Organic Gardening: Expert Guides and Resources

Insect and disease killers that come from plant extracts are called botanical pesticides or botanicals. Although derived from natural sources, botanicals are not necessarily safer or less toxic to non-pest insects, humans, and animals than synthetically derived pesticides. In fact, most botanicals are broad-spectrum insecticides, which kill both good and bad bugs indiscriminately.

Compost is material, usually made up of yard waste and food scraps, containing nutrients that improve your soil. You can buy it, but making your own compost saves money. The process isn't complicated, and commercial composting bins and containers on the market make composting a mess-free, hassle-free process.When you make compost, you create a pile of material to be composted, mix the materials thoroughly at the correct ratios of carbon and nitrogen and keep the pile watered just enough to keep it moist but with enough air to breathe.

If you're considering organic gardening, take a look at the benefits of making the switch to a more earth-friendly way to cultivate your yard. To ensure healthy-growing plants, survey your property to find which plants are best suited for your landscape and garden, and check out non-toxic ways to control pests and fertilize organically.

Organic fertilizers are a kinder, gentler way to give plants the nutrients they need. Organic fertilizers usually come from plants, animals, or minerals and contain a variety of nutrients to enhance the soil ecosystem. Synthetic fertilizers don't enhance soil life or add organic matter. Other benefits for using organic fertilizers over synthetics are: They release their nutrients more slowly in the soil, when the plants need them, so they last longer.

IPM (integrated pest management) is a practice that combines biological, cultural, physical and chemical strategies to control pests. Organic gardeners use IPM techniques as the least toxic, least environmentally disruptive solutions for fighting pests and plant disease. IPM involves the following key practices: Using cultural techniques to promote plant health: Rotating crops, sanitizing gardens, using traps and barriers, mulching, promoting air circulation and water drainage, conserving soil moisture, planting companion and disease-resistant varieties, composting, and building soil health.

When you're planning your organic garden, you have to first take an inventory of your site. Your goal is to encourage healthy, pest-resistant plants, so choose plants that can grow to their full potential where you plant them. Consider these factors when laying out your organic garden: Sun and shade: Duration and time of day and year that the sun shines directly on the site.

Besides the obvious reasons for organic gardening, like growing pesticide-free food and maintaining a landscape without synthetic fertilizers, here are just a few of the many other reasons to become an organic gardener: Human health: Many pesticides harm people, causing illness when they're consumed or when they make contact with exposed skin.

Use this organic gardening calendar to keep track of what you need to do in each season, and remember to always work with nature, rather than against it. Gardening in spring Sow frost-tender vegetables and flowers under cover, on a sunny windowsill or in a heated greenhouse. Start to sow hardy veg and flowers outdoors when weather and soil permit.

If you don’t dig digging and if the thought of amending the Constitution seems easier than amending your plant beds, lasagna gardening might be for you. When you lasagna garden, you don’t dig up existing grass or till spent turf. You simply outline your plot and lay down layers of the same nitrogen- and carbon-rich ingredients you’d normally add to a compost heap.