Gardening is a great hobby because it brings the beauty of nature right to your doorstep. But what many people don't realise is that the most sustainable way to garden is by using organic gardening methods.
Organic gardening involves producing food without the use of any synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, or pesticides. It can be a daunting task for beginners who are not sure where and how to start, but thankfully there are plenty of resources available for them online.
In this post, we will teach you everything there is to know about how to begin organic gardening at home from deciding what plants or vegetables you want to grow in your garden, how much space you'll need for each plant, and which tools will help make your garden run smoothly.
What Is Organic Gardening?
Organic gardening is simply a way of practising gardening without using any synthetic chemicals such as pesticides or fertilisers on plants in the garden.
Many people choose organic gardening because they feel that it is better for their health and the environment overall by reducing exposure to toxic chemicals.
Benefits of organic gardening
Many people are drawn to the idea of organic gardening at home because they believe it will provide them with healthier food and happier, cleaner air. Organic gardening practices and products can also lead to a more sustainable lifestyle while helping protect the environment.
While organic farming at home may seem like an ideal way to obtain a healthy and environmentally friendly lifestyle, you should understand that there are downsides as well, including higher costs and less yields.
However, instead of embracing these downsides without consideration for how they affect your personal needs, you should consider how other benefits might outweigh the negatives in your specific situation.
The two main benefits of organic gardening are:
1) More Nutrients: Studies have shown that plants grown in non-organic fertilisers may contain fewer nutrients than crops produced using organic fertilisers. As a result, many nutritionists now recommend eating only organically grown fruits and vegetables to improve your health.
2) Environmental Benefits: Organic gardening also results in fewer environmental problems. Since synthetic fertilisers are not used, the runoff from those fertilisers does not pollute local water supplies. The use of pesticides is also greatly reduced to the point where they are often eliminated. Without these pesticides and synthetic fertilisers, soil erosion is reduced and the surrounding area remains cleaner than when using standard farming techniques.
Steps to start an organic garden:
Organic gardening is a process. You start with plant cuttings or seeds, and then you take steps that create, and maintain, the garden.
It takes time and effort to keep your garden productive—but when it’s successful you can enjoy sizable yields of vegetables, fruits, and flowers from what might otherwise be considered an unproductive patch of dirt.
Successful plants can produce healthy yields without pesticides or other chemical inputs.
Prepae the Soil
Organic gardeners often prepare their soil in the fall, using the time of year when crops are not grown.
The soil is turned with a fork or spade to about six inches deep to break up the top layer of earth and expose fresh material for wintertime decomposition.
Fall planting is possible if done with warm-season crops such as corn, which can be planted in early fall and harvested while cool weather lasts.
Choose the right plants
Another important step to organic gardening at home is selecting plants appropriate for your growing conditions. Some vegetables require warm temperatures and others, cooler temperatures.
Some need full sun exposure while others will thrive in partial shade. Some are small, floppy plants while others need large amounts of space to spread out. It's always safer to choose the right plants because if you start with the wrong plants, your garden will fail.
If you're not sure which plants to choose, consult an expert, ask a friend or check books and magazines for good advice.
Organic gardens are usually based on soil that contains lots of compost. Compost is not like topsoil that you purchase from your local gardening center.
Compost is made from manure, leaves, grass clippings, and other natural material on your property. It's rich in nutrients and provides awesome growing conditions for your plants. You can also use pots or planters if you don't have a lot of space in your yard.
The next step is to choose the right plants that will survive in this type of soil. You have to choose from herbs, edible flowers, shrubs, and trees. Choose from a wide range of different varieties and plant them accordingly.
Large plants require more space than small ones so you should choose something appropriate for the size of your garden.
Protect your plants from pests
It's best to start with a place that's free from pests so you can enjoy your organic garden for quite some time. But if you're not able to control the pests naturally, it's best to use pest management methods.
These methods include applying natural organic pesticides like compost tea and organic insecticides. If you're using a pesticide, it's best to check with your natural fertiliser dealer to determine which ones are best for use in your garden.
If you're planning on growing roses, activities like rose oil are good for use in organic gardens. However, you should consult a rose expert first. You can also use roach killer and spider mix to deter the pests from damaging your plants while you're working on pest control methods.
Sow and plant seeds
The second step is sowing and planting your seeds. Seeds should be sown in the ground in their final position (no transplanting) according to the availability of light, water, and nutrients. Different crops prefer different depths for planting depending on their size, shape, and growth requirements.
Smaller plants, such as radishes and carrots, need to be planted more deeply than larger ones, such as corn or beans. Seeds can either be sowed directly into the soil or started in a jar and later transplanted into the soil with a larger root ball (transplanting).
Making good compost
The most important factor in the success of your organic garden will be your compost pile. To make good compost, we need to gather ‘Browns’ and ‘greens’. The Browns are dry materials such as kitchen scraps, fall leaves, straw, and dry grass clippings.
The greens are kitchen scraps, fresh grass clippings, and fresh garden or farm waste such as blood meal and alfalfa meal. Note that it's all about the ratio: The ideal ratio is 25 per cent browns to 75 per cent greens. Any other ratio will still provide good results to some degree.
Other steps that can help you in starting your organic garden.
The huge organic garden in our backyard is not just a hobby for us. It produces an endless supply of healthy, delicious food for our family and it's been a crucial factor in keeping the mortgage payments manageable. But beginning organic gardening at home from scratch can be daunting, so we are here to help you cross that hurdle.
The other steps that can help you are:
● Start with a small plot in your backyard. You can expand later.
● If you have kids, involve them in the planning, tilling, and planting process. Kids enjoy being active in the garden and they get to learn how food is grown in a place that is off-limits to other kids during the rest of the year.
● If you build raised beds, fill them with homemade compost instead of soil that was dug out of your yard by someone else's spade or rototiller (and then possibly sprayed with noxious chemicals).
Also, avoid using woody manure or plants that were intentionally grown using chemical fertilisers and pesticides.
● Don't be shy about introducing perennial crops (vegetables and fruit trees) into the garden—they'll save you the effort of re-planting every year by returning year after year.
● If you already have a vegetable garden, consider growing some herbs to go along with it. Of course, there's nothing wrong with growing herbs by themselves.
● While we've built a modest greenhouse just for this purpose, it can be just as easy to improvise your starting months ahead of time using straw bales and shade cloths to protect your seedlings from the natural elements (and hungry wildlife).
Conclusion
Gardening is a great hobby because it brings the beauty of nature right to your doorstep. But what many people don't realise is that the most sustainable way to garden is by using organic gardening methods.
It can be a daunting task for beginners who are not sure where and how to start, but thankfully there are plenty of resources available for them online.
FAQs
What is organic gardening?
Organic gardening involves producing food without the use of any synthetic fertilisers, herbicides, or pesticides.
What are the benefits of an organic garden?
Organic gardening practices and products can also lead to a more sustainable lifestyle while helping protect the environment.
What can cause organic crop defects?
Pests are the main cause of crop defects but they can be taken care of with proper treatment of the organic garden.