12 Tips For A Healthy Organic Lawn

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Want a beautiful, green, healthy organic lawn? Then here are twelve ways to achieve just that…

Do A Soil Test

Before you do anything, test your soil. You can buy a DIY kit at your local garden store or from this page on Amazon, or you can call your local Cooperative Extension office. The test results will tell you the pH of your soil, along with your levels of Nitrogen (N), Potassium (K) and Phosphorus (P). Once you know what you’re working with, you can make an informed decision about what type of organic fertilizers you’ll be using on your lawn.

Start Composting

You can help your lawn and the environment by starting your own compost system at home. There are several ways to set it up, and with a little research you can find the best method for you. You can put food scraps, garden waste, lawn trimmings and so much more (see 35 Unexpected Things to Add to Your Compost Pile) in your pile. Once the compost is ready it can be mixed in with your native soil or used to make compost tea. If you don’t have the space or the energy to make your own, buy compost that was produced locally.

Plant Native Grasses

Though many of them look similar, different varieties of grass are just that, different. They grow differently and require different levels of sun, water and soil nutrients. And like most plants they are best suited to their native environment. Once native grass is established it will need less watering, mulching, protection from frost, and mowing than introduced varieties.

Try an Alternative Ground Cover

In tight spaces, those with a lot of foot (or tire) traffic, less than awesome soil quality or a serious lack of sunshine – it’s often hard to grow healthy grass. If you have a spot like this on your property, you may want to consider other methods of ground cover, like creeping vines and succulents. Many of these plants need less watering and maintenance than traditional lawns, and visitors will be less likely to walk all over this type of ground cover. If you visit a nursery in your area you can find ground covering plants that like sun or shade, sandy or rocky soil, or even some that can go months without watering.

Pick the Right Fertilizers and Soil Amendments

In addition to compost, your organic lawn might need other nutrients (as determined by your soil test). Always use organic fertilizers, and if you can find one that was made locally that’s even better. Lawns generally prefer fertilizers lower in nitrogen.

Below are some common soil amendments that might be helpful in your lawn or garden:

Builder’s sand is natural, large grain sand that is great for soil with drainage problems.

Humus is decayed, organic matter that adds fertility, holds moisture and provides aeration

Limestone lowers soil acidity

Sphagnum Peat Moss can lighten heavy, clay soils and add mass to sandy soils, which keeps the existing nutrients in.

Kelp Meal contains over 70 vitamins and minerals beneficial to plants and helps beneficial micro-organisms to thrive

Earthworm Castings repel pests that feed on plant juices, like aphids and spider mites. They also get rid of any remnants of heavy metals from organic waste and can be used to protect plants from pH levels that are too high OR too low.

Bat Guano can hold together loose soil AND make dense soil longer. It contains nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium along with several micronutrients that benefit your soil and lawn.

…But Don’t Overdo It

Once you start learning about all the amazing organic soil amendments that will support your luscious new lawn, you may be tempted to add a lot of them, often. However, too much fertilizer can be more harmful than too little – especially if you’ve gone with native grass. Over-fertilizing can make grass grow too fast, and it will be more susceptible to disease and bugs. Fertilize just once a year, in October if you live in the north and November if you live down south.

Avoid All Poisons

An organic lawn can’t be organic if you use any pesticides or weed killer. Even the so-called ‘organic herbicides’ aren’t good for your grass and can damage plants growing nearby. If you plant local grass and shrubs and use organic fertilizers, the natural eco-system you’ve created will likely not need these dangerous poisons anyway.

Don’t Mow too Short, or too often

Your lawn will be healthiest when you let it grow. Set your mower blades to about 4” (or the highest setting) and only mow when rain is expected in the next few days. Grass that is allowed to grow naturally has stronger roots and absorbs more nutrients; longer periods without mowing will also help grass spread into any bare spots.

Water well, but only when needed

Moist soil encourages the roots of your lawn to grow deep and strong. When your soil seems moist after a brief watering, it’s actually dry underneath and the roots can’t dig down into the soil. It’s much better to run the sprinklers for an hour once a week, than for 15 minutes every day. If having a lawn that is green year round isn’t so important to you, or you live in an area that is prone to drought, you can let your grass go brown in the summer without damaging it. Even if it looks dead in the hottest times of the year, it will come back lush and green in the spring – think about how brown natural prairie looks during August, the same rules apply to the grass in your backyard.

Don’t Freak Out over Good Bugs

An organic lawn won’t, and shouldn’t be, bug free. Products designed to kill all the bugs in your lawn can also be dangerous for your lawn, pets and children. Some creepy-crawlers are very good for your lawn. Earthworms are a sign of healthy soil. Spiders, ladybugs, wasps and beetles eat the insects that are actually doing damage to your plants. Insects and other bugs are a sign of a healthy eco-system.

Aerate your lawn for natural healing

Like all living things, your lawn needs to eat, drink and breathe. Once you have a healthy, organic lawn going, including natural fertilizers and lots of earthworms, your lawn will breathe all by itself. If you’re just starting out and want to help your lawn heal itself, you can rent a core aerator from a local equipment rental store and get it done in no time.  Just like fertilizing, fall is the best time to aerate your grass.

Attract Bug-Eaters

If you have concerns about insects and other bugs in your grass, you can take some steps to attract one of the best exterminators around – birds. Planting native shrubs, vines and trees will bring them in, and create a bit more diversity in your mini-eco-system (which will help eliminate pests). Hanging feeders filled with seeds will also attract finches, sparrows, wrens and other insect loving birds.

source: http://www.naturallivingideas.com/12-tips-for-a-healthy-organic-lawn/

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10 Creative Seed Starting Ideas

If you are looking for an inexpensive way to start your seeds this spring then we have a great post sharing creative ways in which you can use old and used items to do just that.

You can use lemon peels, eggshells, newspaper, toilet paper rolls, milk jugs and much more!

Take a look at these creative seed starter ideas and get growing!

A Citrus Peel Starter Pot For Seedlings – Half a lemon can provide a perfect first home for any seedling. Robust yet decomposable, there is no need to even take the seedling out when re-planting outside.

Egg Shell Pots – Instead of throwing old egg shells into the compost, rescue them by giving them another job – a great home for chive seeds.

K-Cup Recycling – If you are fan of those little K-Cup coffees then you will probably realise that they are perfect for starting little seeds off in.

Newspaper Pots – Are you not a fan of transporting matured seedlings into a planter or your garden? Then this is the ideal solution for you! These are biodegradable and require no transferring!

Plastic Bottle Pots – Another brilliant way to use old items and recycle them with another use. These can be used time and time again!

Toilet Paper Rolls – Who knew that these were so versatile? This particular way of starting seeds is a great one for kids on the weekend – simple and effective!

Paper Pulp Seed Starters – These require a little effort, but once made will make a great seed starter! Again you are using old items that are destined for the recycling pile!

Milk Jug Seed Starters – If you want your seeds to have a little more room then this is the diy for you. Old milk jugs create a perfect greenhouse effect to keep your seeds moist. 

Ice Cube Tray Seed Starter – If your ice cube tray breaks or develops a crack – don’t throw it out, turn it into a mini-seed starter tray instead! 

Seedling Starter Tray – What happens if you take coffee filters, a garbage bag and old cardboard box? Well follow this tutorial and you will end up with a fantastic seed starting tray!

source by : http://www.naturallivingideas.com/10-creative-seed-starting-ideas/

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Easy Composting Tips For Your Organic Garden

Having an organic vegetable garden means freedom from the chemical laden produce that is usually found in supermarkets these days. If you are against the practice of big commercial food growers which is using chemically laden fertilizers and pesticides, organically growing your own is the best act of defiance you can take.

Composting is an integral part of organic gardening. Composting enriches or improves the soil by providing nutrients to it that plants need in order to thrive. When composting, it is essential to note that only the right natural materials should be used.

source : google

The following are easy composting tips for organic gardens…

Make a compost pit. Choose a shady area in your backyard and dig a hole approximately 4 feet wide by 5 feet deep. Secure your compost pit with a fence, this will ensure no one will fall in it and also to keep scavenging pests away.

Collect your kitchen refuse. Biodegradable kitchen waste can be included in your compost. Collect kitchen refuse like vegetables, fruit peelings, spent coffee grounds, and spoiled food (no meat) into a garbage bag to throw later in your compost pit.

source: google

Gather leaves when cleaning your yard and throw these as well in the pit.

When the pit is almost full, cover it with soil. Allow the compost to decompose for 2-3 months.

Turn your compost at least once a week. The frequency in which you turn your compost would depend on the method you choose to compost. If you compost by batches, turn every few days for the first 2 weeks then move to just once a week for the next 4-8 weeks. If you have an add-as-you-go pile, you should turn every few times scraps are added in order to get the undigested material into the inside of the pile. Air is necessary in the decomposition process and turning the compost pile helps aerate it and speed up the process.

There are things you can compost like algae, seaweed and lake moss, banana peels, cardboard, clover, cotton bur, cowpeas, egg shells. And there are also materials you should never add to your compost pile like cat droppings, lime, meat, oils and grease. [For the complete list of materials you can and cannot compost, click here.]

When the compost is ready, you can mix it to the soil as a natural fertilizer and start growing organic vegetables and fruits. The decayed materials in the compost will enrich the soil, ensuring lush plant growths.

So these are some easy composting tips to get you started with your organic garden.

source by : http://freshorganicgardening.com/easy-composting-tips-for-your-organic-garden/

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5 Tips in Storing Your Winter Squash

Most farmers and gardeners are in love with winter squash. They love to plant and grow winter squash because it can be easily stored and it can last long even during winter. Winter squash just like the summer squash are planted and grown from spring until the summer season. The only difference is that, winter squash takes more time to mature compared to the summer squash varieties. While summer squash is harvested during the summer, the winter squash varieties are harvested during fall.

Here are 5 Tips in Storing Your Winter Squash

source: gardenbetty

1. Curing  

If you want your winter squash to last through the winter, then, it must be properly cured. To do this, you need to make sure that your winter squash will have the right water content value before it is stored for the winter. You can easily achieve this by putting your freshly harvested squash in a dry and sunny area for about a week or two.

source: sustainablemarketfarming

2. Storage Conditions  

You can store your squash in a shelf, cabinet, or a drawer it’s up to you. Just make sure that the storage temperature is at 50 degrees Fahrenheit and you store them in a dark place.

source: nwedible

3. Wrap Them  Up

Wrap your squash individually in a paper before storing them. Make sure that your wrapped squash do not touch each other and is not placed in a hard surface.

source: agreenroutine

4. While in Storage  

Check your stored squash regularly. Make sure that your squash have no soft spots in them and check for damaged fruits. To avoid bruising, turn the squash every time you check them.

source: mlive

5. Longevity of Stored Squash

When stored properly, winter squash can last until February. If you notice that your stored squash starts to get soft, then, it is a sign that your squash should be taken out and prepared to be cooked and to be eaten.

source by : http://freshorganicgardening.com/5-tips-in-storing-your-winter-squash/5/

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Garden To-Do List For November

November. It’s the month we start looking forward to the holidays. It is also the month when garden chores seriously start to slow down. But even though, there are still some tasks the gardener must attend to before finally hanging the spade. Here’s our suggested to-do list for this month…

TIPS IN GENERAL

Mulch. Mulching is beneficial to organic gardening because it helps keep soil warm during the winter, helps retain moisture during the summer, kills weeds, encourages microbial activity in the soil, improves soil structure, deters some soil pests and protects the roots of plants from extreme temperatures. Mulching before winter sets in also keeps plants from heaving out of the ground. The best time to mulch is after the ground starts to freeze but before the first snow falls.

Read our post on Mulching for general guidelines and mulch materials for vegetable gardens.

Weed now and lessen your chores next spring.

Compost. Start a compost pile with the materials you have pulled out of the beds (but make sure these are not diseased) and all the leaves you have raked. Homemade compost is the secret to a successful organic garden so start composting now if you haven’t done so yet.

Read our compost related posts:

Why Should I Compost?

Easy Composting Tips For Your Organic Garden

Materials You Can And Should Not Compost

Hot Composting Vs Cold Composting

Have your soil tested. If there are areas in your garden where plants refused to thrive this year, take a sample of soil from there and send it for testing to your local Cooperative Extension service. Some amendments can be spread or incorporated into the soil before the ground freezes. Adding necessary amendments early will also allow slow-acting amendments like lime to become available to plants next spring.

Cover crops. November is also a good time to plant cover crops, also known as green manure. These crops are specifically grown to turn back into the soil which improves the soil’s structure. Nitrogen fixing plants like Austrian field peas and fava beans convert nitrogen from the air and release it to the soil as plant nutrient.

Read this post to know other crops to sow: Winter Cover Crops: What Green Manure to Sow for Overwintering

Related posts:

Cover Crops: How Green Manure Help Your Garden

Sowing and Tilling Cover Crops

VEGETABLES, HERBS, FRUITS

To get a head start on such early crops like peas and spinach, prepare a seedbed for them now. You can even sow spinach this month – though not peas – and ensure an early spring harvest.

Mulch your strawberries with straw.

Pot up your parsley and chives and bring them indoors. If you have garlic, pot up a few cloves too. These will yield chive-like garlic greens all winter that you can use for garnish. If you have a really sunny windowsill even during the cold months, you can sow seeds of herbs like basil and peppermint in a pot.

Related Post: 12 Herbs to Grow Indoors in the Winter

Till and prepare your soil now if you plan to grow strawberries or asparagus next spring. By doing this, you can plant the bare-root plants you will order over the winter extra early come spring.

Harvest broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, collards, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, peas, potatoes and radishes.

Once raspberries are finished producing fruit, prune the fruiting top sections and leave the lower section of branch for next year’s early crop.

Freeze or can your bounty. Hang your herbs in a cool dry place.

PEST/DISEASE CONTROL

Control harmful insects by keeping insect eating birds around. Put out a feeder to bring the birds closer and keep them active in your garden. Birds can help lessen the number of overwintering insects in your garden, minimizing your pest problems next year.

Remove any infected plant material from your garden to keep any disease from spreading and reinfecting your crops next year.

EQUIPMENT

Drain the gas from gas powered equipment like lawnmowers before storing them.

Open sprinkler valves and drain water from sprinkler systems to keep them from freezing.

Drain and store hoses.

Empty terra cotta and ceramic pots. Sterilize them with a mixture of 1:9 parts bleach and water. Store them bottom up in a protected area to keep them from cracking.

Start cleaning your garden tools and put them away until next spring.

Related Post: Tips for Cleaning Your Garden Tools Organically

source by : http://freshorganicgardening.com/garden-to-do-list-for-november/

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7 Secret Tricks to Get the Most Produce Out Of Your Vegetable Garden

Do not let a limited garden space hamper your dreams of abundant harvest. Having a small area to work with does not mean you cannot harvest more crops. In reality it is doable! You just need to work a little bit more to make this dream turn into a reality. Here’s how to do it.

7 Secret Tricks to Get the Most Produce Out Of Your Vegetable Garden

1. Build Up Your Soil

If you want to extract more yields from your vegetable garden, the first thing you need to do is to build up your garden soil. The best thing to accomplish this task is to add organic matter to your soil. Aged animal manure and organic compost will do the trick. After you have finished adding organic matters into your soil, the next thing to do is to make raised beds. Raised beds can yield you up to four times more than just planting and growing crops in rows. Using raised beds will maximize the space in your garden resulting in much greater yield.

2. Round Out Your Beds

It is not enough to just make raised beds in your garden. The shape of your beds will also play an important part. Since raised beds are more space efficient, the best thing to do to your raised beds is to make sure that the top of the bed is rounded to form an arc. This may seem not a big deal but once you start planting and growing your crops, you will see a big difference in terms of planting space and crop yield during harvest.

3. Spacing is the key

The way you plant your crops is also a big factor to get the maximum amount of crop yield from each of your garden beds. Instead of planting your crops in square patterns or rows, why not plant them like forming a triangle. Planting in a triangle pattern can add about 12 percent more plants to each of your garden beds.

4. Use Vertical Gardening

If you have a small garden space to work with, you can still plant more crops by going vertical. Plant vine crop vegetables such as tomatoes, beans, squash, melons, peas, and other vegetable crops that grows vertically. Just make sure to support your vertical garden by using trellis, fences, stakes, or anything that can be used in vertical gardening.

5. Mix It Up

If you really want to maximize your garden space, then, interplanting crops is a great way to do it. Plant corn together with pole beans and squash in the same area in your garden. The corn will serve as a support once your pole beans start to climb while the squash can grow freely on the ground and serves as protection to competing weeds.

6. Plant in Succession

Growing more than one crop in the same space in the garden is also a great way to get the most out of your garden. During the planting season, do some succession planting in your garden. This way you can harvest up to about four different crops from a single area. You can do this by planting different crops that grows and matures fast. For example, If you plant and harvest lettuce, you can follow it up by planting corn, then, followed by some fast maturing greens. This is done within the same planting season.

7. Stretch Your Season

You can stretch your planting season by growing crops that matures fast. Lettuce, kale, turnips, and tomatoes are just some of the examples. You can also stretch your planting season by making sure your soil is warm enough and have a good air circulation even during the colder months. Do this by applying mulch around your plants, putting row covers, or using cold frames to protect the crops in your garden.

source by : http://freshorganicgardening.com/7-secret-tricks-to-get-the-most-produce-out-of-your-vegetable-garden/6/

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5 How-To’s in Preparing Your Garden For Winter

When the leaves starts to fall in your garden and the breeze of the air starts to sting the skin because of its coldness, then, this is nature’s way of saying that winter is just around the corner. This also means that taking care of your garden is now a priority that should not be taken for granted. So, before winter finally sets in, it is wise to manage your garden and prepare it for the winter so that when the cold weather arrives, you can just relax in your homes without worrying about your gardens condition.

5 How-To’s in Preparing Your Garden for winter

source: devisserlandscape

1. How to Prepare Perennials for winter

How do you prepare your perennials for the winter? Here’s how to do it.

After frost, cut your perennial stems to soil level. This will remove the eggs and spores of the garden pests that still linger in your plants.

All dead plant debris must be cut and made into compost to be used as organic matter that will add nutrients to the soil.

Put winter mulch into your soil once the ground freezes. This will prevent rodents and other garden pests from nesting into your garden.

To keep the soil warm and moist even during winter, and to protect the plants that are still growing in your garden, put mulch around them. Pine needles, chopped leaves, and shrubs are the best mulch to be used.

source: truevalueprojects

2. How to Prepare Bulbs for winter

The most important thing to remember on how to prepare your bulbs for the winter is to make sure that your garden soil does not crack and shift due to the freezing temperature. To avoid shifting and cracking of soil, put mulch around your bulb beds. This will keep the soil warm and moist which is very important for your bulbs.

source: lowes

3. How to Prepare Trees for winter

Trees in the garden should also be protected during winter. Wrapping the trunks and stems of your trees with tree-guard products will do the job. You can also shade or use burlap screens to your trees to control the damage that is brought about by the cold wind of winter.

source: ourhabitatgarden

4. How to Make Leaf Mold

Creating a leaf mold will encourage the growth of helpful bacteria that is beneficial to the soil. It will also enrich the soil and in turn makes the crops that will be grown in the soil have a better quality and more yield during harvest. Making leaf mold is easy. If you have an empty composting bin, you can use this to pile up leaves and to keep them contained so that the breakdown process can start. You can also assemble your very own leaf mold container by building a very simple structure using chicken wires and used boards.  Also, keep your leaf mold wet at all times. This will help in the growth of fungi which is essential in the success of your leaf mold.

source: rhs.org

5. How to Control Weeds

You can use your leaf mold to control the growth of weeds in your garden during winter. To do this, just spread your leaf mold in your garden. The leaf mold will block the sun making it impossible for weed seeds to germinate.

source by : http://freshorganicgardening.com/5-how-tos-in-preparing-your-garden-for-winter/5/

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