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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.

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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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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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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.

Potatoes can be grown in a wide range of different bags, from garbage bags, empty feed bags to burlap sacks.

Whatever type of bag you choose make sure there are holes in the bottom to allow the excess water to drain from.
The best part of planting potatoes in bags is that they take up very little room and can be placed anywhere that they can get six to eight hours of sunlight. These bags can be placed along a fence line, on the corner of a deck or even among other plants in your yard. The bags can also be decorated or potted plants can be placed around then to add dimension to your landscape. The ideas are endless on where and how you use this method of bag grown potatoes.

For planting potatoes in a bag, first of all add about six inches of rich humus organic soil in the bottom of the bag. Then put in your prepared seed potatoes on the top of the soil about six inches apart and cover them with another six inches of soil.

At this point make sure you have drainage holes in the bottom of the bag. Then roll the excess bag down around the bottom of the filled portion of the bag.
As the potatoes plants start growing keep filling the bag with more soil or compost so the plants will continue to keep developing tubers, leaving a small portion of the plant exposed. Once the potato plants start to bloom stop adding soil to the bag and make sure at all times that the soil is keep moist.

When the plants are blossoming is when there are new young potatoes that are ready to be harvested. You can gently remove some soil by hand from the base of the plant and pick off the tubers that are cooking size.
Once the plants foliage starts to die off and wither the tubers are full grown and ready to be removed from the bags.

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The potato is one of the most versatile vegetables you can put on your plate. You can mash them, dice them, and slice them. Did you know you can even grow them? But I live in the city, you tell me. No excuse! Growing potatoes is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and they look great on the patio right up till harvest.

Potatoes, a long standing staple for many cooks, will grow in almost any part of the world. They can fill an acre of farmland or decorate your patio. All you need is a container, some good soil, and a few potatoes that have been setting around long enough to begin growing “eyes.” The “eyes” are actually the sprouts or buds that will start the growth of a new plant. If you leave a potato sit for a few weeks you will see the sprouts begin.

Your patio container can be of any size or style. Anything from a plastic tub (like the ones you use to store Christmas decorations) to an old whiskey barrel will work, but I prefer to use decorative clay pots. Make sure what ever container you choose will have drainage holes so the potatoes do not sit in water. The process is simple.

First, fill your container with at least two inches of soil. Cut your potato in pieces so each piece contains at least one “eye” and lay the “eye” facing up on the soil in your container. Next cover the potato “eye” with another two inches of soil. Keep the soil moist and water when it starts to dry. As your new potato plant begins to spout and grow, you will continue to add soil to cover the new growth. Allow at least two inches of stem to emerge before adding soil. Continue adding soil to cover the stem until your container is full. The deeper your container, the more potatoes you will harvest. The potatoes will grow on the stem with the larger potatoes at the bottom.

If you live in a cold area, wait till the last frost has appeared before your begin your planting. If you live in a warm climate, you may plant year long. As the potato plant grows, it produces a nice green leafy top which looks very nice on any patio. As the potato plant matures, the tops will begin to brown and wither. This is your clue to begin your harvest. You can leave the potato crop in the soil for 4-6 weeks; but, once you dig through your container and gather your new potatoes, wash and store them in a cool place.

There could be a farmer in you that is just jumping at the chance to impress the neighbors. And what could be more impressive than hosting a dinner party with home grown potatoes. Not the usual past time or hobby of most. Think of the interesting conversation that will be be generated as you pass the potatoes.

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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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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.

Soil Requirements

For growing good crop of potatoes a well-drained, fine sandy loam soil, high in organic matter is preferred. In case of heavy clay or clay loam soils drainage problems should be corrected and improved by growing cover crops or adding aged manure or compost. Be cautioned, however, that manure may increase the incidence of potato diseases.

Seedbed Preparation

If a cover crop (rye or wheat are excellent choices) was planted the previous fall, it should be turned under before it exceeds 12 inches in height by tilling 8 to 10 inches deep, depending on the depth of the topsoil. After tilling, level the surface slightly so that furrows can be made. It is best to wait at least a week after tilling in the cover crop before planting the seed pieces.

Soil pH and Fertilizer Practices

The pH should be 5.0 to 5.5 as scab disease (brown corky tissue on surface of tubers) may be a problem in alkaline or “sweet” soils. Moderate amounts of fertilizer are required for big yields of potatoes.

Ideally, the fertilizer should be placed in continuous bands two to three inches to each side and slightly below the seed piece. However, many gardeners will use the fertilizer before tilling or spading. Fertilizer rates should be based on results of a soil test. A typical rate would be two and a half to three pounds of 8-16-16, 10-20-20, or equivalent per 100 square feet. When plants are four to six inches tall, band two to three pounds of fertilizer per 100 feet of row about 6 to 10 inches from the row, if growth is not satisfactory and if foliage is yellowish-green.

Variety Selection

There are a lot of good potato seed variety. Irish Cobbler is an excellent early maturing variety for the home garden, but seed is scarce. It should be planted early, from late March to mid-May, depending on the section of the state. Norland is an early, red-skinned variety, various strains of which are readily available. Another red-skinned variety is Pontiac, a late-maturing, high-yielding potato of fair cooking quality, but often misshapen. Superior is a white-skinned variety, maturing later than Irish Cobbler, but earlier than two other recommended varieties, Katahdin and Kennebec. These two are desirable when gardeners want to store potatoes.

Whichever variety is selected, use certified disease-free seed. Such seed is grown under rigid rules and carefully inspected by state authorities. The potato seed is not a true seed, but modified stem tissue known as a tuber. The true seed of the potato occurs in the small, inedible orange fruit the plant produces during mid-season.

Some feed and garden stores sell B-size seed-small tubers weighing 1-1/2 to 2 ounces. These tubers should not be cut before planting. If 4 to 6 ounce or larger tubers are used, cut them so that each piece is block shaped, contains at least one good eye or bud, and weighs about 1-1/2 ounces. It should be planted immediately after cutting.

Planting potato seeds

Plant the seed in shallow trenches 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 inches deep and cover with an inch or two of soil. The seed pieces should be spaced 9 to 12 inches apart in rows 28 to 34 inches apart. Nine to 12 pounds of seed will be needed for each 100 feet of row when 1-1/2 to 2 ounce seed pieces are planted 12 inches apart.

Cultivation and Weed Control

Due to the small area involved and the variety of potentially sensitive crops grown in the garden, chemical weed control is not recommended. Control weeds by shallow and frequent cultivation. Deep cultivation may cut potato roots and slow growth. When plants are 6 to 8 inches tall, begin to mound soil around the bases of the plants to start forming a ridge or hill. By the time the plants are 15 to 18 inches tall (at last cultivation), the ridge or hill should be 4 to 5 inches high. “Hilling up” is necessary to prevent greening of shallow tubers.

Insect and Disease Management

Most feed and garden stores sell approved insecticides and fungicides for use on potatoes. The spraying or dusting program should start as soon as the plants emerge and continue according to the product label until late summer or a few weeks before harvest. Flea beetles, leafhoppers, aphids and Colorado potato beetles are the major insects affecting leaves and stems. Early Blight and Late Blight are the major foliar diseases.

Garden area previously in sod may harbor wireworms, white grubs and other soil insects. These insects should be controlled before planting. Contact your local Cooperative Extension office for current control recommendations.

Harvesting and Storage of potatoes

For highest yields and best storage, potatoes should not be dug until two weeks after vines have naturally died down. This allows the skins to set and reduces skin peeling, bruising and rot in storage.
When harvesting at temperatures above 80 degrees F, potatoes should be picked up immediately and put in a dark place. Potatoes exposed to sun and high temperatures will turn green and may rot.
Most homes do not have a suitable place to store potatoes for more than four to six weeks.
To store potatoes for several months, the tubers should be cured in a dark place at 60 to 65 degrees F and a humidity of 85 percent or higher for 10 days.

After the tubers are cured, keep them in a cool (40 to 45 degrees F), dark place with high humidity. Under these conditions most varieties will not sprout for two to three months.

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