Everyone wants a garden and now a days they want it organic but they havent the faintest idea of what is required to manage one. 

 

Here is a guide to having a successful organic garden.

 

Commitment

Any garden requires commitment, a very large commitment. An organic garden requires even more commitment. So before you start a garden think about these things:

Who will be the primary person responsible for the upkeep of the garden?

Myself, My wife (or my husband), My cook, My Gardener, My kids, who?, family, cook, gardener, or  friend?.

 

A good organic garden requires at least 1 hour per day visit. Simple. Can you or someone do that? Ok you can get away with visitig every other day. I preferr to keep an eye on my garden twice a day morning and evening and as often as I can during lunch time. Morning time you can take a look at the garden and see if anything has been attacked during the night and correct the problem. Mornings is also a good time to catch rabbits and other creatures visiting your garden.

 

 

 

Location Location  Location

 

A good organic garden requires a location with a min of 8 hrs sunlight. What direction does the sun go from morning to evening? It should face south for max exposure to sunlight. You can never get too much sunlight, too little and it will stress out the plants which will attrack insects and diseases. A good organic garden requires wind prtection. What direction does the wind flow thru the property?

 

A good organic garden requires a water source and or water mmanagement practices to be in place. Use Drip system and or soaker systems, use layering to control water evaporation. I will discuse layer in another aricle coming up soon. I will place link here.

 

A good organc garden requires a convient location to home/kitchen. Whats wrong with this picture " Honey, im going to the garden, be back in a few days"? Garden should be short walk to house/itchen.

A good organc garden requireshealthy enriched soil so dewcid if you want Raised Beds Or in Ground or In Container. This will depend on where you live, the amount of room you have to grow with. Roof top gardening is great way to use space not being used and use it for growing your food. Raised beds can be placed on the roof as well as containers. If you decide to grow in the soil, you will need to admend the soil before planting while if you are using raised beds or containers, then you will need to combine organic potting soil with compost. Replace the soil once a year if possible. Use trays to hold the water and use drip heads.

 

A good organc garden will grow everything on your Wish List. Here's the trick, first off make a list if what do you like to eat. Divide it up into time of year they grow in. 

 

 

Warm-Weather Crops

Vegetables that love spring and summer should be started in a greenhouse if possible to get a head start. They do not like cold soil at night so a warming pad is needed. Cucurbits, Tomatoes  and Peppers are best grown in warm weather. Warm-weather vegetables include Eggplant, Lima Beans, Snap Beans, Corn, most Peas, Zucchini, Cucumbers, New Zealand Spinach, Okra, Potatoes (Sweet Potatoes, Jam too), Pumpkins, Soybeans, Squash. Beets, Radishes,  love the warm weather also. Collard Greens.

 

 

Cool-Weather Crops

Many brassicas, leafy greens and root crops growlike carrots best in cool weather. Cool-weather vegetables include Beets, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Chinese cabbage, Escarole, Fava beans, Garlic, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leeks, lettuces, mustard, Onions,  Peas, Shallots, Spinach, and Turnips. Collard Greens

 

 

 

Varieties

Grow only Heirloom Varieties... Do not buy anything unless it says its organic. Try to get the Heirloom varieties available from any of the many catalog seed companies selling heirloom.

Try Johnny's Selected Seeds

or try

Abundant Life Seeds

Seeds of Change

 

There are more just use the search engines  for Heirloom seeds.

 

 

 

Planting

Do not plant the whole packet at the same time! Plant maybe 5 of each  every other week to start, plant more if you eat more, plant less if you eat less.

 

Crop Rotation

Rotating crops is a technique used to grow groups of vegetables rotated different areas of your garden. The reason for the rotation is to prevent pest and plant diseases as well as to enrich the soil as diffeent plants take and leave different minerals in the soil. If you always plant related crops in the same soil, the affects on the soil makes the plants prone to many of the same pests and diseases which is easily spread from previous plantings. Another example, is that plants like tomatoes, eggplant and peppers are heavy feeders, taking large amounts of nutrients from the soil, while others, such as beans, peas and all legumes pull nitrogen out of the air and restore the soil. Others provide minerals back into the soil. By rotating crops, you'll ensure that valuable nutrients are not depleted and that your garden remains healthy and productive year after year. A green Cover Crop will insure ths. What is a green cover Crop? Take one of your beds and plant something like peanuts. Alow to grow and harvest the peanuts however turn over all the green matter and allow to sit for a few months to decompose.

 

 

Fertilization

Always use organic and natural fertilizers. Use clean compost. Use Rock Dust for minerals.  Use only certified organic fertilizers.

 

Water and your Organic Garden

Water is becoming harder to get and to keep therefore consider controlling what you use in your home and garden. As organic gardeners, we can all take steps to reduce water usage and still have a beautiful organic garden 

 

 Here are some tips on controlling the water you use:

 

• Use rain barrels to store rainwater for later use. 

 

• Add decomposed organic matter. Compost helps the soil hold water and adds needed nutrients to the soil.

 

• Mulch,mulch and then mulch some more. A thick layer of mulch protects the plants' roots from drying out, and also keeps weeds in check

 

• Water less frequently, but water deeply, making sure to soak the root zone rather than the whole garden. You should not water more then two or three times per week depending on where you live. Slow watering is best to allow water to soak in. A soaker system works best here.

 

• Use drip or soaker irrigation. This can save up to 60% to 75% of the water use.

 

• Water in the early morning.

 

• Group plants according to the amount of water they need. This way, you won't end up over-or-under watering any part of your garden.

 

Natural Pest Control

You will need to control ants and snails in your garden. I have a whole department on Natural Ant control as well as another on Natural snail control.

 

Natural Disease Control

There are many diseases that may affect your garden. Please see Garden Disease control Page for more specific information.

 

Natural Weed Control

Your garden will never be entirely weed free. Once you have figured that out we can move on to what we can do to control the weeds. If you discover weeds, best to take deal with it right away than later. The bigger they get, the more harder they'll be to remove. Weeds also compete with garden plants for water, nutrients, sunlight, and space. They will also harbor and or attract the wrong type of insects which will also bring their own plant diseases. Allowed to grow, weeds are a major threat to your newly planted garden.

 

Hand Weeding. Control weeds by pulling them out. Use a good weeding hoe, or learn to mulch or layer to prevent weeds from coming up in the first place.

 

Mulching. A thick layer of mulch deprives weeds etc their needed access to light. Once your plants have sprouted and are growing well, hand-pull existing weeds and then place a layer of straw, compost or grass clippings over the entire bed. Natural sources of mulches provide the added benefit of adding organic matter for soil organisms to feed on.

 

Natural Barriers. Lay natural landscape fabric, newspaper, old cotton or wool rugs, anything that is natural and that will slowly decompose. Plastics are bad to use. down around plants to block out weeds. This method works well for almost all your vegetable plants once they are grown. 

Layering is another methods of simply layering the mulch over a period of time. You can go from mulch like straw to a mulch like paper or even paper bags. The idea is to rotate the different types. Keep the soaker hose buried under the layers and you will need very little water.

 

Competitive Planting. Low lying herbs make for great ground covers and are called live mulches which cover the ground and prevent weed seeds from germinating. Herbs are a perfect choice for this method.

 

Animal Control

Protect you garden from gophers and raccoons and other creatures. For gophers depending on what method you use to plan, you will need to make a physical barrier to keep them out of the garden beds. For raccoons, you may have to cover the area with a cage to keep them out.

 

Greenhouses. Think about getting a green house to start your seeds in.

 

Thats it for now

 

Andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener