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There are several steps to organic weed control in your lawn and garden. It takes patience and commitment, but you can prevail against unwanted weeds over time.

Weeds Happen

You have tilled the soil and added rich homemade compost. You have painstakingly encouraged worms, lady bugs and other good-for-your-garden guests. You have a garden you can be proud of. Then, you walk out the door and there are hundreds of weeds poking up from the mulch.

How did that happen?

Maybe your compost pile or mulch pile had a few seeds in it or maybe the wind brought over your neighbor’s dandelion collection. Whatever the reason, you now have weeds. Even though you may be tempted to use chemicals to get rid of them fast, it is better to use organic methods that may take longer. This keeps your surroundings healthier and more able to withstand weeds in the future.

Methods of organic Weed Control

Which method of weed control you use will depend on the size and type of garden you have.

Old Fashioned Weeding

One of the best methods of organic weed control is old fashioned weeding. It takes awhile, but if you can remove weeds from your garden before they begin to mature and seed then you will have fewer weeds to deal with next year and fewer the year after that.

The weeds are easily removed when they are small. Commit to spending an hour or so each day pulling these small intruders out of your organic garden.

Crowd Out Weeds

You can crowd out weeds with healthy plants. Weeds need sunlight, waster, and vitamins and minerals just like your plants. When you plant items close together, the weeds don’t have a chance to thrive. This doesn’t work with all categories of plants, but can work well with bush plants like green beans.

Mulch

Mulch provides weed control by keeping the weeds from getting light, vitamins and minerals or space. As soon as your seedlings are up, surround them with a thick layer of mulch. You may have to replace it during the season so be prepared to do that.

Many people like the plastic mulch because it does not need to be replaced as frequently. However, organic mulch breaks down and enriches the soil. Plastic mulches eventually just become fodder for overcrowded landfills.

Hoes and Other Tools

For larger weeds, using a hoe is a great thought. This is a good way to handle weeds in pathways and other large areas of the garden. Hoes as well help to break up hard soil and keep it ready to soak up as much water as probable when it rains.

Special guidance for organic lawns

Any sort of bare space will encourage weeds and clover. It is very important that you not walk on the lawn after it has been raining, if at all probable. You don’t want to cause muddy areas or kill the grass because that will encourage weeds.

As soon as you see an area that is bare, go ahead and re-seed it. This keeps the lawn growing only what you want it to.

It takes up to three years for organic weed control methods to become completely effective. frequently the organic gardener will see a constructive change the first year and then risingly less weeds as time goes by. Using all the methods together will allow you to slowly eradicate the weeds in your garden in a healthy way and build up the strength of your soil and the same time.

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When you know how to create an on top of ground organic vegetable garden, you will be able to easily grow much of your own health diet vegetables. It isn’t complex, and the technique allows you to grow more diet in a smaller space.

Choose Your Site

The very first thing you will need to do when creating a garden is to choose a site that has six to eight hours of sunlight a day. If you live in a hot climate, you may want to try to choose a site that gets mostly morning sun. That tends to be gentler than the hotter afternoon sun and your plants will be less likely to scorch.

Even though you are going to be building raised beds, you will want the site to drain easily. Puddles around the bottom of your beds can cause predicaments with roots. If you use wood to create the beds, poor drainage can as well cause the wood to begin to rot and deteriorate

Plan Your Garden

The next step is to do some planning. You will want to page through your organic seed catalogs or check the online seed companies. Choose plants that work well in your climate and that are compact. Make a list of the vegetables that you want to grow.

Using a piece of graph paper, lay out your raised beds. Most people create the beds in a four foot width. This allows you to reach the vegetables easily for picking. You can use any length that fits well in your garden area, but four foot by four foot squares and four foot by six foot rectangles seem to be the easiest to manage.

Remember to keep a four or five foot distance between the beds. This allows you to get a wheel barrow, lawn mower, or other tools through the area easily. You can handle these paths several ways:

• Allow grass to grow between the beds and keep it mowed
• Lay down a thick straw mulch
• Make gravel walkways

Create the Beds

Once you know where you are going to make your garden and what you are going to put in it, you can start making the beds. Depending on your budget and time, you can either buy raised bed kits that snap together, build your own, or just build up the bed with dirt and compost until it is higher than the ground around it.

Just building up the ground is not the best way because it will erode over time. However, it will allow you to get your garden started when your budget isn’t big sufficient to handle getting the materials for the raised beds.

Once you have your raised bed forms made, you are going to fill them up. It is a good thought to place a few layers of newspaper on the bottom of the bed before you put the soil in. Wet them down. The newspapers will help keep the weeds and grass from growing up into your raised bed.

You want to make a light soil mix that has a lot of vitamins and minerals.  Mix about 1/3 part of compost, 1/3 part organic soil, and 1/3 part hydrated coir. Coir is a product that is created when coconuts are harvested and processed. It holds moisture very well and is sustainable and eco-friendly.

Add in some well rotted cow manure and mix the soil up well. Shovel it lightly into the raised bed forms, being careful not to pack it down. Once you have the beds full, you are ready to plant your seeds.

Planting and Companion Planting

Knowing how to create an on top of ground organic vegetable garden will allow you to grow more vegetables than if you were planting in a conventional garden. The seeds and plants can be planted closer together. Not only does this give you more generate in a small space, but it shades the root systems.

Companion plants like marigolds, yarrow, and onions can add a pretty border to the raised beds as well as keep pests from moving in. This helps you keep your garden organic.

More on How to Create an on top of Ground organic Vegetable Garden

You can discover diagrams, plans, and instructions for building beds on the Internet for free. The instructions will be the same for organic gardens – just make sure you use all organic materials and stay away from treated wood.

• Planning a Vegetable Garden
• Raised Bed Garden Plan
• Raised Bed Gardening
• How to Construct a Raised Planting Bed

The initial expense for making raised beds can be high, but remember that they are stable and you will be using them for years to come.

Outdoor living

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You can have own organic vegetable garden almost wherever. Whether you live in a small apartment or on a suburban lot, you can grow at least some of your own health daily diet.

Container Gardens

If you live in an apartment, you can grow many plants in containers on a balcony or small patio. As long as the area gets sufficient sunlight, your plants should thrive. Most plants do best with eight hours of sunlight, but they can survive and generate with as little as six hours of sunlight per day. Since the plants are in containers, they can be moved out of the shaded area as the sun moves.

The fine blog, Life on the Balcony, covers this process in depth on an ongoing basis.

Types of Containers

Plants can be planted in a variety of containers:

• Barrels
• Baskets
• Flats
• Pots
• Recycled items

Here are some tips for choosing containers for your container vegetable garden:

• Use glazed ceramic pots with good drainage holes for the best results.
• Containers that hold between 10 and 100 quarts are the most useful.
• Use deep pots for deep rooted vegetables.
• Set the pots on bricks to allow for drainage.
• Clay pots will need to be watered more frequently because the dry out faster.

Soil

You will need a nutrient rich soil for your container garden. It should be light and drain quickly to keep the roots from rotting. High quality compost is thoughtl to use as a potting soil. About once a week (or as directed) give your plants an organic fertilizer to keep the vitamins and minerals in the soil.

Adding a thick mulch to the top two inches or so of the pot will help the soil retain moisture as well.

Square Foot Gardening

If you have a little bit of yard, you can do a larger garden. Using the techniques in square foot gardening can allow you to grow an abundance of organic vegetables in a very small space.

Like container gardening, square foot gardening relies on nutrient dense compost and enriched soils to grow a variety of vegetables and other plants. Rather than using containers, you build stable, raised beds to create your small, organic vegetable garden. The beds are generally four feet by four feet to keep them easy to maintain.

Seed are planted closely and the raised beds are kept watered, fertilized and mulched. This is an intensive gardening method which many people love.

Plants for a Small organic Vegetable Garden

You will want to make the most of the limited space of your garden. Plant only your family’s favorite items and maybe one or two experipsychological categories of seeds. For instance, sweet corn takes up a lot of room in any garden, but you can grow sufficient green beans in the same area to feed your family for several months. You will probably have sufficient to freeze as well. Tomatoes are another good choice for the home gardener.

Sticking with easy to grow items that are specially made for small spaces is a great way to fill up your freezer and be successful at gardening.

As more people plant vegetables, there is a growing trend among botanists and seed companies to create small plants that generate like large ones. Some of the most popular small plants are:

• Big Boy Tomato
• Heavyweight 2 Green Beans
• Spacemaster Cucumber
• Buttercrunch Lettuce
• Gold Rush Squash

These are just some of the hundreds of plants and seeds on the market. Look for terms like bush, compact, space saver, and others that imply the plant will be a compact grower.

Choosing a Site

When you are creating a garden bed, no matter how small it is, you need to keep in mind the needs that the plants will have as far as soil, water, and sunlight. After you have chosen a site, observe it for a couple of days before planting. Notice how much sunlight the area gets and whether water drains easily or it puddles.

Having a small organic vegetable garden doesn’t mean that you can’t grow an abundance of vegetables. It simply means that you will need to plan carefully and make the most efficient use of your space.

Organic vegetables growing

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Starting an organic vegetable garden is a great way to save money, get exercise, and have quality family time.
Starting an organic vegetable garden may be the beginning of a new hobby, maybe even a new lifestyle.

Planning an organic Garden

Like whatever else you will discover that you have more success if you begin your organic garden with a plan and a goal.

How Much Time Do You Have?

Even though gardening is an enjoyable hobby, it does take time. Knowing how much time you can realistically devote to your garden is an very important part of your garden plan.

How Big Will It Be?

The size of your garden will likely be determined by the size of your yard as well as how much time you will have to devote to it. If this is your first vegetable garden, you may want to keep it small. You can always add on to it next year.

Remember that the garden will need to be weeded, mulched, and maybe watered on a regular basis. Taking care of a very large garden will take a lot of time.

Which Vegetables Will You Grow?

Some vegetables are much easier to grow than others. Some good vegetables for beginners are:

• Green beans
• Radishes
• Spinach
• Tomatoes
• Zucchini

You should as well choose vegetables that you like the best. Growing bushels of organic green beans is great, but only if your family will eat them.

How Much Gardening Experience Do You Have?

Plan a simple garden if you don’t have much experience. Once you get an thought of how much time it takes and which varieties grow best for you, then you can create the garden of your dreams.

What Zone Do You Live In?

Different areas of the country have different growing states. Which gardening zone you live in will determine what you can grow. For instance, certain categories of apples will not grow well in Texas because it does not get cold sufficient in the winter. By being aware of your climate, you can choose the plants that will have the most chance of success.

What Type of Garden Will You Have?

There are many ways of gardening. You can have a garden with rows and space between the rows or a raised bed garden. There are other categories as well and each has benefits. You should research the variety of garden categories to see which will fit your needs.

Where Will It Be Located?

Choose a site in your yard that gets at least six hours of sunlight a day. If you live in a hot climate, try to make sure that most of those six hours are morning sunlight; the afternoon sun can burn your plants. You as well want it to be close to a source of water and in an area that is well drained.

First Steps to Starting an organic Vegetable Garden

Once you have the garden planned out, it is time to get to work. Look through organic seed catalogs or websites and choose a few categories of seeds. organic vegetable seeds will be cltimely marked that they are organic.

Prepare the Garden

The first thing to do after planning is to prepare the bed. If you are making a conventional garden, this will mean tilling up the soil, raking out the stones and clods of dirt, adding compost and tilling it again. For raised beds, you will be building the beds and filling them with a rich combination of soil and compost. Either way, you are creating a soft, fertile bed for your plants.

Planting Seeds

Plant your seeds regular to the direction on the package. Water the ground well and mark what is planted in that row or bed. It is a good thought to start a garden notebook at this point. You can make notes on which seeds are planted where and how happy you are with the particular varieties you have chosen.

Ultimately, this will help you in later years. You can avoid planting the same vegetable in the same place year after year. This make sures that ailment are not passed down from season to season.

Mulch

Once the seedlings come up and have their first set of real leaves, you can surround them with a thick, two to three inch layer of mulch to help retain moisture in the soil. As the mulch breaks down, it as well enriches the soil.

Weed

Diligent weeding in the first few years of the life of a garden will benefit you in later years. Weeds will not drop seeds and over a period of time you will have fewer weeds.

Control Pests organicly

The best way to keep pests from your vegetables is to hand pick them off. Having strong healthy plants as well means that they will be able to fend off ailment without the addition of chemicals. If you have an infestation of pests, there are many organic recipes for organic pesticides.

When children get to grow their own favorite vegetables and enjoy the fresh harvest, they learn to appreciate healthy, organic supplements.

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The third week of June is still a busy time for planting, as it is not too late to plant dahlia tubers, lily and glad bulbs and to start growing tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and zucchini. You can grow short-season crops like carrots, lettuce and beans from seed planted this week but look for healthy transplants of cucumbers, tomatoes and squash at the nursery to give these heat-lovers a head start. Corn can also be planted by seed this week.

Get snippy with your lavender and rose plants once they finish a first flush of blooms and you’ll be rewarded with more flowers in a second flush of blooms.

Is it true that tomatoes should be planted extra deep?

Budding gardeners always bloom with the fertilizer of knowledge. When you add tall tomato plants to a garden bed or pot it helps the plant to build more roots (which makes a stronger plant) if you dig a deep hole or even a long trench and bury the stem of the tomato plant so that at least half the length of the stem is covered with soil. But first remove the leaves from the bottom half of the long stem. When foliage is removed the bump that is left is called the node, and this is where the new roots will sprout. When you dig a trench you can lie the tomato plant sideways into this shallow ditch and curve the top half of the plant upward so it remains above ground. Now here’s a warning: burying plants extra deep will kill most seedlings, perennials, trees and shrubs. Rhodies and azaleas especially hate to have a lot of soil or mulch on top of their fine roots. Tomatoes and potatoes are exceptions to this rule and like to be planted deep.

How often should one turn a compost pile?

Dig in whenever you get the energy or need the exercise. For the fastest conversion of garden garbage into garden gold turn once a week, but laid back gardeners can take a slower route to riches and just let it rot naturally; compost will be ready in three weeks the fast way but it can take up to nine months if you just let it sit. Adding coffee grounds, old compost, grass clippings, sawdust and leaf mold to the pile will help it decompose faster and although egg shells and other slow-to-rot ingredients may take months to break down, the general rule of green thumb is that the smaller the pieces that go into the pile, the quicker they decompose. Turning the pile adds air which speeds up the process. Get rid of your free weights, give up the gym membership and learn how to build biceps the natural way – with a pitchfork in your hands. You and the garden will both grow stronger.

What killed clematis?

Wilt disease look  like great problem for clematis. This fungal infection strikes quickly and there is no cure. But there is hope. Clematis that die from wilt disease have been known to come back from an underground root as long as three years after the funeral. To prevent clematis wilt do not bump or cultivate around the fragile stems of clematis plants. If you damage a stem near ground level the fungi that live in the soil may find an entry into the clematis vine. If you have kids or pets that share the garden protect those skinny clematis necks with a low barrier of twigs or wire fencing that can surround the base of the vines.
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Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer

Preen Vegetable Garden Weed Preventer is the organic way to stop weeds before they start! Just sprinkle around established vegetables, herbs, and fruits once a month to prevent weeds from returning to your garden. Children and pets can play in the area immediately after application.

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Garden Gypsum

Part of the Organic Traditions line from Espoma, Garden Gypsum is pelletized for easy application. Gypsum help loosen hard heavy clay soils. Gypsum also helps cure turf burns from ice-melters and pets. Comprised of 100% organic nutrients, Garden Gypsum is pure plant food with no fillers or sludges. It will enrich your garden with the best the Earth has to offer.

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This fertilizer should be applied to your garden lawn in spring and will last for months keeping your turf in good health, once again examine the manufactures directions on this kind prior to applying it to your lawn.

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The best way to make you gardent compost is to use Bio-Drum Garden Composter.
Compost is organic matter of varied composition that has broken down through the process of combining it with a bulking agent.
Adding compost in ground soil can help you grow larger and healthier plants and by removing your kitchen scraps and material from your garbage, you reduce the trash you produce.
It is not difficult to make your own rotating barrel composter. Simply take a large drum and hit aeration holes in it. If you wish, fins can be added inside the drum to lift and mix the compost stuffs. To finish it off, add a hinged loading door in the side so that you can add your waste.

One way to make your stuffs inside the drum decompose faster is to roll the barrel on the ground to mix the contents. However, if you have welding skills, you can mount the barrel on a stand and add a crank attachment.
Then all you need do is turn that cranks every day or second day.

If bacteria are introduced with a good amount of garden soil and the barrel is turned every few days, compost can be made in a few weeks this way with little physical effort.

There are also garden composters that stand in your yard and compost at a more accelerated rate. One of the best and easiest to use models is the drum composter.

Drum garden composters allows you to actively rotate the compost which increases oxygen and decomposition rates.
The NEW Garden Composters incorporate patented double drum autoflow design. With autoflow, material goes in the top and compost exits out the end as the drum rotates.
The 200 is the smallest of the three composters excellent for composting kitchen scraps and a few cut up garden trimmings.
The 400 is a continuous composter designed for composting kitchen scraps and a cut up materials from small garden.

Bio-Drum Garden Composter 50 Gal

Bio-Drum Garden Composter 100 Gal

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At some point in time every gardener must deal with pest problems.

Pests are not only irritating but can spread diseases and destroy crops. From time to time we are all faced with the decision whether to swat, scratch or scream when pests come to visit.
Through advertising we have been taught to pick up a can of insecticide, hold our breath and spray. But now we are beginning to learn about the personal and environmental risks associated with the use of toxic chemical insecticides.
But there are plenty of natural ways to keep bugs off of your plants – that is, there are lots of ways to keep the bad bugs off while attracting the good ones.

Beneficial Insects

Many insects in your garden are not harmful at all. Good insects such as ladybugs, lacewings, wasps, dragonflies can be gardeners’ allies, helping to control the numbers of bad insects. Organic pest control strategies include getting good bugs to work for you in the garden.

Every pest has a natural enemy, the key to successful pest control is to identify the pest and it’s natural enemy, releasing the Beneficial Insect early when pest levels are low and let nature take it’s course. Beneficial Insects attack and destroy only insects; they will not bother people, plants or pets.

Ladybugs and praying mantises are voracious predators of many garden insect pests, including aphids, whiteflies, spider mites and mealy bugs. It is excellent solution for natural pest control. This insect is a very hungry one, all too happy to eat aphids, fruit flies, grasshoppers, moths, crickets, and house flies… but that is not all that they eat.
They also tend to eat those beneficial insects like lacewings and hover flies. It is possible to buy cases of ladybugs or praying mantis eggs, if you want to include this hungry insect in your garden.

Many of the pests we are trying to kill are developing a tolerance to chemicals thus making them harder to stop while the Beneficial Insects nature intended to control pests are being killed off.

But there is an alternative, a natural alternative, beneficial insects. Prior to the introduction of toxic insecticides in the 1940’s the use of beneficial insects for pest control was standard practice.

Both the California citrus crop and the Hawaiian sugar field were saved with the use of beneficial insects.

Every pest has a natural enemy, the key to successful pest control is to identify the pest and it’s natural enemy, releasing the Beneficial Insect early when pest levels are low and let nature take it’s course. Beneficial Insects attack and destroy only insects, they will not bother people, plants or pets.

Most people start using beneficial insects because of safety concerns and then after they realize they are easier to use, give better long term results, and are priced competitively.

When people stop using toxic chemicals natural predators such as ladybugs and green lacewing start to make a comeback, butterflies and birds are more plentiful. In no time at all the backyard has been transformed into a natural garden.

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Beneficial Insects for your Garden

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Growing potatoes is easier than you think. So easy that you don’t even need a greenhouse. You could grow these on a balcony or a patio. If you love new potatoes then this is something you really should try and it’ll give you the best tasting, freshest potatoes ever!

First earlies will benefit from chitting to produce the earliest crops – the Swift is a first early and is as the name suggests, a fast grower and can be ready to crop in as little as 7 weeks from planting!

Chitting means letting them sprout. You stand them in a dry frost free place in the light and allow the shoots to grow. They do this without any soil or water – as you will know if you’ve ever had potatoes inside your kitchen for more than a few days!

It’s best to start these growing bag first earlies off somewhere other than outside though to give them a good start! A porch or conservatory or a greenhouse or shed will do. As foliage develops you need to top up the compost to cover the green leaves.

Start you first early potatoes in the greenhouse or conservatory, this ensures warmer soil for quicker development. As foliage develops, regularly add more soil compost to ‘earth up’ your crops

You start the potatoes off at the right planting time (Indoors: February to March / Outdoors: March-April). You should place three tubers on top of a 15-20cm layer of decent compost in each Gro-Sack(TM) and then cover the tubers with a further 10cm layer of compost.

You must keep the compost damp but not wet at all times. It it gets too wet then it can cause the tubers to rot.

As the plants grow and shoots emerge above the surface, add more compost to cover the shoots and then repeat as needed until the compost is about 2in/5cm below the top of the bag. As the weather improves you can put the bag outside, take care to pick up the Gro-Sack with its two strong carrying handles and relocate to a outdoor position. Get someone to assist it the bag is too heavy for you.

Use a high potash fertiliser on the green foliage to increase yield. Avoid a nitrogen rich fertiliser as this benefits only the leaves.

Watering needs to be regular and the need will increase as the tubers grow – this is as the foliage is big and flowers start to form..

Harvest times do depend on planting dates, as well as weather during the growing season, plus different varieties take different times.

However First Earlies are always best harvested in small quantities and eaten straightaway when fresh in June and July.

Choosing hose material

Garden hoses are produced from of vinyl, rubber or a vinyl-rubber composite. Vinyl’s hoses are cheaper and lighter than rubber, but it’s also less durable. Rubber is a natural substance that’s harvested from trees or plants, while vinyl is a petroleum derivative. Vinyl-rubber composites combine a durable rubber layer for strength and a vinyl layer for flexibility. All hoses may have one or more layers (also called plies) to their construction; the more layers, the more durable -and heavier – the hose is likely to be. Some water hoses feature reinforced layers.

Why is important length of hose

Many gardeners make a major mistake when they buy a garden hose. They buy one that is too short or too small in diameter. You should determine proper hose length for your needs. Make sure the garden hose you purchase will reach everything you need to water.

If your hose would be too long, it may not maintain adequate water pressure or may tangle easily. It also goes without saying that a hose that doesn’t reach as far as you need it to is completely useless. Garden hoses are available in lengths ranging from 10 to 100 feet.

Diameter

Everybody knows that the wider the hose’s diameter, the better the water pressure. Garden hoses are usually available in diameters ranging from a half-inch to an inch, with 5/8 inches being the most commonly recommended size.

Couplings

These threaded connectors join hoses together or to a faucet, and they’re either made of plastic or brass. Brass couplings are more durable and less likely to break or strip their threads, but they’re more expensive than plastic. Experts say octagonal couplings are easier to thread than round ones (they also give you something to grip with pliers or channel locks should a coupling become stuck). A 5/8th diameter hose is an excellent choice.

Drinking Safety

Everyone who has taken a drink for a garden hose has probably has this thought: “just how safe is this water after traveling from the spigot to the other end?”

With today’s eco-friendly hoses, this is no longer a concern. As with other products bearing the name, “green” garden hoses use non-toxic substances and are completely safe to drink from.