Use These Tips To Become Skilled At Organic Gardening
A collection of tips on how to begin organic gardening, makes the perfect starting point for a beginner to emerge and hopefully, begin growing their own organic produce much easier. Below is just such a collection that will hopefully assist the eager novice into eventually, becoming a pro, when it comes to organic gardening.
Eliminate tent caterpillars. Tent caterpillars are a major pest, infecting apple, cherry, peach and pear trees. The adult moths create a woven-like nest full of caterpillars, defoliating a tree. Destroy nests by hand. Making sure to wear gloves, pull down the nests in the early morning and kill the caterpillars by dropping them into a bucket of insecticidal soap. In the winter look for eggs masses on branches, and remove and burn them.
Instead of pulling weeds, turn them into nourishment for your garden. Some weeds, like Lamium or Chickweed, are tough to remove one at a time. Instead, using a sharp shovel or spade, cut under the weeds and turn them over, making sure to bury all of the leaves. The weeds will rot, providing the soil with nourishment like composting.
Remember the birds in the winter. If possible, don’t cut down everything in the fall. Any seed heads left will feed the birds over the winter. They also transport excess seeds on their bodies which allows for self sowing. Wildlife is an invaluable part of the organic garden, and you should try to encourage it.
When you are digging holes in your yard in which to plant shrubs, bushes, or trees, do not make it perfect. Holes with perfect sides will actually work against you by restricting plant growth. The roots cannot penetrate the sheer face made by a shovel.
When growing an organic garden, be careful when treating pests. You want to use the least-harmful pollutant-free products. First, try several methods such as physical removal, different types of barriers, or even traps. If those fail, try biological controls. Then if that fails, try botanical or mineral-based pesticides.
Ward off infestation of annoying garden pests like aphids by lightly spraying the stems, leaves, and buds of your flowers with a heavily diluted mixture of warm, soapy water and a few drops of liquid dish washing soap. Next, follow-up by rinsing with a generous spray of water. This is effective for even the most serious aphid problem.
Use milk jugs to keep your plant’s roots moist for hours. Punch a small hole in the bottom of a milk jug. You’ll have to experiment to get the right sized hole but fill the jug with water and, leaving the lid off or only loosely screwed on, sit it beside the plant that you want to water. The jug will slowly drip water for hours.
Hopefully, this collection of tips were enough to give you a great start on what to do and expect when it comes to growing your own organic plants. This collection was carefully constructed to be an aid in your arsenal, so that you can begin to hone your organic gardening skills into growing healthy organic produce.
