tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24077985856025483312024-10-23T23:20:39.303-07:00Easy & step-by-step organic gardening tipsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-33998718918903928542012-02-12T03:28:00.000-08:002012-02-12T03:28:00.113-08:00

I divide soil management into four phases: the first phase is testing the soil; the second involves the general soil conditioning and replacement of nutrients with organic matter; phase three involves the application of fertilizer; the fourth phase covers more specialized application of fertilizers for specific plant needs. If you have moved into an established garden that is obviously growing

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-4567873353223136472012-02-05T03:28:00.000-08:002012-02-05T03:28:00.655-08:00

There are various cultivation techniques that you can employ to improve your particular soil; these are discussed in the previous posts. All soil types will benefit from the addition of bulky organic matter in the form of compost or manure or some other soil conditioner. This is the key to soil fertility, and a healthy, fertile soil is the basis of the organic approach to gardening. In fact it

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-17135593707382852542012-01-29T03:27:00.000-08:002012-01-29T03:27:00.664-08:00

If you are lucky enough to be growing on peaty soil, grow as intensively as you can, as it is always potentially very fertile and usually easy to work. You’ll find it easy to produce bumper crops and beautiful flowers year after year. Properly managed, a peat soil is superb but, like other soils, it does have its problems. Most importantly, peat soils are liable to be acidic and will therefore

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-89788438928470942062012-01-22T03:27:00.000-08:002012-01-22T03:27:00.908-08:00

There are two big disadvantages with chalk soils. Firstly, they are thin, dry, and "hungry". This is because the particles are very large, like those in sandy soil, so water drains through rapidly, taking plant nutrients with it. Plant nutrients, in the form of organic fertilizers, will therefore need to be added to the soil. Secondly, perhaps even worse, chalk is a very alkaline soil, and so

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-79981241812573666652012-01-15T03:27:00.000-08:002012-01-15T03:27:00.260-08:00

A very light soil, sand tends to drain easily and can therefore be cultivated when other soils are lying sodden and unworkable. As it also warms up quickly, it is an ideal soil for raising early crops. However, sand is also hungry and very demanding. So the price of having an easy soil to work is the need to apply extra organic matter and plant food, in the form of fertilizers, because nutrients,

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-2199272536161846982012-01-08T03:26:00.000-08:002012-01-08T03:26:01.085-08:00

The main problem with a silt soil, as with clay, is one of drainage. Of all the soils formed by grinding, silt has the smallest particles. Only the particles of clay are smaller, but they were formed by chemical action. The size of the particles means that they tend to pack together very closely when wet, preventing the free passage of water and air through the soil. So drainage is poor and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-34062062565287946132012-01-01T03:26:00.000-08:002012-01-01T03:26:01.736-08:00

While clay is beset with problems initially, a little work and sound management can produce excellent results. It is certainly true that, in the early stages of cultivation, clay is not nearly as convenient to work as a light soil such as sand. When it is wet, it rapidly becomes a soggy mess of mud and, when it dries out, it sets like concrete. Clay is a badly drained, cold, and heavy soil

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-2552381686600742612011-12-25T03:25:00.000-08:002011-12-25T03:25:00.238-08:00

If you dig a deep hole in the garden, the varying color and textures make it easy to identify the different layers. This is a valuable exercise because it enables you to understand the nature of your soil and therefore gives you a clue as to the best way to work it. The depth of each layer will vary considerably from one area to the next. Topsoil This is the darkest layer of soil. It contains

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-79131128234975023462011-12-21T19:12:00.000-08:002011-12-21T19:18:06.075-08:00

When seen together the five soil types—clay, sand, silt, peat, and chalk—look very different. Remember that many soils are a mixture of minerals; the soils illustrated here are as near to the pure mineral as possible. Each soil type has advantages and disadvantages, so each needs a slightly different management technique and supports different types of plants. 1. Clay This is a heavy, cold

Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-32457174068158507992011-12-21T03:44:00.000-08:002011-12-21T18:59:28.002-08:00

The soil in your garden is a very complex structure and its cultivation depends on many different elements. There are several different soil types that all have advantages and disadvantages. For example, the soil may be acid or alkaline; it may be heavy or light; it may drain well or badly; it may be very rocky. Soil Profile What you see in your garden is simply the surface of the soil. Soil

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-66584467751773660932011-12-19T21:02:00.000-08:002011-12-20T18:57:05.759-08:00

The soil is the basic raw material of the gardener’s art. It should never be dismissed as a mere collection of mineral particles used to anchor roots, or worse still as "dirt". It is much more than that. Certainly, its basic structure consists of rock particles broken down by frost and thaw action, wind and river flow, to produce the different textures that give us soil "types". However, a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-28598794164395872382011-12-19T03:26:00.000-08:002011-12-20T05:27:40.876-08:00

1. Enriching The Soil In nature, dead or rotting vegetation and animal manure provide adequate nourishment for the soil. As man removes the crops he grows, he must add compost and manure to improve the soil. 2. Digging Despite the activity of burrowing animals and penetrating plant roots, untended soil is still relatively hard and compacted. Man can improve the texture by digging to allow

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-47178165007513841462011-12-18T17:25:00.001-08:002011-12-20T05:25:48.275-08:00

Every garden must have a compost heap. This is the ideal way to return as much organic matter as possible to the soil, following nature’s example. Decomposing vegetation provides a home for millions of soil organisms, it opens up the soil, improving drainage and easing the way for root growth, and it helps over-drained soils hold water and therefore nutrients. The plant remains that you

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-61889314733923401082011-12-18T03:15:00.000-08:002011-12-20T05:24:27.294-08:00

Natural methods of sustaining plant growth were never intended to support the kinds of demands we make on our gardens. The technique itself is perfect, but, to produce a good crop, we have to intensify it. The main ways of doing this are quite simple: feeding the soil and improving its texture; protecting seeds during germination; making sure that the plants have adequate water; and being

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-71561863284124240112011-12-17T03:15:00.000-08:002011-12-18T18:56:59.393-08:00

The Chemical Way The purely chemical gardener uses his soil simply as a means of anchoring plant roots and of holding artificial fertilizers to provide plant nutrients. This approach does have excellent results, in the short term. In the long term, however, it has two disastrous consequences. Because organic matter is not replaced, the soil organisms die out; without them the soil structure

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-40522750469487041142011-12-16T03:03:00.000-08:002011-12-18T18:33:05.191-08:00

There is nothing mystical or magical about organic gardening. It is simply a way of working with nature rather than against it, of recycling natural materials to maintain soil fertility, and of encouraging natural methods of pest and disease control, rather than relying on chemicals. It is in fact far less involved than the methods employed by the chemical grower. Organic gardening is much more

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-50499228289447648182011-12-14T15:03:00.001-08:002011-12-18T18:56:36.394-08:00

Let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. Ever since I started gardening, I have come across some extraordinary and imaginative remedies for plant ills and some cultivation techniques that stretch credibility well beyond its breaking point. Moreover, organic gardening does have more than its fair share of eccentrics. And that can be disconcerting. On the other hand, Christopher

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-23863696780000375082011-12-14T14:53:00.001-08:002011-12-20T05:22:53.923-08:00

For anyone with a garden, the solution seems simple: grow your own produce. But the chemical industry is big business, so gardeners have, over the years, been persuaded that they too can “benefit” from research carried out by the commercial growers and farmers. After all, what is good for the professional must be good for amateurs—but nothing is further from the truth. While we can certainly

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-29577929914295629172011-12-14T03:39:00.001-08:002011-12-18T18:56:05.837-08:00

Modern technology has its uses and cannot be broadly condemned, but there have been many mistakes. The dramatic turnaround from scarcity to plenty over the past century has been achieved at the expense of a massive and ever-increasing input of chemicals and with little thought for tomorrow. Where corn has proven more profitable than cows, the practice of replacing organic matter on the land

Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2407798585602548331.post-43953435957169850752011-12-14T02:37:00.000-08:002011-12-20T05:22:23.434-08:00

Organic gardening is a divisive subject. There are those who think that organic methods of cultivation are the only remaining way to save the planet and, at the other extreme, those who think that organic gardening is  only carried out by rabid, environmentally obsessed loonies. I believe neither. Fortunately, many millions of  gardeners all over the world are now beginning to consider

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