How To Start an Organic Garden: Begin At the Roots!
Congratulations! You have made a great decision; you are going to start an organic garden! But, how to begin?
Make a plan!
You need to get to know your garden and how the sun shines upon it. Perhaps some spots get sun most of the day, while others are mostly in the shadow?
Many perennial flowers develop well in the shady parts of the garden, or actually prefer them, whereas most vegetables need lots of sunshine to grow really well and mature properly.
So the ground rule is: vegetables in the sun, and flowers in the shade. But do use the perennials that also want the sun together with your veggies, they will look great together.
Soil preparation
Next you want to take a look at your garden soil. Is it sandy? Muddy? Dry? Moist? Or different in different parts of the garden?
Adding organic matter to your sandy soil is the very best way to improve it. The compost pile will provide you with free soil improvement. Having a compost pile in your organic garden is absolutely essential, so if you don’t have one, start one. However, if you are currently out of compost you can of course buy your soil improvement. Cow-dung is great, it will bring nutrients as well as organic matter to your soil. Peat is good if you don’t overdo it, to much will cause a low pH-value in your soil.
Your soil will improve over time if you remember to add organic matter every spring.
Soil heavy with clay holds water too well, and needs something to improve drainage. It is tempting to add some find sand, but don’t do that, as it will make great concrete together with your muddy soil. Makes it hard for the veggies to grow in… Instead add coarse sand or even gravel, that will do the trick.
And then, do just the same as with the sandy soil: add lots and lots of organic matter, to make your soil porous and make the earth worms happy.
You do best not to use a rototiller since it will tear the roots of the weeds into pieces, and thereby helping them to spread even more. It also gives the earth worms a hard time, and we don’t want that for our little helpful fellows. Instead, dig two shovels deep.
Finally, you can start to rake and the sow whatever it is your heart desires (and will go well in your region). To stop any problems almost before they arise, visit your garden every day and look for bugs and other disturbances.
