Soil health is the foundation of any organic garden: test pH and nutrient levels in the soil, and improve it with home compost, animal manure or other organic matter.
This also breaks the life cycle of pests, preventing disease outbreaks and making the soil more fertile, not to mention the use of far less chemical herbicides. Plants can be protected with mulches, sheeting or weed barriers.
Keep the Soil Moisturized
So healthy soils are a goal of organic gardeners, as plants will resist diseases more when they grow in healthy soil. To accomplish this, you must add organic matter such as compost or manure, and avoid use of fertilisers or weed killers containing chemicals, which will seep into the water supply and kill good bacteria, and instead use crop rotations, enemies of natural bugs and birds, mulches sheets and organic matter, and ‘No Dig’ techniques for weeding.
Add Fertilizer
In organic gardening, we favour natural feeding of the soil, which in turn feeds the plants, and thus depend on natural or organic fertilisers. As organic fertilisers ‘drip feed’ nutrients into the soil, they are more readily accessible to plant roots than chemical treatments, which can pollute storm waters and streams almost immediately. Organic gardeners use natural insect predators and weed controls in their organic gardens, too. Organic gardeners use frogs and toads to eat aphids. Organic gardeners use house sparrows to eat caterpillars. Organic gardeners use marigolds to deter potato bugs.
Harvest Vegetables and Herbs at the Right Time
There are many reasons why tending your own patch of land could become one of your most satisfying pastimes — whether your aim is to become more self-sufficient, wanting to be closer to nature, or simply deepening your links with the wider community. But, before you grab a spade and venture out into the great unknown, read on and make an informed choice. Organic gardening exploits the natural methods of growing vegetables and her, you say that you don’t like using the pests destroy the plants before they are harvest synthetic fertilisers to boost the growth of plants.
Now you point out that the synthetic fertiliser enters the soil and harms the helpful microbes such as earthworms, earth bugs etc. Consider eliminating the use of fertilisers and implement other traditional methods including composting and mulching to let plants grow in good health.
Practice Crop Rotation
The reason for this is that crops grown from the same family need to be rotated. Plant the same vegetable year after year in the same field and you will be encouraging pathogens and soil dwellers to make that place their home, too. Shifting plantings from one place to another every year throws them off their repeated cycle, and when it’s not repeated, the cycle is broken. Space constraints might hinder strict compliance with crop rotation plans for even the average gardener; if so, do your best. At least, you can rotate crops within one bed from one season to the next.
Practice Companion Planting
By providing a safe haven for nature, such unadulterated organic gardens can enhance the biodiversity of their surroundings. By eating aphids, hoverflies, lacewings and house sparrows benefit from the pestilence of these plants, just as beans, squash and maize how help fix the nitrogen in soil This is Three Sisters agriculture technique. Choose organic seeds and purchase OMRI-certified soils, fertilisers and amendments to decrease the use of synthetic chemical pollution in your garden. Use row covers to protect young plants from the elements and pests – which is important when attempting to identify and treat diseases quickly before they spread through your whole garden plot.
Encourage Beneficial Insects
But, as an integral part of its practice, organic gardening is also concerned with a motley and natural way to control pests – encouraging beneficial insects to maintain the balance. Among the services that predators provide in our gardens are nymphalid or ladybugs (Ladybird beetles), lacewings, and preying mantises, which all increase beneficial insect populations to reduce aphid populations – without requiring the use of insecticide. Meanwhile, parasitic wasps feed on damaging insects such as corn earworm, or help control tomato fruitworms, cutworms, Colorado potato beetles, caterpillars and other pests. Choosing early- and late-blooming flowers to serve as sources of pollen and nectar ensures that beneficial insects will be drawn throughout your entire growing season. Beneficial insects are also drawn to compound flowers, such as yarrow, queen Anne’s lace and mint, and flowering herbs, such as dill, fennel and sage, that produce pollen and nectar along their entire bloom cycle.
Practice Good Hygiene
Organic gardening depends on soil that is alive and filled with the nutrients needed for healthy growth. Using chemical fertilisers in organic gardens prevents those chemicals from leaching into the edibles you harvest and also maintains a higher population of microorganisms like bacteria and animals who help plants grow, such as earthworms. Your garden should also practise good hygiene by washing tools regularly, disposing of diseased plant parts in a manner that won’t infect the soil or other plants, and using organic methods such as companion planting or birds and beneficial insects instead of harmful chemical sprays to boost plant health. Organic gardening takes work initially, but in the long run it’s absolutely worth your while.
Don’t Forget About Container Gardening
Container gardening is the best way to get an organic garden. Raised beds will warm up earlier than a garden bed dug directly into soil, which means you can sow seeds and plant seedlings earlier. Another defence mechanism for organic gardeners who wish to reduce pests is allowing other, natural predators such as frogs, toads, lizards and birds into the garden. In cases where this is unfeasible, natural controls comprise mulches or sheeting to suppress weeds, as well as regular hand weeding and water sprays.