How can one grow organic vegetable in S. Carolina?

Question

I thought I would try to grow a small veg. garden this year. To by organic veg. in grocery store is too expensive for my budget. I would like to grow yellow squash, bell peppers, banana peppers, green beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, okra, radish and watermelon (anything else that can grow in SC besides CORN?) Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Plant everything you just mentioned. Water well. Only use fish emulsion as a fertilizer (all lawn &garden stores have it). Never use any pesticides or harsh fertilizers! Enjoy your bountiful harvest, because that is organic gardening! Keep in mind, you will need to weed at least once every week or two, inspect all your plants at LEAST once a week for pests and when you find the little bugs, just pick em off and smush em. Oh, plant extra plants to plan for any losses due to bugs or disease. And if you see slugs, use Diatomacious powder (ground up seashells). This is all natural and gives micro-cuts to the slugs which makes them go away. Have fun. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

go to the library for this a book on organic gardening i use the olde style master gardener ,, ps a tip plant marigolds around the garden the rabitsand mice and ground hogs hate the smell and taste find someone with a horse barn and borrow about a few hundred pounds of road apples and till them into the soil after the food comes up dust it with sweet lime powder in a coffee can with holes taped into it from a big nail and place the can plastic top on when not in use if something starts to eat the leaves pick it off and spray tobacco juice from a plug soaked in a gollan jug the recipe for organic bug deterents are in a organic pest book at the library also in the areas around the plants place wet news print as a weed chokers or shred it and spred it every where thats a good water mulch to hold the rain and to shade out weeds and to walk on add lot more as you go remeber to thin some seeded plants like radishes and lettucs and onoins and get the whole family or a neighbor involved for a cut of the tomatoes and the beans place a couple of lates in the ground on the end of the garden as far apart as you wish ans wrap twin around then plant Kentucky wonder beans in six inch gaps beneath now they climb abd keeping those beans picked every day almost becomes a chore but everyone will love them have fun an olde dude

Answer 3

Just about anything should grow in SC........ The problem is the title organic.

In order for the food to be considered organic the soil the the veggies will grow in has to be free of fertilizers, pesticides, or any other chemicals for (dont quote me) 5 or ten years i think. The to top it off any type of fertilizer you would use "manure" would also have to come from an organic horse, or cow.

The word organic doesnt mean that you dont use chemicals for pest control, or to fertilize. It means that the soil, the seeds, everything that has to do with the veggies growing is organic.

Answer 4

I would read Ed Smith's book "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible" and also find a good book on a technique called "companion planting". It's the easiest and most natural way to grow organically.
Basically, you interplant in such a way that some plants/flowers repel the pesky insects that bother their neighbors, or they might attract other beneficial insects that don't eat the veggies but eat the pesky bugs.

Answer 5

Vegetables can be grown organically anywhere. It's just a matter of growing them without the use of chemicals for bugs, weeds etc. and using only compost or other natural material for fertilizer.

Answer 6

The link below is where you can download two organic gardening reports which are available free to you.

Hope they help, and let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Answer 7

Here is one place to start http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/ag-06.html