Organic and all natural products have increased in popularity over the years. This article will give basic suggestion towards maintaining a sustainable organic garden.
There has been greater demand over the years for organic produce. There are many reasons for this. Pesticides and toxic fertilizers, used by many farmers, have the potential for deleterious health risks. In addition, food safety and security in grocery stores, have concerned many people, especially if the produce wasn’t grown organically. This has prompted many families to express interest in growing their own organic produce at home. The following tips and suggestions can help guide one to that end.
Biodiversity
The main key to organic gardening is knowing the composition of the soil used. Biodiversity and a balanced composition of minerals and organic matter are essential, and the first step would be to know what type of soil is in one’s backyard. Soil analysis to see its composition is essential. The results will enable the gardener to add, improve or enrich it if necessary. If the analysis yields a situation that would prove too difficult to grow organic matter, raised beds with the addition of pre-enriched nutrient soil, could be the solution. Once the soil has been enriched, it will be important to know how to maintain it and what plants would be best suited for it. Healthy soil will always be more disease and pest resistant.
Mulch
Mulch is generally a protective covering that’s applied at the beginning of the growing season. It helps to maintain warmth, stabilize moisture and discourage weed growth. Organic mulch can include things such as compost, peat moss, fish and kelp fertilizer and manure. Raw manure, dead or diseased plant and animal products should be avoided and can be dangerous, due to possible E.Coli contamination. Adding this mulch, at the appropriate time, is a big step towards maintaining garden health.
Other tips
There are several other tips that will help maintain a healthy organic garden. The first is to try and choose disease and pest resistant labeled plants and produce. Also adding beneficial nematodes that consume harmful fungi, bacteria and non-beneficial nematodes is prudent. Another good idea is to eliminate and throw away plants that do get diseased, before they have the chance to affect the healthy ones. Also encouraging birds and beneficial insects into the garden is a nice way of allowing mother nature to help eliminate many harmful pests and will minimize or eliminate the need for pesticides.
Finally, many of these so-called organic pesticides and herbicides, may not be as safe as one is led to believe. Some organic products, such as boric acid, can harm certain fish, wildlife and can be toxic towards humans.
Having an organic garden can be extremely rewarding. If one is able to spend a little time weekly to tend to the garden, the results will be rewarding. Organic gardening is environmentally rewarding and is well worth the effort.
