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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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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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Hot peppers are distinguished from sweet peppers simply by their pungency or hotness of flavor. There are thousands of hot pepper varieties in the world. (This is the case because peppers easily cross pollinate to generate new kinds.)
The hotness of a pepper is determined by number of blisterlike sacs of capsaicinoids on the interior wall of the pepper. Capsaicinoids are organic chemicals. The more sacs of capsaicinoids the hotter the pepper.

Hot peppers go by several names. Most ordinaryly hot peppers are called chili peppers in the
United states. ‘
Chile’ is Spanish for pepper. In Mexicochile dulce is a sweet pepper, chile jalapeño is a jalapeño pepper. When the name chile first came to the United states it was used to mean varyent kinds of peppers in varyent parts of the country. In time, the spelling “chile” was eventually corrupted to “chili” and the term came to be ordinaryly used to describe any pepper that was hot flavored.
Here’s how to get growing hot peppers:

About hot peppers

Hot peppers are tender perennials that are grown as annuals. Peppers grow on compact erect bushes typically 1½ to 2 feet tall, but they can grow taller. The fruit follows a single flower growing in the angle between the leaf and the stem. Hot peppers–as well called chili peppers–vary in shape and color and include the bell-shaped pepper, the heart-shaped pimiento, the short and long podded yellow wax, the conical-shaped jalapeño, and the cayenne. Because peppers easily cross-pollinate there are thousands of varyent hot peppers. Hot peppers vary in hotness or pungency. The hotness of a pepper is determined by the number of blisterlike sacs of capsaicinoids (organic chemicals) on the interior wall of the pepper. The more sacs the greater the hotness of the pepper.

Crop

Plant 5 to 6 hot pepper plants per household member. Determine how you plan to use the hot peppers and plant varieties regular to the hotness of the pepper desired. A single serrano pepper plant will generate 50 fruits.

Where to plant

Grow peppers in full sun (at least 6 hours per day) in soil that is rich in organic matter, moisture retentive but well draining. Peppers prefer a soil pH of 6.0 to 6.8. If the pH is below 6.0 add limestone to the soil; if the pH is on top of 8.0 add peat moss to lower the pH. A protected bet is to always work aged garden compost into beds prior to planting. The optimal soil temperature for peppers is 65°F or warmer. Choose a site protected from wind. Avoid planting in beds where other members of the Solanaceae family (peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, and potatoes) have recently grown. Some peppers such as Jalapeño, cayenne, and mirasol prefer arid regions; others such as habanero, Scotch bonnet and datil prefer humid regions.

Planting time

Hot peppers grow best in daytime air temperatures 65° to 80°F and night temperatures on top of 55°F (nighttime temperatures between 60° and 70° are best). Peppers are most easily grown from transplants. Start seed indoors 7 to 10 weeks before the date you intend to set peppers into the garden. Peppers can be seeded in the garden or transplanted out 2 to 3 weeks after the last frost in spring after the soil temperature has risen to at least 65°F. In temperatures greater than 85°F, peppers may drop their blossoms Even though set fruit will ripen. The thoughtl temperature for hot peppers is a daytime temperature around 75°F and a nighttime temperature around 62°F. Generally, you can set out peppers at the same time you set tomatoes or basil into the garden.

Planting and spacing

Sow hot pepper seeds ¼ to ½ inch deep, 18 to 24 inches apart depending upon the variety. Space rows 24 to 36 inches apart. Sow three seeds to each spot and thin to the two most successful seedlings. Peppers can be transplanted into the garden when they are 4 to 6 inches tall.

Keep peppers evenly moist but not wet particularly when blossoms appear and fruit begin to form. Soil that goes too dry can result in flower drop. Keep the soil evenly moist just after transplanting peppers to the garden; avoid under or over watering peppers timely on. Add aged compost to planting beds before planting and again at midseason.
Once hot pepper plants are established you can vary the watering. Hot peppers that are deprived of water and become slightly stressed will generate more pungent fruit.

Companion plants

Beets, garlic, onions, parsnips, radishes.

Tips for growing peppers

Keep planting beds well weeded to avoid competition. Peppers are shallow-rooted, so cultivate around peppers with care. Mulch to keep soil temperature and moisture even.

Avoid high nitrogen fertilizers which will create large leafy plants with few or no fruits. High temperatures and wind can cause flowers to drop and plants not to set fruit.

Plastic mulch can recover pepper yields. organic compost mulches will reduce weeding and watering, but not fruit yields.

Hot peppers can put out shoots that become leggy. Cut these shoots back to keep the plant compact.

Peppers are pollinated by bees. Peppers will begin to flower almost as soon as the plant forms branches.

Container peppers growing

Peppers can be grown in a large container. An 8-inch pot will accommodate a single plant. In larger containers, set plants on 12 inch centers. Peppers can be grown indoors. Peppers started indoors before the last frost in spring will get a head start on the season. expand the season in the fall by moving plants indoors if frost threatens or if temperatures warm to greater than 90°F. Bring outdoor started peppers inside for a few hours a day at first until they get used to the lower light offered indoors.

Pests control

Peppers can be attacked by aphids, cutworms, flea beetles, and hornworms. Discourage cutworms by placing a collar around each transplant at the time of planting; hand pick hornworms off of plants. Flea beetles and aphids can be partially controlled by hosing them off the plants and pinching out infested foliage.

Common diseases

Peppers are susceptible to rot, blossom end rot, anthracnose, tobacco mosaic virus, bacterial spot, and mildew.

Plant disease-resistant varieties. Keep the garden clean and free of weeds where pests and ailment can shelter. Remove infected plants before disease can stretch. If you smoke, wash your hands before working with the plants to avoid stretching tobacco mosaic virus.

Harvest

Hot peppers are ready for harvest in 60 to 95 days after sowing depending upon the variety. Most hot peppers mature from green to red as the seeds inside mature. Green hot peppers are not ripe, Even though some people prefer the flavor of green hot peppers. Red peppers are ripe and have a fruitier flavor. The hottest chili peppers are typically orange colored. Cut the peppers off the vine. Pulling a pepper away from the plant may cause the plant to come out of the soil. To expand the harvest, cut peppers from the plant regularly; a hot pepper harvest can last from one to three months.

Hot peppers contain organic chemicals called capsaicinoids which can burn the skin and eyes. Wear rubber gloves when harvesting hot peppers and be careful not to rub your eyes. The best antidote for burning skin to to rub them with isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.

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VEGETABLE SEEDS

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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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If you are just studying how to plant an organic garden, it may seem a little intimidating. For many people, organic fertilizers and pest controls can be very foreign, and the thought of taking on a garden without the use of chemical products can be daunting. Rest assured, organic gardening is easy. All you need is some soil, some seeds, and a bit of perspective.

How to Plant an organic Garden

The basic varyence between organic farming and gardening and conventional practices is perspective. Conventional gardeners sometimes tend to see a garden as a project – like building a deck or mowing a lawn. organic gardeners, however, comprehend just how much is going on in that soil and view their garden as a thriving ecosystem. As a result of this perspective, most principles of organic gardening are based on nurturing the soil and all the organisms that live in it.

As you go through the following steps to plant your own organic garden, keep in mind that all gardening is a studying process. The more time you spend in your garden, the more familiar you will become with how the various elements interact with each other, and this will help you anticipate and solve predicaments before they occur.

Planning

A little planning timely on can save you a lot of trouble over time. A few things to admit as true that before you get started include:

• Choose your site: If you have limited space, you might not have much choice in where you put your garden. However, if you do have a choice, try to discover a gently sloping, south-facing hill. This will offer the most sun exposure and frost protection.
• Choose your seeds: To be totally organic, your garden should thoughtlly begin with organic seeds. Even better, an rising number of seed companies now offer heirloom seeds. These varieties of plants have not been genetically tampered with or altered for mass production, and are generally well-suited to small organic gardens.
• Plan your layout: Traditionally, gardens are simply a plot of land that has been cultivated into rows or patches of specific crops. While there is nothing mistaken with this approach, there are many other probable variations as well. As you plan what crops you want to grow and where, admit as true that the principles of companion planting, raised beds, or square foot gardening.
• Prepare for weather: If you live in a climate that suffers extremes of heat or cold, it is best to prepare for the weather while your garden is in the planning stages. Northern gardeners might want to admit as true that building cold frames for their more delicate crops, and southern gardeners can protect plants from the extreme heat of summer by planting susceptible crop in shaded areas or saving cold weather crops for autumn planting.

Soil prepararion

The soil is the most very important part of any organic garden, so it is worth your time to make sure it is properly prepared. Begin by using a rotary tiller to break up the sod and loosen the soil, then take the following steps to create a thoughtl garden soil.

• Remove weeds: removal any weed roots or leftover chunks of sod at this point will save you a lot of hand weeding later on.
• Add soil amendments: It doesn’t matter how nice your soil looks, it can benefit from the addition of some compost or manure, and other fixes that might be needed to balance out a less-than-thoughtl soil texture. It can as well be useful to buy a soil test kit so you can get rid of any nutrient predicaments before you plant.

Planting the Seeds

You might need to start very delicate plants, like tomatoes, indoors to be sure that they have a long sufficient growing period to generate and ripen fruit. Other seeds can be son directly into the bed whenever the soil is ready.

Always start a few additional seeds in case of mishaps. This way, if the neighbor’s dog digs up all your seedlings or an unexpected frost hits, you will still have a few additional organic seedlings on hand and won’t need to resort to buying nursery seedlings to replace the ones you lost.

Treat legume seeds, such as peas and beans, with an innoculant before planting. Because legumes are nitrogen fixers, they really enrich the soil as they grow. Innoculants are organicly-occurring bacteria that enhance your legumes’ ability to do their job.

Once the seeds are planted, mulch heavily. A good thick layer of mulch prevents weeds, keeps roots cool and moist, and contributes valuable organic matter to the soil.

Gardening is pleasure

Gardening is supposed to be fun. Organic gardening, especially, will be more fun when you comprehend that you are working with nature, not against it. Garden pests and plant disease can frequently be prevented by careful planning and management, but sometimes despite your best efforts, you might lose crops. If you encounter a few bumps along the way as you are studying how to plant an organic garden, chalk it up to experience and work to medication the state next year.

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Organic vegetables can be grown almost anywhere. Whether you live in a small apartment or on a suburban lot, you can grow at least some of your own food.

Container Gardening

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

Containers for your plants

There is a big of choice for containers where vegetables plants can be drown.

• Barrels
• Bags
• 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 often because the dry out faster.

Soil preparation

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.

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 perfect to use as a potting soil.
About once a week (or as directed) give your plants an organic fertilizer to keep the nutrients in the soil.

Adding thick mulch to the top two inches or so of the pot will help the soil retain moisture as well.
If you have a little bit space in 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 permanent, 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 experimental types of vegetables and herbal seeds.

For example, sweet corn takes up a lot of room in any garden, but you can grow enough green beans in the same area to feed your family for several months. You will probably have enough 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 produce 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.

If your vegetables would get properly care you can grow an abundance of vegetables. You only need to plan carefully and make the most efficient use of your space.

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There are a lot of simple ways to grow organic potatoes. This article describes how to grow potatoes without digging soil.
This way produces delicious clean potatoes that can be incorporated into your family’s mealtimes.
For best results you should to locate your potato patch in area that receives plenty of sun. In soil that is well drained and that has not had potatoes or close relatives like tomatoes growing in it for at least three years.

Seed potatoes

Choose seed potatoes from certified virus free stocks. You can use potatoes that have sprouted from your supermarket but make sure you won’t get such good results.

How to get sprouting potato seed

A couple of weeks before you plan to plant out the tubers. Define a nice sunny location in your house (must be frost free) to let the tubers sprout. Good method is to place them in egg boxes on the window sill with the eyes uppermost. Once there is about an inch of growth the potatoes are ready to plant. Aim to plant out in mid-spring.

Preparation

The planting area is first of all covered with overlapping layers of newspaper full thickness. The newspaper can be placed directly over weeds. Onto the newspaper you lay out your tubers about 1 foot apart.

Mulching

Over the potatoes you need to place about 1 foot of mulch. This can consist of hay, straw, leaves, paper shreds and grass clippings. A mixture of these will work. As the potatoes grow they need to be covered over with more mulch. It is vital that the tubers are not allowed to be exposed to the sun as this produces a green tuber which is poisonous if eaten in quantity. You may need to water the patch if the mulch is very dry.

Harvesting

Using this method there is no need to dig up the tubers at harvest time. To begin with you might want to pull back some of the mulch and selectively pick out new potatoes. The main crop can be harvested once the top growth starts to turn yellow. To harvest drag away the mulch and the clean tubers should still be sitting on top of the newspaper layer ready to be picked up by hand. If you want to keep the tubers allow them to dry out for 24 hours in the sun then they are ready to be stored.
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Compost is certainly one of the most significant garden components available and can get better almost every kind of garden. With compost you add nutrition to the soil, so you use less the chemical. Compost also helps to loose the soil, avoids compaction of soil, prevents drying up during warm and winter seasons, and provides protection for fragile plants.

Compost also significantly lessens the amount of effort necessary to keep a garden healthy, lawn or flower bed by decreasing or eliminating the growth of weeds. With the correct amount of compost, all your garden plants will surely become healthier. So you should know how to make compost properly.

First of all define the width and the length of garden where compost is planned to be spread.
Secondly, to get the total area of the lot where compost is desired to be applied, multiply the width by the length.

Also, you have to define as well how much or how deep would you want the compost to be spread.

Creating a compost bin

It is very easy to make compost. To build a portable compost bin:

• Purchase a 12′ length of galvanized chicken wire, several wire ties and four metal stakes.

• Fold back each end of the chicken wire several inches so there’s no rough edge. Wrap it into a circle and stand it on the ground.

• Tie the chicken wire together with the wire ties. If you would like your bin to be more stable, space the metal stakes around the inside of the circle, secure them to the wire and pound them into the ground.

• When you need to aerate your compost, unwrap the wire from the stakes, turn the pile, then replace the wire. Alternatively, you could make two separate bins and turn the pile from one into the other.

Create a base of hay, 12 inches in thickness, right at the bottom of the wire cage. Put a two-inch pile of clippings from grass and scraps from vegetables at the top of the hay. Now add another pile of vegetable scraps and clippings from grass, this time at about 12 inches in thickness. Finish that up with a layer, at about two inches, of peat moss.

This process needs to be repeated until your materials reach the skim of the bin. You still need to observe the thickness of each pile though.
Then just damp the pile with water by using a water hose. Introduce water evenly, but not too much. Make sure you achieve spongy kind of dampness.
The last part though takes patience. Every two weeks, mix your materials very well. You know when it is all done, when you achieve black and rich consistency in the pile. Now, you are ready to put your compost on your garden soil.

There are two alternatives.

The first one is hiring one from a hire shop and this will give you the chance to get a strong powerful machine on the few days when you need it. The advantage is that there is no need to worry about maintenance. Disadvantage is that you should every time get it at home. You may need an estate car.

The other alternative is to get together with neighbors or get your gardening club or allotment society to buy one you can all share.This again will help you get a good rotary cultivator at a reasonable price.
Now, what it can do for you. This depends on the cultivator you buy. The best rotary cultivator will dig over to a depth of about l0 in (25cm) by breaking up the soil into small granules and mixing them up.

You can distribute your compost on the surface and it will be interfusion with the soil more evenly than you could do it with a fork. Set to cultivate lightly it acts more as a hoe and is ideal for dealing with low weed growth amongs tpotato plants.

Attachments to rotary cultivators are available to help you earth up potatoes or to plough, hut only on the larger rotary cultivators are these likely to be successful.

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