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Posts Tagged ‘organic gardening’

Are you like me, enamoured by the beauty and diversity of our natural world?! Our majestic trees for example. The myriad of colours in the autumn

leaves, the shade that trees provide in summer, as well as creating micro climates around our homes. There is a resurgence in growing trees for: ~ Locking up or sequesting carbon into the soil ~ As trees are the lungs of the earth, they mop up carbon dioxide, while oxygenating the air we breathe ~ Sheltering birds and animals habitat ~ Providing leaf litter in creating organic humus and top soil ~ Reducing soil erosion, gullying and, salinity prevention ~ Flowers that supply bees with nectar and pollen for honey production These trees also act as wind breaks, and provide the structure, or framework to our parks and gardens.

For those people who can remember their grandparents’ gardens in the country, the fragrances of roses, apple or cherry blossom in the spring, picking

strawberries or other berries, peas, tomatoes and digging potatoes, are deliciously evocative.You may be musing about the limited space around your

home, time constraints owing to work life, home and family committments. Yes, all these things have to be factored in, but did you know that even light,

or menial gardening is a great work out, not only does it increase your heart rate, but also your metabolic rate. The physical activities of gardening

maintains muscular skeletal strength, notwithstanding the power of good the fresh air provides. Threfore, the creative pleasures of growing, harvesting

and eating your produce combine to keep you healthy, physically, psychologically and emotionally.

I have always grown salad vegetables eg; amaranth (Greek spinach), herbs, strawberries, carrots, beetroot, asian greens, shallots tomatoes, potatoes

interplanted amongst other indigenous plants, exotic and flowering shrubs and perennials. Organic practices incorporate a balance of manures and good

composted soils, companion planting and crop rotation to ensure healthy and viable soil for your garden beds. Even when space is limited, pots, large tubs, polystyrene boxes are sufficient to cultivate easy to grow vegetables or herbs. There are many communities, garnered with the approval of local councils and authorities, which are addressing climate change and organic food

production, by developing otherwise wasted tracts of land into productive gardens. Fruit tree species, herbs, vegetable and flower gardens are cultivated

around Community Centres/ Houses, public parks, nature strips out front of homes, as well as neighbourhoods adopting a site then growing and sharing

the produce. Local Community Gardens, and Garden Clubs provide people with inspiration, motivation, sharing tips, seeds, cuttings, seedlings, swapping

produce and of course .. friendship. In recent years, there has been valid circumspection surrounding Genetically Modified food plants, for human and animal consumption. There are still too many unknown side effects to G.M produce, and a ground swell of allergic reactions to a whole range of chemical fertilizers,

herbicides, and environmental pollutants. While the tabloids continue the ‘gloom and doom’ regarding the push for carbon reductions, green house gas

emissions, and the effects of global warming, there are many ways we as individuals can help. I believe that is not only the seasoned gardeners of today, but

the next generation of gardeners who will insist on good environmental decisions going forward. Decisions pertaining to issues such as: ~ Landcare and

forest regeneration ~ rain water and storm water harvesting, storage and management ~ smarter water allocations for use on parklands, public and private

gardens ~ wetland developement ~ green spaces within urban areas focussing on sustainable drought tolerant plant life.

Organic gardening begins at ground level with rich, composted soil. Create compost using organic materials including leaf litter and twigs combined with

fruit and vegetable scraps, shredded newspaper, egg shells, tea/ coffee fines, grass clippings (without seeds). For soil conditioners include, lucern hay,

straw, coconut fibre or peat moss. These materials aid in soil moisture retention. Ensure that that the organic materials are cut into small pieces, with cardboard and paper shredded thinly, placed into a compost bin or heap with a layer

of garden soil or bagged compost soil bought from a garden store, a sprinkling of dolomite or lime adding calcium and “sweetening” the soil. Compost also

requires moisture to assist in the decomposition and aerobic bacterial process, and encourages garden worms. Regularily turn with a garden fork or

rotate the bin to oxygenate the composting materials so as to avoid the odour of methane gas, but ensure the compost remains moist. I use a plastic PVC

tube higher than the compost level and drilled large holes along the tube, and push it down the middle of the compost bin as a means of drawing oxygen

to the soil. Compost should be ready to use in the garden when it resembles moist, crumbly soil with an earthy aroma… Now you can start the process of building a healthy organic compost as a medium for growing the most flavoursome vegetables, in particular the

productive heirloom varieties, or anything your heart desires, while simultaneously creating a better environment …

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The art of organic gardening is simply growing food in an environmentally and health friendly manner. Because an organic garden is produce without the use of pesticides and commercial fertilizers you are not only providing yourself and your family with healthy foods, you are also helping the air, water, and soil within our environment.

Organic gardening carries many benefits that you may not be aware of. This article will help you identify the benefits of an organic garden and determine whether organic is the way for you to go.

When you produce organic foods, you are producing all natural, safe, and much healthier foods. These foods will have a greater amount of nutrients and minerals within them than those grown with the help of commercial products. You are reducing your family’s risk of ingesting harmful additives and pesticides, and increasing their nutrition at the same time.

Let us have a look at some of the other health benefits of organic gardening. One important benefit that research has discovered in organic foods is the fact that by eating foods grown organically, you are building your body’s immune system, thus giving it the ability to fight of many different types of diseases, one of which is cancer.

Organic vegetables have been proven to contain a higher concentration of nutrients. A team from Rutgers University did a study comparing produce from a grocery store and the same items grown organically.

While the Rutgers team expected the organic food to show a slight increase in minerals compared to the non-organic, they were astounded by the results of the tests. The organic produce contained much greater amounts of essential minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and potassium.

Non-organic spinach had only three percent of the iron contained in organic spinach. Non-organic tomatoes had only a tiny fraction of one percent of the iron found in organic tomatoes. What was more surprising was that many essential elements were completely missing from the non-organic produce.

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In the first place, several gardeners make an effort to stay away from fall gardening as much as they can on account of the winter frosts which generally arrive quite early and have the tendency to make things a bit difficult. Discovering all you can in relation to fall gardening plus other gardening info will certainly prove useful to you in handling any snags that may perhaps come up. Everyone I know wants a lovely looking garden. A lovely looking garden will require more than just expending a lot of cash. It’ll require sustainment in addition to care to get it into the needed shape. However, what is cash compared to getting the precise kind of garden you desire? How much do you actually know about the process of fertilization as a gardener? If you actually don’t know much, then pay close attention. Each gardener will want to know it is not sufficient to get just about any kind of glove for gardening as a gardener. Countless folks believe so, and are severely disillusioned when they find how erroneous they are.

You see, the glove for gardening has got to tally with you exactly because an oversized one will slide off whereas a small one will result in pains as well as cramps. Don’t fail to remember this when going shopping for your garden glove. Subscribing to gardening magazines has various advantages. Gardening magazines give gardeners the chance to share their opinions and skills with other avid subscribers by submitting their own pieces of writing to be in print. You can easily have your such writings included as well! if you have them. Your eating preference in addition to available room which you have for fall gardening are the determinants for the crops you will need to cultivate; it is actually not dissimilar from spring planting. Beautifying your garden will make it more charming as well as unique; it is a wise way of giving it a unique touch, a form of mark which distinguishes it as your own distinctive work. Insects generally concentrate on unhealthy plants so gardeners have to work on growing healthy plants which can get over trivial insect ruin.

Your desire to learn all you can with regards to back ache and even the several remedies can be fulfilled on the World Wide Web where you can access several websites which bestow elaborate and even thorough clues with regards to it. To wrap up, if you actually want to engage in organic gardening but you are disturbed about weeds, it’s possible to stop weeds from infuriating you into abandoning organic gardening by using organic mulch as well as corn meal gluten which decreases weed growth when applied early enough.

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