There are a few different types of inter cropping in organic gardening. Mixed inter cropping is is basically a total mix of your crop in the available space you have for your organic gardening project. Row, or ally cropping are different crops placed in separate rows, and is a very common and neat way to do your organic gardening. It can also be called strip cropping, when you alternate one crow with one or multiple rows of another crop. Either of these methods are great for organic gardening, and I am sure there are more methods, but no need to name the all. Benefits of this for smaller organic gardening is not too have too many of the same produce or plant bunched in the same area, therefore not creating too large of a target for pests that like that certain crop or plant in your organic garden. This also allows for the use of more of the nutrients in your organic garden by two different crops that otherwise would not be utilized by other plants. Combinations of two plants that help each other in other ways are also another reason to inter crop your organic garden. For example, a plant that falls over easy in the wind and has weaker stems, could be held up by other plants in your organic garden mixed inter crop, which means you can allow them to grow and take a break from gardening to go to work or play FoxyBingo without worrying about strong winds being the end of your crops. Another even better reason is pest control, by increasing the diversity or amount of natural enemies to these pests, such as spiders, which are always great to have in your organic garden. Inter cropping in your organic garden can also limit the places where pests find optimal conditions for themselves.

Soil conditioning and preparation is vital to very successful organic gardens. Organic fertilizers and soil conditioning materials are usually slow working in general, you should always mix your soil and organic gardening fertilizers three to four weeks ahead of time. Parts or “clumps”of unrotted organic materials can harm the seedling process, promote soil-borne diseases, and cause damping off to younger plants. Successful organic gardens usually start with an abundant amount of organic matter, and organic fertilizers, including animal manures, plant manures, mixed organic fertilizers and compost. Compost is basically a mix of dead plant material, dead leaves, grass clippings. All of these things provide a great amount of organic nutrients for organic gardening. Not only does adding organic fertilizers to your soil help condition it, it will improve its ability to hold water, and nutrients. Another benefit is to increase the microbiological activity, which in many ways can be very beneficial to plants by breaking down nutrients into more usable forms, and even create nutrients from things otherwise unusable by the plants or vegetables in your organic garden. This is the large reason we want to mix our soil and compost and organic fertilizers for our organic garden weeks early, as it gives time for the microbiological activity to break things down.

What is organic gardening? While it may be obvious to most people, organic gardening is the idea of not using any synthetic products, including pesticides and fertilizers. Instead, there are many organic alternatives to synthetic methods, compost instead of fertilizers, or nettle tea spray to combat Aphids. Compost is made up of organic matter, like dying plants, grass clippings, dried or dead leaves, kitchen scraps, to manures and fish heads. Compost can be used to feed in two main ways, either mixing it with the soil, or spreading it over the top of the soil for existed plants or gardens. Compost not only feeds the plants, but also conditions the soil in different ways, such as creating better aeration or attracting soil organisms to create more nutrients in the soil. As far as organic pest control goes, you have to realize in gardening that you will almost always come across bugs, especially outside. Your first defense should be inspection, visual damage and of course seeing the pests will be your obvious signs of a pest, but remember, not all pests are bad pests. For example, a preying mantis, known for hanging in one garden for periods of time will take care of some pests, Birds will munch on grubs, and lady bugs love to feast on aphids and spider mites, the pests you can really see, and of course a big helped, Spiders! They will of course spin webs and catch moths, beetles, among many other things.