Best Organic Gardening Secrets

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Organic pest control begins with healthy soil. It produces healthy plants, which are better able to withstand disease and insect damage.
2. Organic fertilizers are safer than chemicals. Chemical fertilizers may, in time, build up salts.
3. Apply compost to your garden about two to four weeks before you plant, giving the compost time to integrate and stabilize within the soil.
4. Do not over-fertilize garlic or it will become leafy. Use a high phosphorus fertilizer (the middle number) to promote bulb formation.
5. New beds need soil amendments and double digging for that extra starting kick.
6. Soak finished compost in water to “brew” compost “tea,” a nutrient-rich liquid that can be used for foliar feeding or for watering plants in your garden, backyard, or houseplants.
7. Specimen plants which need a warmer climate zone than you have do well in sheltered, south-facing walls. The wall acts as a solar collector, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night, creating a small zone that is warmer than the rest of the garden.
8. Begin deep watering your trees and shrubs in the spring if you don’t get a soaking rain every 10 - 14 days.
9. When planting trees, don’t give them too much organic matter in the hole they’re going in. If the hole is filled with rich organic matter and compost but the surrounding soil is hard and compact or less nutritious, the roots are less likely to spread out into the soil. When the tree isn’t anchored well by large roots, it is more likely to be blown over and be less healthy and less able to resist drought.
10. Outdoors potted plants and baskets are the only plants that need daily water on the hottest, driest days of the summer.
11. Once a seed sprouts it must be kept watered. If it dries out, it dies. If seeds are lightly covered with soil, they may need to be gently sprinkled with water once or twice a day to keep them moist.
12. When planting in clay soil, cover seeds with vermiculite instead of clay. Clay absorbs heat and may bake the seeds and stop germination. Clay also forms a top crust, forming a barrier for the young seedlings.
13. Trees and bushes placed carefully in the middle of flower beds add height and variety to the entire landscape.
14. Low-growing ornamental grasses can cascade over walls, edge low borders, and taller varieties can stand in for a row of shrubs.
15. A small extension curtain rod is an excellent support rod for plants. The length can continually be adjusted without disturbing the plants.
16. Native trees are low maintenance; they have developed natural defenses against insects and disease over the centuries, and they rarely need pruning or feeding.
17. Throw a handful of finished compost in the hole for a flower or vegetable transplant before transplanting. The compost gives the transplant a bit of an extra boost that lasts throughout the season.
18. Check moisture in container plants often with your fingers. Potting soil is often lightweight and dries out quickly.
19. Short on space but like vining vegetables? Train your squash, melons, and cucumbers onto a vertical trellis. Support the fruiting vines gently and thoroughly.
20. Watering is necessary when transplanting, but be careful not to over water.
21. Water your gardens and plants in the early morning or dusk to save water. Watering during the heat of the day burns plants and increases evaporation and loss of water.
22. Picking off flowers frequently encourage most annuals to flower more abundantly.
23. To continue blooming, container plants need large amounts of nutrients and water. Since water tends to wash out the nutrients, use finished compost or a good organic fertilizer as top-dressing.
24. Whenever possible use natural and organic fertilizers such as compost. Chemicals build up toxicity in soil, which leaches into drinking water.
25. Botanical insecticides are plant derivatives, and can be more toxic than some synthetics. They are, however, better in the long run because they break down rapidly and do not accumulate in the food chain as synthetics do.

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