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The popularity of organic food and gardening has certainly increased over the last few years. Not only does it give you a sense of well being but people love the beauty of wonderful colored flowers and the taste of vegetables they helped create. Organic gardening tips on how to successfully start and care for an organic garden are becoming easier to find as this type of gardening continues to become more popular. Along with being relaxing, it is a very interesting hobby. Anyone can organically produce wonderful fruits, herbs and vegetables and know that they are healthy to eat and pesticide, herbicide and chemical free. There will always be garden pests but instead of using chemicals to deal with this problem, there are many organic gardening tips to get rid of them, similar to the way gardeners did many years ago before the use of pesticides and herbicides.

A good homemade pest deterrent to use in organic gardening is:

In a jar, combine 1 teaspoon dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil. Shake vigorously. In an empty spray bottle, combine 2 teaspoons of this mixture and 1 cup water. Use at ten-day intervals (or more often if needed) to rid plants of whiteflies, mites, aphids, scales, and other pests.

Following a few organic gardening tips, you will produce fruits, vegetables and herbs that are healthy, taste wonderful, are less expensive than buying produce at the grocery store and give you the peace of mind knowing exactly how they were grown and what was used on them. Aphids are annoying little insects that often cause a lot of damage in your garden. If you plant marigolds near your vegetable garden, the aphids will quit bothering your plants. If you already have an aphid problem, spray the infected plants with diluted soapy water and then spray them again with clear water. Organic gardening tips you should try are; instead of buying compost for your garden, which could contain chemicals, make your own while you cut down on garbage at the same time. Using your garden and kitchen waste is an excellent and very easy way to make your own compost. In your compost pile use peelings from carrots, potatoes and other vegetables, dead weeds, coffee grounds, egg shells and even the pruning from roses and other plants. The different textures help break down the compost quickly. Compost improves the soil texture, structure and aeration while enriching the soil, which stimulates root development. When choosing plants for your organic garden, make sure you choose ones that are well adapted for your area.

Here are a couple of great organic gardening tips that not only help keep your garden free of weeds but also keep the soil from drying out too quickly. Grass clippings and pine needles mixed or old newspapers make very good mulch, which keeps your garden weed free and the soil moist. Organic gardening tips help you grow healthy organic fruits and vegetable that you, your family and friends will love.

Most important of all, is to enjoy your organic garden and the fruits of your labor. Not only will you have the satisfaction of growing vegetables and herbs organically but you it will also inspire you in your culinary tasks.

Here’s to a great organic garden and fabulous, healthy meals.

Copyright © Mary Hanna, All Rights Reserved.

This article may be distributed freely on your website and in your ezines, as long as this entire article, copyright notice, links and the resource box are unchanged.

Mary Hanna is an aspiring herbalist who lives in Central Florida. This allows her to grow gardens inside and outside year round. She has published other articles on Cruising, Gardening and Cooking. Visit her websites at Container Gardening and Gardening Outside and Herb Gardening

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Crop rotation is the age old practice of rotating plants to different growing areas in your vegetable garden. Plants that belong to the same family are rotated or moved each season. This aids plants with their nutrient needs and helps avoid pest and disease problems.

Giving a little extra thought at your planning stage by including a crop rotation system will save you time, money and effort. You will need to spend less on organic fertilizers if you incorporate soil-building cover crops along with nitrogen fixing plants. By using crop rotation you will prevent many pest and disease issues that you would have needed to find solutions for.

Say you decide to grow potatoes in the same plot each season. As you lovingly water your potatoes (or it rains) the nutrients are slowly leached from the soil. Your potatoes have specific nutrient requirements. Once they have used all available nutrients you will start to notice problems such as poor yields or pest infestation.

Each season, as you grow your potatoes in the same plot, they will have less disease resistance and will be inferior quality and yield.

This is why there was a potato famine in Ireland many years ago. A single variety of potato was grown year in - year out and eventually grew weaker and prone to disease.

When you use a well thought out crop rotation system you will enjoy heavier yields and healthier plants and soil.

Below is an example of a good crop rotation:-

* Year 1 - Grow legumes (peas, beans - broad, runner or French) or a cover crop ex. rye

* Year 2 - grow brassicas (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, swede, turnip, brussels sprouts)

* Year 3 - grow tomatoes

* Year 4 - grow alliums (onions, leeks, spring onions, bunching onions, chives, garlic)

* Year 5 - grow root vegetables (carrots, parsnip, potatoes, beetroot)

Then you can start your crop rotation system again. Of course you can interplant with other vegetables that haven’t been mentioned here to further improve on your system.

By combining companion planting with crop rotation you are going to see even greater results in your organic food garden and greatly reducing pest and disease problems.

Different crops have different soil and nutrient requirements. By changing your crops from year to year, you minimise any deficiencies and allow the soil to replenish. Also, when you alternate between deep-rooted plants and fibrous-rooted plants you improve soil structure.

Hi, I am an avid organic gardener and am known by my friends as the recycling queen. I live on a small country property in South Australia.
It is my mission to encourage as many people as possible to start organic gardening ( I know you’ll become addicted). This will improve both our individual lives and the wellbeing of our personal and global environments.
Anyone can grow their own healthy food with Organic Gardening. Click here to get started now! Happy Organic Gardening, Healthy Living…
Julie Williams
http://www.1stoporganicgardening.com

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Organic herb gardening, for those who don’t have enough time to devote to the garden or maybe you are a new gardener, is the garden to start with. If you have a small area, then an organic herb garden is ideal as it need not take up much room. Organic Herb gardening is a popular hobby and is so simple and easy to do, the children can get involved and grow to love gardening.

Herb Gardening Organically

As a hobby herb gardening the organic way, gives you a way to use what you have grown in your favorite recipes and add great flavors. You will find that organic herb gardening supplies are not expensive and your local garden center will have everything you need to get started. Herbs are so easy to grow and can be very rewarding for the home hobby gardener. There is nothing more satisfying than to be able to go out into our own gardens and pick something so fresh to add to our favorite dishes. With organic herb gardening what is planted can be used so well and the organic type of gardening is much healthier.

Herbs And What To Grow

Herbs have so much value, they are not just aesthetic, although herbs will add a wonderful fragrance to the gardens. There are several types of herbs that you can grow, why not start with the varieties for a particular type of cooking like, Italian or Thai. These types of herbs are called the culinary herbs. Why not research the different types of herbs that can be grown in your area. Once you start using your home grown herbs, from your very own organic herb garden, there will be such a difference in the flavor they add to your cooking that you will never want to use the dried herbs again. That is unless they are the dried herbs that you have dried yourself, as these taste so different to the commercial ones you buy in the grocery stores.

Herb Plants

If you start with the herb seeds, make sure you read the instructions on the packet first and follow them. Some seeds can be sown directly where they are to grow, others need to be raised in seedbeds and planted out later when they are a certain size. Organic herb plants are easy to take care of and are not bothered by too many pests. The mint variety should not be planted out into a garden as it will become almost like a weed and take over everything. But by all means, plant mint in a pot, I would plant all types of mint in pots, regardless of their variety. Organic herb plants can be grown in a window box, all types of containers, amongst other plants and flowers. Make sure that wherever you plant your herbs they have the right growing and soil conditions and of course, drainage. These organic herb plants have so many options for you, use fresh, dried or extract the oils. Oils from herbs have so many uses.

Organic herb gardening is all about growing herbs using the same methods as for organic farming. Organic herb gardening can be less expensive than other methods. The key to being successful with organic herb gardening is working with nature, this is better for you, your family and your pets. There is plenty of information today on how to treat common garden pests organically. Much of this information can be found on the Internet with recipes for getting rid of different types of pest and these recipes can be made with products you may already have in your pantry and all helpful to the environment. When you garden, your compost bin becomes your best friend, sounds strange I know, but once you get into organic gardening, it will become so clear. For the organic gardener there is nothing like a good compost bin.

If you are a person who likes to keep up with what is happening around you, then get into organic herb gardening as using fresh herbs in your cooking is just so “in” as people are finding out how much of a difference they make to our cooking. So if you want to use herbs for cooking, medicinal or even the wonderful aromatic value they have, then get your organic herb gardening started. Not only is it a great hobby but once you get into herbs there is such a wide variety to learn about, it can be such a fascinating pastime

©2007 CTBaird. Carmel Baird contributes to Online Gardening Information where you will find information, tips and hints with new articles about many aspects of gardening added every week. Find out more about organic gardening here

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