Organic Gardening

ORGANIC GARDEN

In this chapter, we will walk you through the process of getting started to include the right tools to buy, how to prepare the soil, which plants to buy, and other important things. By choosing the best location and being organized, you will enjoy the process of getting the garden started far more. Remember, successful gardens are not merely accidents. They result from good planning, ongoing care, and the desire to grow things naturally.

BIG OR SMALL

One of the first decisions you will need to make is the size of garden you want. To do this, you need to consider the way in which the grown foods and flowers will be used. For instance, if you have a large family, then you would probably want a larger family than if you had one or two children.

If you plan to can food, then again, you would need to grow a larger garden. Just remember that the larger the garden the more work involved. Therefore, choose the size wisely, keeping in mind the time and money involved for the various options.

TYPES OF PLANTS

As a part of your decision for size, you will need to think about what you want to grow. If you plan to can tomato sauce, salsa, ketchup, and other foods made with tomatoes, then you need to plan space accordingly. If you want fresh watermelon, cantaloupe, and corn, you will need a large space whereas growing radishes, peas, and carrots.

Typically, the most popular vegetables for your organic garden would be those that are the easiest to grow. Ask your family to choose some of the choices, which is especially good if you have children. In this case, if the children choose corn, carrots, or some other type of food, you can be sure they will be far more interested and dedicated to working in the garden on “their” food.

In addition to finding healthy plants and seeds at most gardening centers or nurseries, you might also check out your online options. Many times, the internet is less expensive since you are not paying for overhead seen with standard in-person stores. You will also find the variety of online resources to be much greater. While there are many great places to consider, we highly recommend you check out those listed below:

Online Resources

When you do buy online, it is crucial that you buy from one of the above resources or others that are just as reputable. The key is buying quality, even if it means spending a little more money. The last thing you want is to have a healthy organic garden growing only to introduce a sickly plant. Therefore, whether buying plants or seeds, you want healthy and disease free.

When choosing the types of plants for your garden, you also want to be realistic about what your family enjoy eating and what you want to harvest. Sure, growing green beans is fun but if not very many people in the household like them, you would want just a few plants or choose a vegetable everyone likes. Although when shopping for plants and seeds the variety is tempting, stick to the foods you know will be eaten.

The same is true for flowers. You can always experiment with different species but remember, it is real, easy to go overboard when getting started. If you are unsure, then start small and over time, increase or modify what you grow. After all, you will be putting in time and money to grow your garden so you want it to be designed specifically for your family or use.

Remember, the physical and plant characteristics are very important in organic gardening. For the physical conditions, you need to understand soil conditions, windbreaks, slopes and grades, wind direction, drainage, sun and shade, and even the materials used with a retaining wall. By understanding these things, your chances of a more successful garden are greatly improved.

For the plant characteristics, think about the color, scent, texture, form, line, dimensions, and patterns when choosing and planting. Many people who maintain an organic garden will choose colors of flowers to grow alongside vegetables to evoke certain responses. As an example, yellow, orange, and red are exciting and full of life, pinks, purples, blues, greens are calming and peaceful, and white creates a garden of unity.

Just remember that your organic garden should be fun so try some different things. If you plant something and it fails to grow, then chalk it up to a lesson learned and move on.

GARDEN DESIGN

Before you start digging, it would be better to draw out your garden design with a pencil and paper. While you could choose a standard, rectangular shaped garden, you might also consider some of the designs we have recommended or you could look in gardening magazines or on the internet to come up with other ideas.

As you will learn in another chapter, if you do not have much room for a garden or if you live in an apartment without a yard, you can grow an organic container garden. Therefore, no matter what your situation, you do have options for growing wonderfully, healthy foods.

The design of your organic garden would be no different from the layout for a standard garden. For starters, you want the garden to be neat and orderly so working in it is a joy and not your worst nightmare. Even a pure vegetable garden can look beautiful simply by good planning. With any garden, style is what gives the garden personality and character. Even so, routine maintenance needs to be a top consideration.

Whether growing vegetables only or adding in fruits and flowers, you want to consider the layout so the colors, textures, sizes, and even forms of the plants complement the garden. In addition, with organic gardening, aesthetics improve the appearance of the garden and can actually produce overall healthy plants.

If you plan to start a large organic garden where the entire family will get involved with the planting, weeding, feeding and watering, and harvesting, then you need a layout that will make it easy for more than one person to move about. In other words, the design needs to look nice but also be highly functional.

PLANTING TIME

Just as it is important for you to choose the type of plant and location, you also need to plant at the right time. For this, you will discover that some seedlings can be planted in the garden when there is still risk of frost while others cannot. Therefore, you will need to read the labels for each plant type and plant accordingly. The planting time is also important in the design of your garden so you do not end up with a garden that has full growth on the left and little sprouts on the right.

The zone in which you live is also crucial to the type of plants you choose and the time of year that you plant. While some plants will flourish in humid weather found in Florida, others will do much better in arid climates of Arizona. Each state is zoned and as you begin shopping for plants and seeds, you will find them labeled by zone.

Once you know your zone, you can easily choose the right pants. Now, keep in mind that some people have a natural “green thumb” and do quite well growing difficult plants but before you run out and spend a lot of money to experiment, you might consider choosing one or two out of zone plants first.

Design Principles

Both organic and inorganic garden designs are established around specific principles, which include balance, emphasis, repetition, scale, sequence, and variety.

· Balance – This is what creates symmetry, pattern, and stability

· Emphasis – The emphasis of the garden creates a focal point. For instance, you might add a garden bench, water feature, or trellis, something that would draw the eye to the garden. Even with an organic vegetable garden, you can create a place of interest and relaxation.

· Repetition – This is what creates continuity. For example, using repeated designs create the appearance and function of order and connection.

· Scale – The scale is the garden’s relativity. You could use pathways, slopes, rocks, tree, or even structures to create an oasis within your garden.

· Sequence – This principle is associated with the movement within a garden. As lines, forms, color, and texture changes, it produces a rhythm.

· Variety – The variety is created by form texture, line, color, and scent so that the garden creates a place of attention and enjoyment. Many times, you will see contrast through asymmetry.

SOIL AND COMPOST

As discussed, when it comes to organic gardens, soil is the key to success. The concept of nurturing plants in harmony with nature is what this process is all about, something that is healthy and satisfying. Since the subject of soil is quite extensive, we have dedicated the following chapter to this and compost.

ORGANIC GARDENS AND YOUR HEALTH

While we have touched on the fact that organic gardening produces much healthier food, we wanted to provide a little more detail to give you the big picture. The human body creates acids ongoing that have to be eliminated. Cells within the body release carbon dioxide, which is a waste product. What happens is the carbon dioxide converts to carbonic acid the fluid surrounding the cells.

Then, phosphorous and sulfur found in high protein foods is converted to sulfuric and phosphoric acids. For this acid to be eliminated from the body, the liver, kidneys, and other organs must get to work. Considering that eggs and meats consumed are acid forming foods because they have high levels of acid forming minerals, which would include things such as chlorine, iodine, phosphorous, and sulfur. The alkaline forming minerals would include things such as calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and sodium.

The problem lies n that the body must maintain a certain pH level to operate optimally. The key is eating the right foods and in the right amounts. Nutritional experts recommend that people eat 80% alkaline forming foods and just 20% acid forming foods. However, with today’s busy society, more and more people are eating far more acid forming foods than they are alkaline forming foods.

In addition, as a person ages, the excessive acidity within the body puts stress on the body’s organs. The reason this is important with an organic garden is that by growing healthy and untainted foods, you can switch the two of these around, meaning your overall health is improved, allowing the pH to work for the body, not against it. Best of all, organically grown food tastes so much better!