Organic Garden?

Question

I'm tired of always worrying about not washing out all the pesticides, herbicides and god knows what els out of my vegtables. So i decided that i should grow my own vegatebles. But i've never grown anything in my life. Does anyone have any tips that will help me start out right. I want to grow tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, squash, and possible my own green tea. Where should I go shopping?

Answer 1

Begin with what you have and prepare the soil for next year. Healthy soil grows healthy plants. Doing it organically means it takes a bit more time for things to break down and beneficial soil communities, including actinomycetes and arbuscular mycorrhizae, need to recover if you till in any amendments. They are your partners in preparing the soil and growing the plants. Know your beneficial flora & fauna in the soil and on top. It seems like a lot to learn but it really will help.
http://www.primalseeds.org/compost.htm
http://www.css.cornell.edu/compost/invertebrates.html
http://www.ext.vt.edu/departments/entomology/ornamentals/beneficials.html
http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/house/yard/problems/goodbugs.cfm

To begin asses your soil. What is the mineral content: sand, silt and clay ratio. Next how much organic is in the soil. Here are two methods to familiarize yourself with the soil. Optimum soil percentages are: Sand - 30-50%, Silt - 30-50%, Clay - 20- 30%, Organic material - 5-10%.
You need 1 quart jar, 2 cups water, 1 T water softener OR three drops detergent. Just enough to separate the minerals not to foam up.

Take a soil sample from the top 12 inches in your garden beds. Since your soil may vary throughout your property, take samples from each area you plan to amend and test each one separately.

Place your soil sample, water and water softener in a quart jar. Cover with a tight fitting lid on the jar, shake vigorously until everything is floating in the water. (If it foams you used to much soap.) Set the jar aside for 24 hours.

What settles first is the sand, the next layer is the silt, followed by the clay, and frosting all the layers is the organic material on top. When everything has settled after 24 hours, measure each layer. Then divide the thickness of each layer by the total depth of all layers together. To get the percentages, multiply the answers by 100.

Alternate assessment method
Check your soil's texture by picking up a handful and squeeze gently: If it feels sticky and stays in a tight mass, your soil is likely too high in clay. If it feels harsh or gritty and won't hold any shape or crumbles it is likely too high in sand. If it feels silky smooth or floury and won't hold any shape, it's likely too high in silt. If it molds into your hand yet crumbles apart when squeezed, it has the perfect texture. It is loam.
If it formed a sticky ball try to squeeze it upward to form a ribbon. Measure the length of the ribbon. Now wet the soil in your palm til muddy. Rub the soil against your palm with your other fingertips. Is it smooth, gritty or both?
1” gritty ribbon is sandy loam
1” smooth ribbon is silty loam
1” both is loam
1-2” gritty ribbon is sandy clay loam
1-2” smooth ribbon is silty clay loam
1-2” both is clay loam
GT 2” gritty ribbon is sandy clay
GT 2” smooth ribbon is silty clay
GT 2” both is clay
Black color indicates high organic matter; gray indicates medium organic matter. Red, tan or blue color indicates little organic matter and high clay. Blue color indicates that there is no oxygen in the clay. Therefore, no roots will grow in blue clay. Normally, the organic matter is mainly in the topsoil.
Next you take a fertility test for the pH and nitrogen, phosphorous, & potassium content. You can easily do this or send off for it. The results of the test tell you exactly how much you need to add to bring the soil to its optimal fertility without adding extra that will end up in the water runoff. Testing saves you money and prevents polluting the water.

If you need help calculating how much and what to add there are lots of sites that specialize in organic gardening.

Answer 2

So you've never grown anything in your life! This is a big job for you, but very do-able! I have a couple of recommendations based on my experience with organic gardening in my backyard. This year I planted tomatoes, green beans, peas, cucumbers, and radishes. I have 2 little girls, one is almost 3 and the other is 7 months. I am gardening organically for a couple of reasons, the children, and time. With 2 small kids, it's nearly impossible to spend a lot of time gardening, and the chemicals and pesticides aren't good for them (or the environment). So, I'm assuming you have a spot for your garden? Start as soon as you can with getting the rocks out, getting the weeds out etc. If you have a rototiller, use it to turn the soil, if not, use a shovel and rake to turn the soil. I would highly recommend composting as well because it does so much for your garden soil! If you live hear a horse farm, get some horse manure (make sure the farmers don't feed their horses anything bad...) and integrate that into your garden soil. Next spring, turn the soil again. Most of your plants will grow well on small mounds or rows, so figure out how you want them organized. Make sure you leave enough space between rows so that you can walk to reap the rewards of your veggies! I made an "aquaduct" system through my garden so that the watering is so much easier. Good luck!

Answer 3

Where I live in OK, I found the easiest way to start is to buy tomatoes, and peppers from plants. Look for a local coop to buy from. Squash start easily from seedlings and tea has special requirements to bring out the flavor the best, but bushes can be found from catalogue order sites. It is easy actually to garden without chemicals. I have a box about 9*9 that I filled with a soil mix of topsoil, sand and manure the first year. Each year after that in the fall, I add more manure, humus, and bonemeal. All can be found at any garden center or hardware store. I have a compost pile. Keep it in an out of the way place, add eggshells, banana peels, grass clippings and leaves - any other vege matter that you want,really. Add this in the Spring and fork over the box with a garden hoe. Takes about 15-20 minutes of time.

Plant an edging of marigolds around the box - this is a natural repellant for a lot of bugs. Add a couple of shaded broken pots in the ground - this encourages frogs. Plant in the Spring after frost danger passes. Add as much mulch as possible - keeps the weeds down and you can fork this over at the end of the growing season to add to the soil. Water fequently if it does not rain a lot in the Spring or summer.

That's it! Plan on sharing extras with friends!

Things are only complicated about being organic if you are looking to certify your garden. Otherwise it is really only a matter of choosing not to use the chemicals.

Answer 4

Yay for you! I garden organically and, you're right, it's nice not to have to worry about what you're eating.

First, find out what zone you're in. Go to to see what your hardiness zone is. That will tell you two things--your first frost date and your last frost date. Those are important, because you cannot plant before the last frost, and you'll lose most of your plants with the first frost.

If you are north of a zone 9 or 10 (that's like Florida and Texas) , you're best off spending the rest of this season preparing your bed for next year. If you do live in a year round gardening climate, you can just get to the planting anytime. I'll assume you live elsewhere and tell you what I'd do here in New England.

First, decide where you want your garden. Pick a nice, level spot with at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. Also, make sure you can reach it with a hose. Start small--maybe 100 sq ft or so, so you won't be overwhelmed the first year. You can always extend it later!

Lay down several layers of newspaper right over the grass (I pick it up from neighbors' curbs on recycling day). Spray the paper with a hose so it gets nice and wet and stays in place. Then cover it with a layer of compost. You can buy it in bags at any garden center. 3 or 4 inches deep should do it.

Let the whole thing sit there for a few months. I leave mine all winter. When you come out in the spring you will find all of the newspaper and grass have decayed and you have a nice fertile garden. Once the soil is dry enough to work, take a shovel and turn the dirt over. Pick out any big rocks. Rake it nice and smooth. Now your garden is ready to plant.

For your first time out, I would start with transplants. When you get a little more confident, you can try growing things from seeds. Go to a nursery in May and look around. See what you would like. You will probably have the best luck with hybrid plants (it will say hybrid on the little tag that is stuck in the dirt). They are plants that are specially bred to be resisitant to a lot of the diseases that tend to get organic gardens. When you get more experience, you can try the heirloom varieties, which are old types of plants that some people think taste better (but are a little harder to grow).

Some of the easiest things to grow are lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini and beans. That doesn't mean you can't try carrots and tea. You'll just need a little more research and patience with those.

Take your tiny plants home and lay the little containers out in your garden where you think they should go. Pay attention to the little markers that are stuck in the plants. They will tell you things like how tall a plant will get. That way you don't end up shading your pepper plants with your tomato plants. Put the tall stuff to the north of the shorter stuff if possible. Then it won't shade it out.

All of that compost you put on when you started your garden in the fall will start working its magic, but if you want to give your plants a boost, I like fish fertilizer. I use a brand called Coast of Maine Fermented Salmon and it smells as bad as it sounds. But it grows great plants.

The only other thing you need to do is watch for weeds and bugs. The best way to do that is to get out there every day for a few minutes. Check the undersides of the leaves for bugs. Pull up weeds when they're small. If you do see bugs, you'll have to decide if they're a problem. One or two bugs--just pick them off and drown them in some soapy water. If you get a big infestation, use a product called Safer Soap to spray them down.

If you are in a zone 9 or 10, you can do all of this (including the planting) in September if you want, but you'll need to dig the garden and strip the grass by hand. I much prefer the lazy way.


When your garden is all done for the year (after the frost), pull everything out and throw it in an out of the way place, like behind a shed or something. This is the start of your compost pile. To it, add grass clippings, veggie and fruit peels and scraps, manure (no pet waste!) and any other plant-based, non-meat stuff like leaves, coffee grounds, etc. If you don't have an area for a compost pile, check out compost tumblers online. They make the whole thing a lot easier. Eventually it will all turn into beautiful, rich, dark compost. The single most important thing you can do as an organic gardener is have a compost pile--your veggies will thank you!

Enjoy your healthy, beautiful produce!

Answer 5

* Start composting all your vege and paper waste. If you don't have much room a worm bin is great. It will take a while to build up but making soil is the most important job in the world! Until you have some good home made compost you may need to buy in .
* For tomatoes, peppers and squash I would buy seedlings rather than seeds for a beginner gardener as it gives you a head start.
* Start with a small patch, either dig well or build up some compost in a raised bed or container.
* Research the right season for things. Peppers and tomatoes are summer.
* Carrots (and other root veges) need fine soil to grow done into.
* Play

Answer 6

Make your own compost. It truly is gold!! (cut grass, newspaper strips, leaves, weeds, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells(rinsed), ALL cut up veg scraps, corn husks you name it.) Think layers brown/green Example: veg scraps covered with newspaper or coffee grounds/brown leaves, type thing. Among your plants, Incorporate herbs such as Basil. Bugs don't like smelly stuff. Placing chopped garlic at the roots is a good start. Using RED (powder) pepper such as paprika works GREAT! (sprinkled around the base of your plants.) I would buy it in bulk at the flea market LOL I use BasicH2 to spray instead of dish soap for a couple reasons: Its 100% organic It kills insects but also feeds the plants. (you can email me how to get that if you like) Its also a good idea to start planting things around the yard and go in the direction of a Butterfly garden and if you can/have room, put up a bat n' bird house. You want to begin to attract the things that like to eat insects. (Butterflies, birds, bats etc.) I found that herbs all over the yard helped (especially for the mosquito population) A LOT until I got my garden going strong. Balance is the key! I learned a lot by watching HGTV shows on organic gardening of all kinds, and I chose to do everything as they say, "the low low budget old fashion way" just for the challenge. It was time consuming but very rewarding. You will find the healthier your garden, the stronger, which will help in retarding a lot of issues but as I said it is a challenge. good luck I know you will enj0y the adventure!

Answer 7

I don`t know where you live, but unless it`s someplace with a very long growing season, it`s too late to do much serious gardening, unless you do it in containers and can move them indoors if it frosts. You can grow cool season crops that will come in late fall, (greens, turnips, carrots, lettuce, cabbage). It is too late to have an outdoor garden for tomatoes,peppers, squash, etc. A really good place to get ideas and info. is to go online and look-up and order some seed catalogs. They usually have a lot of helpful info. and they are free. Organic just means not using artificial pesticides and chemicals.

Answer 8

Well, your talking about organic so the first thing to do is research on how to make your piece of earth organic. From what I understand there are many steps and maybe some time in just making your soil organic before you even plant. Just put some love into your plants and they will do well for you. Jennifer

Answer 9

local nursery. although right now is not the best time to plant most plants. you need to prep a garden area that's in almost full sun and get lots of good healthy soil for the patch. in early spring you can go and get seeds or later spring get the little plastic pots of plants at nurseries. read the tags/packaging for spacing, depth, and info about the plant. btu you are absolutely right, go organic!! most stores even sell organic veggies and fruit

Answer 10

A lot of these gardening supplies are essential in the event you decide to sprout and nurture your own seedlings. You are able to discover domes, flats, labels, fiber pots, along with other supplies which will help to make your own planting experience positive.

For more information check this out at http://growownfood.net/

Answer 11

I can't help you because I know nothing about gardening, but I wanted to commend you on a wise food choice. I try to buy organic as much as possible, and the pesticides and hormones are bad, but even worse than those, are the genetically modified "food" products (frankenfoods!).

Whatever you do, make sure you have products to grow that aren't genetically modified in any way.