What are your best organic vegetable gardening tips?
Image by Lafayette College
Jodie Frey, Assoc Dean and Dir of Recreation Services works at Lafayette’s organic garden near Metzgar Fields on Sullivan Trail in Forks Township.
Question by christhenix: What are your best organic vegetable gardening tips?
I am starting an allotment and would like to be purely organic. Got any experience or tips for a newbie that I can use on my vegetable plots? General tips or growong tips, or just general ideas all welcome 🙂
What do you think? Answer below!
11 Responses to What are your best organic vegetable gardening tips?
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Build a compost heap and stick everything compostable on it. And invest in some water butts, especially if you’re in the South East!
Companion planting is good.
Encourage ladybirds and wildlife to do the pest control. I think the company is called The Green Gardener, they have all sorts of natural ways to deal with bugs (nematodes).
SundaeG1rl
January 2, 2012 at 12:21 pm
go to sainsburys
maid marion
January 2, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Horse sh*t!
I’m not being rude, it’s very good for organic gardening. Your local stable, farm or riding school should be happy to oblige. If not take a shovel and sack to London and hang around the police horses during Changing the Guard.
Ndimakukonda
January 2, 2012 at 1:15 pm
If you put egg shells around the bottom of plants it stops slugs and snails climbing up them.
crispycrump
January 2, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Whitney Farms has great organic to help condition soil and fertilize. Cow and chicken manure are really good for the soil. Also by adding used coffee ground to the soil you can encourage worms which are very beneficial.
Encourage good bugs, lady bugs, spiders, bees, praying mantis, etc. Also they sell these sticky papers at the nursery to hang that get rid of whiteflies.
Companion plants are good too, marigolds are good ones.
Good luck and enjoy!
bparker_92653
January 2, 2012 at 2:41 pm
Round up the fallen leaves and mix them into the beds (at the end of the gardening season) where they will break down and add nutrients to the soil and invite worms who will aerate soil for you. Learn about green manure – cover crops – like clover, that you can grow then turn under the soil. That will enrich the soil without having to use chemical fertilizers.
I plant marigolds next to most of my veggies, the scent irritates some of the nuisance pests but the flowers draw the bees in for pollination. Some of the nuisance pests can be controlled just by knocking the pest into a small container of soapy water (hand-picking).
Dill attracts beneficial insects but never plant dill next to carrots because they are garden enemies rather than companion plants.
I save seeds whenever possible or buy from organic farms.
If you have never gardened before then you might want to try growing peas, carrots, cucumbers, and beans. Those are very easy and mostly self-sufficient.
Definitely rotate your crops!
Best of luck!
always_cookin
January 2, 2012 at 2:51 pm
if you really want to go organic dig out the soil and replace it with soil thats been proven to be organic as you will always have residues of chemicals thats been put into the soil over the years,and if these residues are left in the soil they will be passed in the crops you decide to grow its a long process and not always the best answer as its really is differcult to be sure that all residues have been cleared
porterboy
January 2, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Start with soil. Buy a test kit so that you can amend it with what ever it lacks. Make sure drainage is adequate too. Do a search for ‘companion planting’ for lists of plants that benefit each other. Pay attention to size on seed packets so that your squash don’t crowd out your carrots. Yogurt pots half full of beer, buried so that rims are level with soil are great for catching slugs and snails at night. Check for damage (nibbled leaves) from pests often and pick off and squish any culprits. Gardenweb seed exchange is a great website to trade seeds and find info. Good luck and enjoy your garden!
Swirlgirl
January 2, 2012 at 3:46 pm
Organic fertilizer, compost, mulch and of course, no pesticides.
When it comes to making some dirt properly for a vegetable bed, start by mixing 2 parts steer or horse manure, 1 part peat moss, 1 part sifted dirt from your yard or 1 part topsoil and 1/2 part perlite. I prefer to mix mine in a wheelbarrow, but hell, you can mix it directly in a vegetable or flower bed. Just be sure to till the soil a bit at the bottom of your bed before mixing in your prepared soil.
Also when planting either plants, flowers, vegetables, etc… Make a mixture of 1 – 2 tablespoons of fish emulsion (it comes in a 1 gallon jug) and 1 – 2 tablespoons of seaweed emulsion (it comes in a quart up to a 1 gal jug) with about a gallon or two of water in a watering can. Just water your plants or vegetables like you normally would at least once every 2 to 3 weeks. This will help to produce bigger yields and helps to promote stronger root growth.
Next when it comes to your flower beds or the bare soil around trees and somewhat later on when your vegetables begin to be more established, if it is possible, try using cedar bark as mulch. The finer the better. This helps alot with water retention in the soil, but cedar also helps as a natural pesticide that has no chemicals. And after a while the cedar bark will breakdown and become compost.
Next is composting. Dirt, organic matter, water aerating the compost regularly and watering. I prefer to compost in the ground as opposed to using a bin, or anything else. I dug two 4ft wide by 3 ft deep holes in my back yard, almost side by side. This allows me to have a constant supply of compost year in and year out. Plan on it taking anywhere from several months up to 18 months to make compost. You can add grass clippings, clean paper, apple cores, orange peels, etc… Just whatever you do, dont add anything that has come in contact with any meat products, or fish. As this will attract animals. I like to add a cheap bag of steer manure to the mix which helps with the breakdown of material….
Hit me up if you need any more advice….
jeff the drunk
January 2, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Preen has a organic garden/vegetable fertilizer… sorry i dont know a website or anything but just do a search for Preen and you should be able to find it.
isk8
January 2, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Build three compost heaps, one to rot down, one to fill and one to use. Put any green material, some shredded news paper, household waste into them If you have a scorce of leaves, build a wire container and pile the leaves into it. Grow green manures on your plot. Has your site a scorce of farmyard manure? Feed your plants with organic feed. Read some good books on the subject. Go onto the Organic gardening web sites. Some can be accessed through the BBC gardening web site. Talk to people
gardener101
January 2, 2012 at 6:33 pm