Organic Flower Gardening

Creating a beautiful flower garden using only organic methods not only benefits you and your family’s health, it brings nature back into your garden. Organic flower gardening means using no synthetic herbicides and pesticides, as well as adding no chemical fertilizer in your flower beds.

Going chemical-free may be a tall order for many gardeners, who feel they risk the chance of ruining their gardening season with insect infestations, disease and smaller blooms. And yet, your organic gardening neighbor next door achieves beautiful, disease-free flowers year after year. What’s the secret? Long, aggravating hours in the garden? Nope. You only have to know one thing:

Organic gardeners pay attention to the soil

That’s the big secret. Everybody knows that if you only eat junk food, your health will decline. It is the same with your flowers. Chemical fertilizers are the junk food. Your plants will appear to be healthy, because these fertilizers bring fast, efficient results – that’s why they are so popular.

However, they do not add organic material to the soil, and in the long run, your garden will look become more depleted of essential nutrients. So you have to apply more fertilizer. And more. It is a vicious cycle, and disease and pests constantly attack your plants, which requires more pesticides. Not to mention that you are constantly spending money on all these products.

There must be a better way. Thankfully, there is.

So what do I mean by building up the soil? As an organic gardener, this is what you will be mainly adding:

Compost – Compost is basic dirt, but full of rich, fluffy matter. Make or buy a compost bin right away. Add kitchen scraps, lawn clippings, dryer lint, coffee grinds, shredded leaves and weeds with no seeds to your bin. Anything will decompose, but there are a few techniques to dramatically speed up the process. Not only will you now have a free source of new soil, you will contribute less garbage to the landfill.

Composted manures – Manures are rich in nitrogen, and as they are composted, they will look and smell like regular soil (so no “ick” factor!) Mix with your compost for extra nutrients and nitrogen in the spring. As the years go by, you can add less and less.

Soil Amendments (Maybe) – If your soil is exhausted from years of conventional fertilizer applications, you may need to add some micro-nutrients that chemicals do not offer. Various meals, alfalfa pellets, greensand and other amendments add the other nutrients beyond the three numbers on your fertilizer bag (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.) It is highly recommended you test your soil by contacting your local agricultural extension office or do it yourself with a kit.

Be aware that healthy soil will not happen right away. It may even take a few seasons. Building up the soil takes time, and you have to learn how to plant your flowers in such a way to discourage pests and encourage good insects to thrive in your garden.

Caring For Your Flower Garden the Organic Way

Bountiful flower gardens are an act of love and care, and healthy organic soil is the key to success. Rich soil is full of beneficial microbes that help strengthen your plant, fight disease, and even combat and eat the pests that attack your plants. Healthy plants mean stronger blooms and better disease-resistance. The lack of pesticides will mean that beneficial insects will return to your garden, and will actually help clear away the pests (by feeding on them, yum yum!) Yes, you will have your own, home-grown army to fight pest insects for you!

Disease, such as mold and fungus, is always a major problem with flowers. Here are a couple practices to minimize disease in your garden:

Healthy soil – No need to repeat what I said, but just remember, plants are able to better resist disease when they are healthy – just like any animal and human. Another point to mention is that if you use compost, you have little danger of over-fertilizing your plants, which can burn the roots.

Cleanliness – If one of your plants has a fungus or rust problem, clean it up! No disease, no problem. Yes, it’s as simple as that. Before reaching for expensive fungicides, pick off the affected leaves and dispose of all diseased plants and materials in the garbage (not the compost.) Clean your tools with bleach and water to kill any spores, and wash your gardening gloves and clothes. Spores can easily be carried on your clothing – you certainly do not want to be the reason why fungus has spread to other areas of your yard!

Intercropping – Many diseases rely on one type of plant, so planting different species together will block disease from spreading to other plants.

Companion Planting – Similar to intercropping, many plants thrive better when certain other plants are nearby. For instance, onions (or garlic, chives and shallots) guard roses from black spot and aphids. Be aware that the opposite is true – some plants repel each other.

Proper Watering – Too much water encourages mold growth, too little cripples the disease-fighting capabilities of plants. For best results, water in the morning, water the soil if possible, and make sure the ground is moist but not too wet.

Tips For Beautiful Flower Gardens

Stagger your plantings by season:
Spring – The first plants to show in the spring are spring bulbs and Forget-me-nots, followed by
Wallflowers. Pansies can withstand some late frosts. Peonies and iris are perennials that will appear early.
Summer – Base your summer border on strong, upright, spiky shapes of traditional favorites such as lupins, delphiniums,
as well as Campanula, Astilbe and Achillea.
Thru the fall – Add some Daylilies and Hollyhocks, Monarda, Sweet William and Gaillardia and you will have a succession of plants that will take you through the fall.

If you have a herbaceous border you will want to plant the tallest plants at the back, with the medium ones in front and the short ones as edging. If you have an island bed, then you should plant the taller plants in the middle. This type of bed is easier to maintain as you can get at it from all sides.

Annuals should be added to your flower beds as they will keep your garden in color all summer long. Popular suggestions include Petunias, Geraniums, Poppies, Marigolds and Salvia.

Try vines as great border plants! You can use Sweet Peas or Clematis to run along the ground and wind it’s way through the border.

To keep your borders or beds in good shape, dead-head plants where the flowers have faded (pinch them off with your fingertips for soft plants like annuals, use pruning sheers for woodier plants.) This makes way for new blooms.

If you have hanging baskets, you can water them by placing ice cubes on the tops of the baskets. This allows the baskets to get watered slowly, which is better than blasting the plants with the hose.

Keep track of the sun and see where it hits your garden throughout the day. Plant accordingly. For instance, Impatiens and Hosta grow best in the shade, but will grow in sun if well watered. Foxgloves do best in the shade, and Petunias thrive in full sun.

Online Garden Stores selling seeds and bulbs for your flower garden:

Park Seed offers a huge variety of high-quality seeds, hard to find seeds, plants, bulbs, roses and gardening supplies. Browse through their online catalog or find plants based on your zone, and have them delivered straight to your door.

Bloomingbulb.com, based in Michigan, is the top online retailer of bulbs. Everything is 100% guaranteed to grow by June 1 the following year you plant it. They also sell birdhouses, butterfly seed mixes and gift baskets.
Subscribe to the BloomingBulb.com newsletter and save 10% off your order.

Online Garden Stores selling garden supplies and organic fertilizers for flowers and plants:

Garden’s Alive! specializes in environmentally friendly garden products that work, such as organic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.
Get $20 off your first order of $40 or more

Gardener’s Supply is an employee-owned store promoting everything from seed kits to compost supplies to garden furniture. Their gardening certified staff are passionate about time-tested, environmentally-friendly products, and have millions of satisfied customers.