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Organic Vegetable Gardening: A Fun, Healthy Hobby
Perhaps you are considering the addition of a vegetable garden to your outdoor landscape, or maybe you are simply looking for a new way to plant and harvest your vegetables. Why not give organic vegetable gardening a try? Not only are organic vegetables better for you and your family to eat, organic vegetable gardening can also be an economical way to grow those fruits and veggies that you love so much. Dont let the higher prices for organic foods at the grocery store fool you; natural gardening techniques can actually cost much less and most are very easy to do.
The Beginning of an Organic Vegetable Garden
All good gardens begin with good soil, and all good soil begins with good compost. Begin your organic vegetable gardening venture with a compost heap of your own making. There are plenty of good resources that will tell you how to make and fill your own compost bin, and when you consider that the ingredients in this type of compost will primarily be your trash and leftovers, you will begin to see why organic vegetable gardening can be a less expensive option. It is also important to begin your organic vegetable garden with organic seeds or plant starters. The first year, you may have to hunt a bit for organic seeds to purchase, although there are mail order options available. After your first crop, you can extract your own seeds if you prefer, to ensure that your organic vegetable garden passes muster.
Pest Control
You may wonder how you will control pests in your organic vegetable garden, since chemical pesticides are an obvious no-no. First, by keeping your soil and your plants in the best health possible, you will have less of a problem with pests to begin with. Infestations generally occur with plants that are dry, spindly or otherwise unhealthy. Make sure that you also clean your garden out thoroughly every fall, since plants left in the soil will invite new pests in the spring. It is also important to rotate crops every year, since certain plants will take different nutrients from the soil. You can also plant crops together that are known to be compatible, such as basil with tomatoes and lettuce with carrots. This will help to ensure healthy crops, and healthy crops will mean fewer pests in your organic vegetable garden.
Organic vegetable gardening is not just fun and inexpensive; it is a great method of bringing healthy produce to your table for your family to feast on every night. Once you take a bite of that first juicy red tomato that was grown in your organic vegetable garden, you will see why this method has become such a popular idea for many with green thumbs. Enjoy those veggies! |
