Why organic gardening and some tips

People give many reasons for organic gardening:

1. It is without chemical fertilizers or pesticides


2. It is healthy and more nutritious with trace minerals


3. Better tasting


4. Less maintenance since there are fewer pests and disease.

For me it is more about sustainability, since you team up with nature to do what it does best. With compost and microbes you build up a micro ecosystem where plants naturally thrive.

Tips for organic gardening:

For beginners there are few factors which should be taken into consideration before you embark on vegetable gardening

1. Knowing the weather in your area. See previous entry to estimate approximate growing season if the information is not readily available. Also check any other obstructions which influence sunlight.


2. Check the soil for any major nutrient deficiency. If you plan to do container gardening and prepare own soil you can use 1/3 Peat moss, 1/3 Compost, 1/3 Vermiculite (Mels Mix)


3. How much space you have and plan y layout


4. Mulching: There have been quite some studies which stress the importance of mulching not only as conserving water, discourage weeds but also in increasing yields.

Mulching

Here is some mulching techniques you could use. These have been gathered from various sources on Internet.

Some generalities that can be made regarding color are
1) silver repels aphids,
2) Blue attracts thrips but has been very effective in greenhouse tomato production and
3) Yellow attracts insects. There also appears to be some reduction in disease pressure with crops grown on specific colors.
Mulching of specific vegetables:

• Tomatoes responded to red mulch compared to black.
• Peppers responded more to silver mulch compared to black, with an average 20 percent increase in marketable fruit yield and fruit size over a three-year study. Lowest yield or marketable peppers were harvested from plants grown on either white or light blue mulch.
• Eggplant appeared to respond more to red mulch compared to black with an average 12 percent increase in marketable fruit yield over two years.
• Cucumbers and summer squash seemed to responded more to dark blue mulch compared to black, with an average 30 percent increase over three years in marketable fruit yield for cucumbers and 20 percent for zucchini.
• Basil Leaves developing over red surfaces had greater area, succulence, and fresh weight than those developing over black surfaces. Basil grown over yellow and green surfaces produced significantly higher concentrations of aroma compounds than did basil grown over white and blue covers.