Tips for Organic Gardening Newbies
On twitter this morning, one of the people I “follow” said something intriguing about the push for a Victory Garden on the White House lawn. He said that he was worried that the current initiative for Victory Gardens 2.0 will end up causing lots of problems with herbicide/pesticide and fertilizer overuse because people don’t undertsand organic gardening, or even, well, gardening! I hadn’t really thought about …
Compost Conundrums: Solving composting problems
Making your own compost is the best way to add organic matter and natural fertilizer to your garden. Organic matter helps water move through the soil—water stays in the soil so that plants can take it up, but organic matter also helps soil drain properly. Organic matter improves soil structure, helping roots penetrate deeply. Organic matter helps keep the pH of the …
Indoor Worm Composting
This winter, try indoor worm composting to digest your kitchen scraps and create some nutrient-dense soil for your garden. You can generally feed one pound of worms one pound of garbage and they’ll produce one pound of compost a day. (By garbage, we mean “things we don’t need, but that worms will eat.) You can purchase an indoor worm bin, or …
Lasagna Gardening: The Easy, No-Till Way to Great Garden Beds
There are many tools in the organic gardeners bag, but no matter how dedicated, organic gardening is often more difficult and time consuming than conventional gardening. Lasagna gardening is a great way to make organic gardening less taxing. It is especially recommended for those with physical limitations, or the elderly. It is basically a method of sheet composting that if constructed in the fall will provide beautiful garden soil in the spring.
So, why not rototill …
City Composting a Mandate? San Francisco’s New Law and Why it Exists
Many organic gardeners already use composting practices in their yards, on their decks, or in their kitchens. However, what if city composting became a mandate in your area, and you complied or were fined? Would you be as much of a fan of composting at that point?
Well San Francisco has very recently passed a law requiring that all city residents separate their appropriate food waste into a separate bin. So now instead of …
Humic Acid: By Popular Demand
Well, most of my friends wanted to hear about something other than humic acid, so I’ll get to their questions tomorrow.
We frequently talk about compost on this blog. Compost is the “miracle pill” for the garden. An addition of compost can improve the worst soils. Making your own compost is relatively easy and inexpensive. However, if you can’t make your own compost, …
Organic Versus Conventional Gardening – Comparing Fertilizer
We all know that organic gardening is better for your health and better for the environment, yet people new to organic gardening have way too much confusing information thrown at them. Worse, they may turn to organic gardening with the mind-set of a conventional gardener. Many conventional gardeners who go cold turkey and switch to organic fertilizer will …
Compost Tumbler or Worm Farm-Which is Best?
We get a lot of questions asking which is better-a Compost Tumbler or a Worm Farm? So, I decided to give a rundown on the pros and cons of each. It is really up to you. Here is some information to help you decide!
Worm Farms
The singlemost important question to ask yourself when you consider purchasing a worm farm is: are you ready to be the caretaker …
Investigation of Compost Bins
The last in my series of compost investigation is about compost bins. I have been pondering for a couple of weeks now whether I will want to have a compost pile, or get a compost tumbler or compost bin. I think I am a little bit closer to the decision, especially after helpful comments from our readers. I think I’m going to go with a compost …
Compost for Gardening on a Budget
So, this whole compost pile activity is going to mesh well with my family New Year’s Resolution to also trim money from the budget and trim our waistlines. I like to garden, and to eat fresh fruits and veggies from my own yard. Our own compost pile will help our garden thrive. Which type of compost is going to be right for us, though? Remember our …
