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Why Choose Organic Gardening?

By on March 20th, 2012

In todayís environmentally conscientious world, we hear a lot about organic gardening, but just what does that mean exactly?

The answer is simple; it means to use natural products in your gardening efforts. In particular this refers to fertilization and pest control; two aspects of gardening that have, in the past, made heavy use of chemicals.

Luckily, todayís gardeners donít have to make use of harmful chemicals in order to have beautiful gardens since there are many organic options that will help keep your garden environmentally friendly.

Fertilizer

Fertilizer is to plants what food is to people and all gardens need a bit of fertilizer in order to produce lush, vibrant plants. All fertilizers should contain nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as these are the 3 ingredients that plants need for growth. While there are some organic fertilizers that contain all 3 like manure, many of them contain only 1 of these elements so one must be careful to combine appropriately when using these fertilizers.
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Planting Biennials In your Garden

By on December 27th, 2011

Biennials are plants that take 2 growing seasons to go through their entire cycle. The first year they have limited growth and then in the second year they become fuller plants. Typically, biennials donít flower in their first year, but if you plant them early enough, you might get some blooms in year 1.

Some plants that are biennials are often confused for perennials because they are self sowing, dropping seeds each year that grow into new plants the next year. Interestingly enough, some plants that are perennials such as sweet william and forget me nots are often mistaken for biennials because they deteriorate significantly after the second year.

A lot of gardeners like to plant biennials from seed directly into the garden. This should be done in late spring or early summer. Sprinkle them on the ground and keep them watered until they germinate. They should be sown in a shady area at first, but once the seedlings are strong enough transplant them to full sun.
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Planting Annuals In Your Garden

By on December 3rd, 2011

Annuals are plants that grow only 1 year. You plant them in the spring, they grow all summer but then die when the winter frost hits. Some plants that are considered annuals in the northern zones, are actually perennials (growing for more than 1 year) in the warmer zones.

You can start your annuals from seed inside your house in the early spring and then plant them in the garden outside once the weather is warm but what most gardeners do is get ìcell packsî of annuals that have already been started at the local greenhouse to plant in their gardens. These little plastic ì6 packsî have 6 little wells filled with soil and a tiny starter plant. Planting them in the garden is easy, and they are rather inexpensive depending on the type of annual you are planting.
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Using Natural Garden Pest Control

By on November 18th, 2011

If you love gardening and care about the environment, then youíll want to know how to control garden pests naturally. Sure, there are plenty of chemical pesticides that will help, but these can be toxic to you, your family and the planet. Luckily, there are many things the conscientious gardener can do to keep his garden truly green.

When it comes to natural pest control, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Dead plant debris, poor soil and bad planting habits can be attractors for pests and disease so you want to be sure that you keep your garden and plants healthy in order to minimize pest invasion.

One thing you want to do is be sure to pull out any weak or diseased plants ñ these will attract pests and the disease could spread to other plants. If you see any spotty leaves or stems get rid of them right away. Also, be sure to keep your garden clear of fallen leaves and other debris as this can be a breeding ground for insects.
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Garden Designing Basics

By on November 3rd, 2011

Having a garden can be a rewarding hobby, but many would-be gardeners get stuck at the very first step ñ deciding on the overall design of the garden. This step is, in fact, quite important as it can be the difference between having a garden that is pleasing to look at and one that looks like a mish mash of unrelated flowers and plants.

Garden design is something that should be considered before you even purchase your first plant. Here are some tips for basic garden design:

Map Out Your Area

The first thing you need to do is map out the area of your yard that you will be using for your garden. Is it a sunny spot or shady? Does it have well drained soil or is it kind of wet? You will need to take these details into consideration as they will dictate the plants that you should plant. Always be sure to purchase plants that will grow best under the conditions that you have in the area set aside for your garden, otherwise getting your plants to thrive will be a hard struggle.
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Preparing Your Garden For Winter

By on September 2nd, 2011

When the end of summer draws near one could tend to forget about garden care but the truth is that there is plenty of garden maintenance that needs to be done in the fall months. So if you hate to see the end of the gardening season, then youíre in luck because here are some tasks that will keep you out in the garden well into the fall.

Fall Planting And Transplanting

We often think of springtime as the time to plant new plants, but there are many trees and shrubs that prefer to be planted in fall. If you have some of these earmarked for your garden then now is the time to get them in the ground. Also, plenty of plants should be transplanted in the fall so if you are moving around any of these plants get these tasks done well before the first frost.
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Getting Your Garden Ready For Spring

By on August 12th, 2011

When winter starts to release itís icy grip, my thoughts turn to outdoor activities and I can hardly wait to get out into the garden again. While you are waiting for the warmer weather, there are still quite a few things you can do to get your garden ready even if winter might still make a surprise appearance.

One thing you can do is to clean up all the debris, broken branches and leaves that have accumulated in your garden over the winter. You want to be careful, though if the ground is still very wet as walking around on it can cause the dirt to become compressed. Take this time to rake up dead matter as well as pull out any weeds left over from last year.
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6 Steps To Perfect Gardening

By on August 9th, 2011

For beginner gardeners, one of the biggest challenges is actually planting the plants! Getting them out of the pot, figuring out where to plant them and then trying to dig a hole the right size isn’t that difficult, but if you’ve never done it before it can be rather scary.

Here are 6 steps to perfect garden planting that will help any novice become an old hand at planting garden plants.

1. Deciding Where To Put Them

One important task of planting doesn’t have anything to do with planting at all! It’s deciding where to place your plants. An easy way to do that is to take them in their containers over to your garden and place them in the spots you think you might plant them in. If they don’t look good, then move them around. You can keep moving them until you have the perfect placement. Once you do, leave the plants there so that you will know exactly where to dig the holes.
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Planting Perennials In Your Garden

By on July 28th, 2011

Perennials are plants that can grow in your garden for several years. Unlike annuals, they do not die off in winter which makes them a very economical choice for garden plants. Not only that, but they typically multiply either through seeding, sending out tubers or creating new bulbs. With perennials you can have a constant supply of new plants year after year!

Perennials are typically purchased in small pots at your local garden store. These are already growing and can be transplanted in the garden. If you order them through mail order, you might get them as ìbare rootî plants which look like a pile of dead sticks! You can store these in a cold place until you are ready to plant them and donít be put off by their appearance, once you put these dead looking sticks in the ground, they will begin to grow!

Perennials should be planted in spring, but when buying them as already growing plants in pots, you can, of course, plant them all summer long. Of course, the earlier in the season the more established the root system will be come winter and thus the better chances for survival of the plant.
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The Best Way to Fertilize Your Garden

By on July 2nd, 2011

Flowers can grow beautifully with plenty of sunshine and adequate water, but if you really want lush, vibrant and full flowers youíll need to also provide them with some fertilizer. But figuring out what to use can be challenging especially since different types of flowers often require different mixtures of fertilizer for best growth.

If you want to be considerate of the environment, youíll want to be sure to use organic fertilizers. These are made from natural ingredients like fish emulsion and chicken poop and can be great to use on your flowers. They key is to be sure to get the right kind and donít overfeed the plants or they can become damaged.

Fertilizers typically contain 3 things, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Each of these provides a specific function for the flower which is why you might consider different mixtures of these at different times in the plants life. Potassium helps the plant grow a healthy root system and nitrogen helps with green growth so you might want to use a fertilizer that is heavier in these compounds when the plant is young. Phosphorous will promote beautiful, big flowers so use a fertilizer high in phosphorous before the plant starts to bloom and all during the blooming season.
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