a quality wheelbarrow and a kneeling stool if gardening work is going to happen often. Spending a lot of time near the ground working is very hard on the knees, so a lightweight and portable garden stool will make gardening more comfortable. Because horticulture means transporting a lot of heavy things, a wheelbarrow will also come in handy.
Don’t use broad-spectrum pesticides for your garden. This particular type of pesticide will also kill the useful insects that consume the pests. Since these pesticides often affect the good bugs more than the bad, using them can actually increase your pest problem. You will need even more pesticides to deal with the problem, and it will never really go away.
Select a specific type of plant to be the focal point of your garden. When you design your garden, think of a great focal point that will grab attention and add interest. More often than not, it is a plant that is distinctively different from its neighbors.
Pine is a wonderful mulch so do not discard the idea. There are some plants that thrive in acidic soil. For such plants, pine needles function both as a handy mulch and as a soil amendment to lower the pH. Cover your beds with the needles, as they will decompose and disperse their acid throughout the soil.
Coffee Grounds
Using coffee grounds as part of your soil mixture in your garden is often advised for healthy plants. Coffee grounds contain many of the essential nitrogenous nutrients that plants are able to use. Plants need nitrogen in order to thrive, so give it a natural source with coffee grounds, then watch everything come to life much more quickly.
While organic horticulture takes a little extra work, it is healthier and more gratifying than regular gardening. Though the use of chemicals has its own benefits, organic farming is a rewarding experience that ends with natural, healthy produce.
You can find a lot of information on how to keep any unwanted pests away by researching local botanical insecticides. Natural insecticides are often more powerful than ones that have chemicals in them. However, botanical insecticides may not last as long because of their biological makeups, which makes them disappear more quickly.
As you gain more information and tricks, you will find that gardening will become very simple for you to accomplish, and once you know how to garden overall, then organic gardening won’t be a hard task to learn at all. Keep in mind that the tips you have read are just the beginning point.