Many people get into organic horticulture since they fear the toxic effects of commercial pesticides and fertilizers, both on the environment and their health. Organic gardening methods are extremely cheap for the most part. This article provides several useful tips that will help you improve your organic horticulture techniques.
Your tool handles can easily be used as handy rulers. Tools with long handles, such as shovels, hoes and rakes can be made into measuring sticks. Lay your handles on the floor, and put measuring tape right next to them. Label the distances onto them using a permanent marker pen. Now, the next time you do work in the garden, you’ll actually have a ruler at your fingertips.
Slug-proof your garden with smart perennial choices. Snails and slugs can do irreparable damage to your garden in a single night. These garden vermin prefer plants with tender, herbaceous stems and leaves, particularly seedlings and young plants. Some perennials, however, leave a bad taste in slugs’ mouths or are difficult to chew through because their leaves aren’t tender. A few great choices are achillea, campanula, and heuchera. Other options from which you can choose are hellebourus and euphorbia.
If you have any mildew on the plants, do not go out and buy anything. All it takes is a liquid soap, water, and baking soda mixture. Once a week, spray this solution on your plants and your mildew should disappear in no time. This is a natural solution for ridding your plants of mildew safely.
Keep the weeds out of your garden by removing them regularly. Weeds will cause your garden to become overgrown and cluttered. A simple tool that is useful in removing weeds is white vinegar. The acidity of the vinegar is harmful to most plants. Load up your spray bottle with some white vinegar, and spray the weeds away instead of breaking your back removing them by hand.
For an unusual, but effective, organic solution to weeding young plants, try “boiling” the weeds away. Boiling water is a very safe alternative to other potent herbicides. Soak weeds with freshly boiled water, just being mindful to not afflict damage on plants you want to keep. Boiling water kills weeds by destroying their roots. Weeds won’t be able to survive, never mind grow, with damaged weeds.
There are many natural substances that are effective for warding off unwanted visitors. For example, if you plant onions or marigolds along the edges of your vegetable garden, you can ward off slugs. Wood ash, when used as mulch, can help keep insects away from trees and shrubs. Using these methods eliminates your need of chemical pesticides.
Keeping pests out of a vegetable garden can be difficult. Avoid using a bunch of harsh chemical pesticides in your garden. Don’t forget you intend on eating these vegetables. Instead of resorting to these harmful chemicals, you can keep garden pests at bay simply by paying close attention. If you discover the pests when they first infest your plants, the best way to remove them is to pick them off manually.
Wisely water your garden. Soaker hoses save time by watering all of your plants at once, rather than individually with a standard hose or watering can. Turn the water on at low pressure so your delicate plants will not be damaged by the soaker hose. Let it water your garden for a few hours, so you’re available to do other stuff.
Organic horticulture is healthier. You won’t be exposing your plants – and yourself to toxins or chemicals. Use the tips you just read to help you start planting your organic garden. You might actually notice more wildlife in and around your garden due to your natural gardening methods.