Steps to Organic Gardening
Many people want to have an organic garden at their home, but most of them do not understand what organic gardening is all about or how to make an organic garden. Organic gardening is basically growing plants, vegetables and fruits without using any synthetic products like fertilizers and pesticides. A good organic gardener ensures that his or her gardening activities are in harmony with the natural environment. Proper knowledge is necessary in organic gardening and involves simple fundamental lessons to get reliable outcomes
Before starting, it is good to plan first. Decide on which vegetable, fruit or herb will grow best in your location according to the climate. Once you decide, buy the seeds from a local source who sells organic seeds. It is ideal to start with a small and a manageable garden initially. Before putting your plans into execution, focus on the fundamentals of organic gardening. Soil management is the management in which organic fertilizers are used. Weed management is dealt with organic ground covering. Manual labour and pest control are used to promote useful insects.
Once you are ready, follow the steps to organic gardening:
In organic gardening, preparing the soil is very important. Enhance the soil with organic matters. Make sure your plants get plenty of fresh nutrition from the soil. Proper conditioning is required. As mentioned earlier, do not use any chemicals in the soil as it will destroy the useful microorganism and bacteria present in the soil.
Use good compost which is made or obtained locally like kitchen waste, fallen leaves. You can also buy compost from an organic garden supply centres.
Once your soil and compost is ready, prepare your garden. After all these, carefully choose a plant that will thrive in your garden based on the soil quality, moisture, light and drainage.
The planting of the seeds should be in such a way that it would help in reducing water wastage and the growth of weed. Give adequate space so that when the plants grow, there is enough air circulation to avoid fungal attack.
It is recommended to water the plants immediately after planting them. This will give them much needed water to grow.
Once the plants start growing, ensure that no weed is growing to take away the nutrition from the soil. Manually pull out all the weeds for a healthy growth of your organic plant.
In organic gardening, you have to keep chemical fertilizers and pesticides at bay. At the same time ensure your plants get enough nutrition, light and moisture. Pest control is done by keeping pests below the damage level by promoting beneficial insects and predators like birds, lizards and toads.
Try to use natural manure from animals, especially those who do not eat meat.
The crops obtained from organic gardening are very healthy to consume because it is free from toxic ingredients and chemicals. Also, the organic produce tastes better because of its natural growth.
As human beings we should conserve the environment and grow fresh vegetables or fruits to consume.
About the Author
Harpreet Ahluwalia
Harpreet is founder and principal designer at Earthly Creations where she creates her own terracotta pots with planters to convey people her message of ‘Love an animal, gift a plant, now and always’. She holds expertise in designing terracotta pots, design garden landscape and interior. Till date she has a vast and very adorable collection of all plants and animals from A to Z. For her, it’s like you name a thing and it’s there on your table, finely potted, painted giving a real look with small plant along with
