While organic horticulture is normally extremely enjoyable and relaxing, it can also cause you major problems if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. Use the tips presented here to make the most out of your earth friendly organic garden.
So that you don’t shock your plants, try gradually accustoming them to conditions and temperature. Put them outdoors in the sun for no more than two hours the first day. As time goes by, slowly increase the time they spent outdoors. At the end of a week, they should be accustomed to the outdoors and ready to transition to outside safely.
Try planting your plants in flower pots first, then transferring them to your garden once they have had a bit of time to grow. This raises the chances of the plants growing until adulthood. In addition, it offers you a smaller time frame between plantings. The seedlings are ready to go, once you remove the mature plants.
For flowers throughout the spring and the summer, be sure to plant some bulbs. Since bulbs are easy to grow and resistant to poor weather conditions, they will grow without fail year after year. Bulbs bloom during different seasons, if you pick them carefully you will have flowers almost all year.
Grow some wheat grass or catnip for your cat to eat instead. You may also place something offensively smelly atop the soil, like citrus peel or mothballs.
When you go to mow your lawn, make sure you don’t mow it too closely to the ground. If you let your grass keep some height after mowing, it will be able to absorb more sun and moisture resulting in a lusher, greener lawn. Short grass is more prone to getting dried out and turning brown.
Do you love fresh mint leaves but hate how they quickly grow to take over your garden? You can stunt the growth of mint by planting it inside a container or super-sized bowl. You can even plant the container in the ground. That way, the roots won’t be able to escape the container, and the plant won’t overrun your garden.
Place organic mulch close to your vegetables. Mulch keeps soil moist for longer periods of time. It also prevents weed growth. That helps you save a great deal of effort and time in weed eradication.
Be aware of the optimum time frame for harvesting vegetables. Every vegetable has a proper time to be picked in order to capture the perfect flavor. Baby peas, for example have much better flavor if they are harvested early in the ripening process, as does zucchini. Tomatoes, however, are best picked from the vine later when they are very ripe. So, be aware of the best harvest time to pick your veggies.
Any time that you are gardening in direct sunlight, dress appropriately to prevent skin damage. This includes wide-brimmed hats, sunscreen, and sunglasses. Protecting yourself from the sun will lower the possibility of sunburn and skin cancer.
If you pick vegetables around high noon when it is very hot, you are likely to damage them. Use garden shears to remove your vegetables from the vine to avoid damaging the plant.
You can create a great English garden by mixing types and sizes in one bed. Plants that grow to be the same height end up uniform and flat looking.
If you plan to raise organic plants inside, you need to think about how much light they will get. If your house or apartment doesn’t get a lot of natural light, one option is to grow something that only requires medium or low light. If you still are unable to get enough light to your plants, consider purchasing grow-lights.
Take the time needed to plant your seeds. First, you should loosen the soil, and ensure that it is sufficiently moist. Then distribute the seeds so that they are evenly spaced and have sufficient room to grow. Bury them three times as deep as the size of the seeds. Some seeds should not be buried at all as they need light to grow.
Do you want to kill weeds naturally? Take newspapers and layer them for controlling weeds. Weeds can only grow when there is adequate sunlight. When you cover weeds with newspaper layers, they suffocate due to lack of light. Because newspapers decompose well with the passage of time, they make great additions to compost. Add visual appeal by placing some mulch over the top.
It’s time to plant some organic garlic. Plant some individual garlic cloves into well-drained soil in early spring. Each clove should be planted end-up, four inches apart and between one and two inches below the surface of the soil. Green garlic shoots can be cut as they grow, and used in place of chives or scallions. When the tops of the bulbs become brown, it is time to harvest them. Allow the skin to harden by letting your bulbs sit out in the sun. Store the bulbs separately or tied in loose bunches in a cool place.
While gardening, be careful of what products you use. Use organic or natural alternatives in the place of the typical chemical fertilizers. Compost is a great example of what to use. A benefit to using organic over inorganic methods is that inorganic fertilizers are causing toxic chemical buildups to occur in soil and in drinking water!
As stated in the above article, many people do not realize how much more there is to organic gardening. Doing it successfully entails a good amount of patience and dedication, but achieving a productive organic garden is a worthwhile endeavor indeed. Follow the tips and you can increase your horticulture skills.