Organic gardening tips and tricks

[Meowmie]

I am an organic gardener, and very strict about it. I won't even allow non organic food scraps in my compost pile, and all my seeds are heirloom.

I'm curious, are there a lot of organic gardeners out there? What are your favorite tips?

I make my own pots for my seedlings out of newspaper, and plant them right in the paper, leaving 1/4" of the pot above the soil line, no more cut worms!

 

[SunBakedParadise]

Some simplest things I can think of that made the biggest difference for me:

Diatomaceous Earth >http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp< for pest control, the stuff is incredible however not in rainy or damp climates.

Another great natural pest control I recommend is a garlic, onion, pepper spray

-Chop, grind, or liquefy one garlic bulb and one small onion
-Add 1 teaspoon of powdered cayenne pepper (or fresh hot pepper) and mix with 1 quart of water.
-Steep 1 hour, strain through cheesecloth, then add 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap to the strained liquid; mix well.
-Spray your plants thoroughly, including leaf undersides.
-Store the mixture for up to 1 week in a labeled, covered container in the refrigerator.

Obviously don't get in in your eyes, and wash your hands well after spraying

​

Start a worm bin and use the castings to make tea...haven't had to buy store "organic" fertilizer in years...plus the inherent goodness in castings works to steel my plants from disease, fungus and pests and boosts mycorrhizae and other beneficial microflora growth in my soil.

 

[Meowmie]

I made something similar to that once. It worked quite well but I've been lazy lately, I've been using ready made "smells horrible" DR earth spray. It has saved my food from the deer that live in our yard.

One year after giving birth, our resident doe took the newly born fawn on a tour of the food pantry. I went out and had a word with her, told her to go eat the hosta and leave my peas alone. She just looked at me like "what are you doing in my yard?" That was when I found the Dr. Earth. It lasts longer than the homemade stuff I made.

I made the mistake one time of not paying enough attention to the wind before spraying. It kept shifting, and boy did I smell bad!

Every fall we clean up the garden, rake the leaves and give the grass one last cut, putting it all on top of the garden beds, and cover with black plastic. In the spring I pull it back to find wonderful rich dirt LOADED with worms.

 

[Pat]

I am not an organic gardener but I love the idea of putting the leaves and grass cutting in a pile and covering them with black plastic to help the decompose into rich dirt. Everything is still covered in snow here, but I wonder if I did that as soon as the snow melts will I still get some good soil for late spring or is it too late. We still have leaves on the ground that need to be raked up.

 

[Meowmie]

They won't have as much time to compost but it can't hurt in the areas you aren't going to be planting right off in the spring. Organic or not, the leaves and grass composted, the black plastic which helps it compost faster, and the cute little worms that come to turn it into dirt are going to help.

 

[SpencerGreenway]

Well I love gardening too. I have made a small garden on the backside of my house with different fruit plants in it. As far as fruit plants are concerned I have made the best pest control arrangements for their better growth.

 

[Meowmie]

I do sometimes think about giving the deer an eviction notice, but as long as they leave me some food, I kind of enjoy them. Dr. Earth spray on the vulnerable plants, plus plenty of hosta around the trees for their enjoyment seems to keep things in balance.

Pat, you can also use those leaves raked up in the spring as mulch, and they will eventually become part of the soil.

 

[Fingers]

Some simplest things I can think of that made the biggest difference for me:

Diatomaceous Earth >http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp< for pest control, the stuff is incredible however not in rainy or damp climates.

Another great natural pest control I recommend is a garlic, onion, pepper spray

-Chop, grind, or liquefy one garlic bulb and one small onion
-Add 1 teaspoon of powdered cayenne pepper (or fresh hot pepper) and mix with 1 quart of water.
-Steep 1 hour, strain through cheesecloth, then add 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap to the strained liquid; mix well.
-Spray your plants thoroughly, including leaf undersides.
-Store the mixture for up to 1 week in a labeled, covered container in the refrigerator.

Obviously don't get in in your eyes, and wash your hands well after spraying

​

Start a worm bin and use the castings to make tea...haven't had to buy store "organic" fertilizer in years...plus the inherent goodness in castings works to steel my plants from disease, fungus and pests and boosts mycorrhizae and other beneficial microflora growth in my soil.

Dear veggie garden lover,
I like your recipe for natural I insecticide however I do not know what a "casting" is. Please educate me. I live in the tropics in Ghana and I am having an awful time raising my seedlings to maturity because something come in the night and eats all the soft stems leaving mostly the leaves. When you look at the container you would not know that a little seedling was haapily growing in it. Please help. Fingers

 

[Chuck]

Have you any idea of what is eating your plants? It might not be an insect at all and eating the stems and leaving the leaves is rather strange. Usually it is the other way around. Castings are worm excrement and extremely good stuff.

 

[Meowmie]

I just ordered some Diatomaceous Earth, thank you SunBakedParadise, this should help with the larvae for those dreaded Japanese Beetles that are eating everything in the yard. I had no idea there was a safe for of this. My husband got some that wasn't food grade and I came with all kinds of warning. I wouldn't let him use in anywhere near my garden.

 

[R.R.]

As I was getting ready to start a pot of black beans this morning, I thought about the dark water from them soaking all night. I thought maybe it would be good for watering? This is the first year I try to grow food so I had never thought of it. How about water from boiling potatoes and broccoli?

I saved the water. If somebody here says it's a good idea, I'll use it on my plants. Oh, by the way, the beans are organic.

 

[Chuck]

I just ordered some Diatomaceous Earth, thank you SunBakedParadise, this should help with the larvae for those dreaded Japanese Beetles that are eating everything in the yard. I had no idea there was a safe for of this. My husband got some that wasn't food grade and I came with all kinds of warning. I wouldn't let him use in anywhere near my garden.

I am not sure if DE will affect the larvae or not. DE is effective on the hard shell beetles though. Have you tried Spinosad?

 

[Meowmie]

I am not sure if DE will affect the larvae or not. DE is effective on the hard shell beetles though. Have you tried Spinosad?

From what I have read, it will kill all insects, but I have to wait for it to dry out to even try to use it. Lately all it does in rain in WI.
Local garden store told me it should work but have to get in in the ground while they are in the larvae stage. They'll be fully grown beetles by the time it dries out! Maybe I can sprinkle it on the trees. lol

 

[Chuck]

From what I have read, it will kill all insects, but I have to wait for it to dry out to even try to use it. Lately all it does in rain in WI.
Local garden store told me it should work but have to get in in the ground while they are in the larvae stage. They'll be fully grown beetles by the time it dries out! Maybe I can sprinkle it on the trees. lol

What kind of beetles are they and do you know how long the larval stage lasts underground. What will work on underground larvae of any type of insect are beneficial nematodes and if the ground is wet it would be the perfect time to put them out. They come on a blue sponge with a million per sponge and are inexpensive. Your local nursury can get them. They come out of Colorado and are the preferred means to get rid of fleas,grub worms etc, anything that lives in the soil in larval stages and even adults of some.

 

[Meowmie]

I will go down and check it out next weekend, but they never mentioned that when I was down there looking for the DE.

To my understanding, the DE, which has to be put in dry earth, doesn't effect the japanese beetles in the larvae stage but as the turn into the adult beetles. I think I am going to have to dust the DE on the plants if the ground doesn't dry up soon.