Organic Gardening Tips » Organic Fertilizer

Soil Preperation

OrganicGimp — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:27:17 +0000

Now we will go on for a more explained soil preparation before you start your garden, leaning away from the composting methods we have already discussed. Ideal soil for an organic vegetable garden is deep, well draining, friable, with high organic matter content, which is usually accomplished with proper organic garden composting that you will mix in with your soil. Proper soil preparation provides a good base and is almost essential for good seed germination and of course the subsequent growth of your organic garden crops. You also want to check your pH, and make sure it will be within bounds for whichever crops you will have in your organic garden, remember to choose your inter crops wisely to keep these well within one another’s range. If your pH is not within range, lime and sulfur are common soil amendments to change the soil’s pH. The correct soil pH is essential for optimal growth in your organic garden.

Tilling your soil is a good idea, but turning over the soil can cause issues, like soil compaction, and upset the micro biological balance, we do not want that, as those are essential for a great healthy organic garden. If you are having a hard time getting the right consistency after mixing your soil and compost, things like perlite and sand are options, however sometimes it can take a lot to improve the conditions, proper composting for your type of soil and area should take care of any issues, which is why you should always do your research and properly compost, and soil mix for your organic garden.

The Worst Garden Idea?

OrganicGimp — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:41:29 +0000

This is a debate like many others: Whether organic gardening is better than using chemicals. There is much debate about taste, and quality when it comes to synthetic or organic gardening, the debate will probably continue forever, but there is a few things to look at. Synthetic gardening, you could say makes things “easier”, but in the long run you have to weigh two things “risk and benefit”, does the benefits of using synthetics outweigh the risks? When I say risks, I include possible pesticide poisoning, the taste of your foods which is very important of course, natural ability to fight off pests and other harmful things like bacteria, among other things. There are studies done by people like yourselves to test these theories. To test the benefits of organic gardening, an organic gardening lover did an experiment, a side by side comparison. Two beds, completely identical to start, one for organic garden fertilizers, and one for synthetic fertilizers. Now for this experiment no pesticides were used in either the organic garden of the synthetic garden, to keep some simplicity. Instead pest were controlled by hand, or with a hose. Spraying down plants with a hose helps by washing the pests of the plants in your organic garden, or any garden, be sure to try and spray under the leaves also, but not with such a blast you will damage your organic garden, or other gardens. So, in the organic garden, only organic fertilizers were used, of course, and in the synthetic garden, a popular known blue synthetic fertilizer was used. Both were planted from the seed of the same stock and quality. It was reported the the non organic garden had an initial burst of growth, but seemed to attract aphids, and ants. The organic garden however, soon caught up and and surpassed the synthetic garden, and seemed to have fewer pest problems! Going back to what I said earlier about having a stronger resistance to pests. Another issue that arose is, the pH in the synthetic bed increased, and had to be adjusted. In the end, the organic garden harvested more quantity, and quality vegetables than the synthetic.

Organic Fertilizer – Compost Piles

OrganicGimp — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:45:09 +0000

Organic compost is like an artificial manure, which can be mixed with manures, or not, for another great organic fertilizer for your organic garden. Compost is made with dead plant materials, table scraps, leaves, topsoil, lime, manures, water, air, and other organic materials. It should be combined, and layered in such a way that it decomposes, and combines and yields a very great organic fertilizer, or artificial manure. You do not want to create a large organic fertilizer compost pile, around one hundred square feet, and three to five feet high, with a slight dip in the middle to catch rain water is advisable. One common layering method for your organic fertilizer compost pile is first, a one foot layer of leaves, grass clipping straw, and other organic material, wet and packed down. Then spread a layer of organic fertilizer manures, four to six inches deep. Continue by adding found pounds of rock phosphates, or one quart of bone meal, and about one pound of ground limestone. Sometimes a layer of topsoil is used. Continue this process until you have reached a pile three to five feet high. Keep your organic fertilizer compost pile moist, but not too wet, and leave it be for a while. After about one month, fork it over and mix the parts to obtain a good consistency. Compost piles can take anywhere from two months to one year to be “complete” and ready as a great organic fertilizer for your organic garden. When the compost is broken down into a very consistent mixture, and no decomposed leaves or other parts can be seen, it is ready for use.

Organic Fertilizer – Animal Manure

OrganicGimp — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 03:49:58 +0000

The use of manures is always a good source of organic fertilizer, there are just a couple things you must follow and pay attention to. Use manures that have been aged for 30 days, or composted, as we spoke of before so that microbiology has a chance to break things down. Organic gardening fertilizer manures vary a lot in nutrient content based on a few things: type of animal the manures come from, the age of the animal, and also the condition of the animal. Another factor is of course what they eat, a very main guideline is not to use animals that mainly eat meats. Some types of animals we look for are: cows, horses, hogs, rabbits, goats, and other exotic grass eaters. Notice all of the plants eat mainly plant matter. The best way to use manure, or organic fertilizer in your organic garden is to mix it with the soil three weeks ahead of time, however you can also mix smaller amounts with compost and work it into the top of your garden beds from the edge of the root zone in, being careful not to use too much, especially if your soil is already rich in compost and manures. Manures, or organic fertilizers are a good source of micro nutrients, but is not always a completely balanced organic fertilizer. Some very good additives for manure are potash or ground rock phosphates.