Vegetable Gardening the Organic Way
Organic vegetable gardening is the trend these days because it has been discovered that the use of fertilizers and herbicides does more harm than good. The end result of which is organic farming which is the old-fashioned way and going back to basics.
There are many ways to do organic vegetable gardening. There is companion farming, crop rotation, composting, mulching and vermicast. Let’s talk about these in detail so you’ll understand.
Companion farming doesn’t mean tilling the land with a buddy. This is achieved by planting two kinds of crops beside each other. Studies show that certain plants enhance the growth rate of the other by fending off insects and other pests. There are so many to choose from so you have to know which can be paired together.
Crop rotation means you literally change the kind of crops you are growing every quarter. This assures that the current plant doesn’t take away all the rich nutrients in the soil so that it can be used again in the future.
Mulching is the simplest way to do organic farming because you are just putting a protective cover on your crops.
Vermicast involves the use of earthworms. Basically, you feed these creatures nutrients in order for them to oxidize and stabilize the unstable organic matter or the decomposing plant so you’ll be able to plant new crops in the soil.
Of the five, composting seems to be the most interesting because you help the soil cultivate your crops. In order to do this, you’ll need to create around 2 to 3 compost heaps in your backyard.
You don’t always have to buy these from the gardening store because some of the garbage that you plan to throw out will work nicely. Some examples are animal manure, lawn clippings, selected fruit or vegetable scraps, old hay or straw and shredded paper. Things that don’t work include meat scraps, orange peels and onion skins.
This is then placed in a bin or a tumbler because it will soon turn into a nutrient rich soil conditioner that can be added to the soil. You have to make sure that it receives a lot of heat in order to fight off seeds coming from the lawn clipping and weeds.
The methods mentioned can be used one at a time or simultaneously. The important thing is that you are organic vegetable gardening.
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