Mulch Matters – What and When to Apply in Your Organic Garden
As we get closer to the end of the gardening season for most of North America, it is time to think about mulch. Depending upon where you live, you might automatically think about one material over another when you think about mulch. In the Southeastern US, pine straw is the mulch of choice for many people. It makes sense, because natural …
Organic Amendments to Add to Your Soil
As an organic gardener, you know that the soil is the most important factor in creating a successful garden. Rich healthy soil means healthy, beautiful blooms and juicy vegetables.
Compost
Compost is made from decayed organic materials such as straw, grass clippings, newspaper, leaves, certain food wastes, spent plants, hay, chipped trees/brush, and farm manures. You can easily make your own compost using a bin, tumbler …
Improving Your Soil with Organic Matter
After moving into a new home in a new or established neighborhood, many gardeners are disappointed to discover their flowering plants struggling for survival due to poor soil. The soil may be full of clay or stones, too acidic, compacted, or lacking in organic matter. Some home-owners may resort to simply adding fertilizer. Don’t do this!
With a little knowledge and a bit of determination you can use soil amendments to improve poor soil conditions. …
Green Versus Brown Compost Materials
Download a Printable Guide for Your Fridge (PDF)Composting in your garden is very easy to do, however, to achieve quick and optimal compost, it should be well balanced with green and brown waste materials.
What are green versus brown materials, and why should you care? Think of compost as a healthy meal for your soil life – those worms and microbes that do the actual work …
The First Organic Gardener
Nature was the first organic gardener, slowly scraping up a thin blanket of rock particles over much of the barren planet, then feeding it with the bodies of tiny, spore-bearing plants and gradually cloaking it in green.
By the mid to late 19th century, chemists decided that they could help gardeners and farmers with new inorganic fertilizers and alike manna from heaven. This seemed to be the answer to the problems …
Fertilizers: Chemical versus Organic
A natural fertilizer is one that consists of some natural earth product which may be processed mechanically, but is not treated with acids or substances to increase its solubility.
Phospate rock, finely pulverized, is a natural fertilizer.
An artificial, chemical fertilzer is a combination of some earth product and a strong acid. Super phosphate, which is made by treating phosphate rock with sulfuric acid, is an example.
A hundred pound bag of superphosphate includes 50 pounds of phosphate rock and …
Green Manure
Green manure is a term used for grasses and legumes grown and then tilled under. It is very cheap and easy to use, and in most cases is faster-acting than home-made compost.
In severe winter areas, a green manure crop can protect the soil and give the added benefit of nutrients and organic material to the soil in spring. The best plant to add nutrients to the soil are grasses …
