Is It Time To Consider Organic Vegetable Gardening?

With the sudden skyrocketing of produce and food costs, organic vegetable gardening is starting to look pretty good to those of us who have space to grow food and a little area to create a compost heap. If you're ready to give this a try, start now to get your compost pile started at least, and try to find a few organic seedlings at your local plant nursery if it's too late to grow them yourself.

You'll need to start by dedicating two parts of your yard to organic gardening: a 2x2 area for a small compost heap, and a larger area for your garden. If you've never gardened before, start small and with easy-to-grow vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers; start seedlings indoors and plant them in your composted garden when the weather is too warm to frost again.

Look into setting up a raised bed, so you have good drainage, and be sure you plan space to walk between plants, even in a small garden. And make sure your garden is set up in the sunniest part of the yard, with the compost heap in a more sheltered area nearby. Any plants that need shade can be planted beneath taller plants later. Also, certain plants attract beetles and bugs that eat bugs that eat pests, and others emit chemicals that drive pests off. Tomatoes, for example, repel a type of caterpillar that eat cabbage. Research these pairs, and avoid using any pesticides at all.

"Homegrown organic vegetables are not just good for your yard, they are good for you and your family. Would you feed your baby DDT? Would you feed your family any pesticide or herbicide for that matter? Of course not. The fact is that commercially grown non-organic produce is coated in carcinogens and poisons that no human, especially a child, should ingest. By growing your own organic produce you can be sure of exactly what is going into your, and your family's bodies.

An organic vegetable garden means a garden free of synthetic chemicals. You will find, with minimal research, that all problems common to gardening: diseases, pests, weeds and soil problems, can be fixed naturally. These natural solutions are generally safer, cheaper, easier and on the whole, more pleasant than their commercial counterparts."

While you're choosing plants, consider how companion plants work together. These are plants that have a fairly symbiotic relationship; for instance, the easy-to-grow carrot likes the easy-to-grow tomato. Tomatoes grown by themselves will exhaust soil fairly quickly (like most nightshade plants - eggplants, tobacco, etc) but carrots help put back part of what the tomatoes pull out, while also benefiting from the tomatoes. Rye and legumes (beans) will help fix nitrogen in the soil, which is good for all your plants, and if you plant garlic, plant it on the side and edge it with rosebushes; roses and garlic love one another, the original odd couple. For more on these often-surprising combinations, look up information on companion plants.

If you're starting organic vegetable gardening with good soil, just keep it healthy with regular applications of compost. If you're starting with relatively poor soil, you may need to lay down a layer of compost before plants will grow well. If you can't make enough yourself quickly, most organic gardening supply stores will sell you organic gardening compost. You'll have to stay on top of things if your soil was iffy to begin with, continually laying compost over it until it stays rich throughout. You'll also have to be careful about over watering; every time water runs through your soil, it will carry nutrients with it, washing them out of your garden.

Some people have a gray water repository - a place where water secondary to sinks and other non-sewage water supplies is kept so that the water can be recycled. If you're willing to commit to using only organic detergents and cleaners, you can recycle that gray water into your garden and lawn.

Once you're comfortable with organic vegetable gardening, you can get more ambitious. Plan out a garden that mixes veggies, herbs, and flowers; remember, some vegetable plants have very pretty blossoms, and companion plant blends often combine all three. Raise your garden, terrace and sculpt it and turn it into a showplace for your yard. Your utilitarian organic vegetable garden can be your money-saving home produce section, your little contribution to a healthy planet, and your backyard showplace.

Check out my healthy food list to get an idea of what foods you should consider growing Healthy Food List

If you are tight on your budget check out Organic Food Coupons

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/organic/2006/vegetable-garden.html

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY-VH019

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