Organic Gardening: Top 10 Tips

Growing your own organic vegetables has become an increasingly popular pastime as people become more aware of the health benefits of eating natural, healthy food, the physical benefits of spending time outdoors, and best of all, the savings to be made by producing their own food. Even urban dwellers are taking some simple organic gardening tips and making use of the small outdoor spaces in backyards, on patio’s and decks and even high rise balconies!

With the right approach, even the smallest available space can be a productive organic vegetable garden and you can reap the health and financial benefits year after year.

 Here are some great organic gardening tips to help get you off to a better start.

• Choose the right location

 When your deciding where to locate your vegetable patch, take a little time to observe the movement of the sun, the prevailing winds and consider ease of access. Locating your plot where it will get sunshine for most of the day and will be sheltered from early season frost will ensure a better yield for your efforts. Ease of access is important for the ongoing maintenance of your crops and will make your gardening more enjoyable in the long run.

• Choose the right plants

Take some time to consider what vegetables you will grow. How much space do you have? What will grow best in your soil? What will grow best in your climatic conditions? And, above all, what do you want to grow and eat?

• Use plenty of compost

Make use of all that kitchen waste that would normally fill up your waste bin. Making your own compost is the cornerstone of organic vegetable gardening and the key to a healthy crop. Reducing your household waste will cut down on your waste disposal costs too and is a great way to help the environment at the same time.

• Use plants, not seeds

Get a head start in growing your organic vegetables by using plants instead of seeds.Use starter plants to sow your crop at the start of the season instead of starting from scratch with seeds and you will enjoy the fruits of your labour sooner and be more confident of a successful crop.

• Try growing in containers

If, like the many urban dwellers now turning to organic gardening, your space is at a premium you could make great use of containers to sow your plants. Containers are ideal for use in confined spaces such as decks and patios. If used imaginatively they can even look great on an apartment balcony!Try growing strawberries or tumbling tomatos from a hanging basket and you have instantly created lots more growing space that you never thought you had!

• Interplant fast and slow growing plants

Many vegetable plants are slower growing and don’t take up much space until the final stages of development. With some careful planning you can use the unused space to grow and harvest some faster growing plants before the initial crop fills out.  

• Use only organic methods and supplies

Organic vegetable gardening is all about producing healthy food using natural methods and materials. Make sure that you don’t undo all your hard work by introducing chemicals at any stage during the growing process through the use of non-organic treatments or pest repellents.

• Collect your rainwater

Rainwater is free from harsh chemicals and treatments, which are often found in municipal water supplies, and is generally much softer than tap water, which is good news for your plants. It can easily be collected and stored by placing a specially designed water butt under the down pipe or even just using an old barrel. If it’s in a prominent position try using a traditional style oak barrel or something similar to add a stylish and useful feature to your garden.

• Use plenty of mulch to retain water

Use plenty of mulch on your vegetable beds as it will enrich the soil with nutrients and also help retain water in the ground during drier periods.

• Rotate your crops every year

Make best use of the available nutrients in your soil by rotating your planting layout each season. This method has been used in large scale farming for generations and for good reason, as it will ensure the nutrients in the soil are not depleted while the various crops place different demands on the soil they are grown in.

Remember, a little extra time spent at the early stages of planning your organic vegetable garden will pay dividends at harvest time, ensuring a healthy, sustainable crop of vegetables for many seasons to come.