Tag: Gardener

Partial Shade: Its Vital Role in Organic Vegetable Gardening

Why does partial shade play an important role in organic vegetable gardening? And how can such shade be done? And is it really vital for your produce to grow?

For gardeners, they know that shade plays an important role in what they are doing as much as the sun. This is especially true if one is into organic gardening of vegetables. The exposure to sun and its need to be in shade still depends upon what plant you want as produce. But learning all about the plant and its needs first will lead a gardener for a better output.

Being one with nature, being in touched with your produce, is the main responsibility of an organic farmer, in the first place. So before you might want to delve into this, you must first be ready to be patient and hardworking because of the holistic approach being used in such type of gardening, everything depends on the farmer, they have no one to turn to except for themselves and the natural environment.

Organic Horticulture
The word horticulture comes from two Latin words, hortus that means garden plant and cultura or culture. It is both an art and science of planting and producing vegetables, flowers, fruits and even ornamental plants.

Horticulture has five parts of study; floriculture for floral plants, landscape horticulture for landscape ornaments, pomology for fruits, postharvest physiology is about keeping the harvested produce fresh and how to prevent these from rotting quickly.

The fifth area of study for horticulture is olericulture, which you might be interested in if you are into vegetable gardening because this tackles the process from producing the crops to marketing such.

Partial Shade
You may know that a plant needs soil, sun and water to be able to survive. But you must also be aware that it needs shade, especially the vegetables because not only one must protect it as a plant but must also care for it to produce a good harvest.

In organic vegetable gardening, by exposing the plants to a range of 30 to 50 percent of shade can actually lower the leaves’ temperature by about 10 percent or even more. For the northern and coastal climates, 30 percent shade is recommendable while 47 to 50 percent in hot and summer-like places.

By doing what’s stated above, vegetables like lettuce, arugula, mustard greens and mesclun mix would produce better qualities.

The shade also lessens the temperature of the soil by three to six degrees Fahrenheit. This will benefit vegetables such as cabbages, mustard greens, broccoli, chard, radishes, turnips and spinach that grow in the soil. It is because these produce will germinate better when the soil temperature is below 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Shade Tent
You can also provide your plants with handmade tents. This will be most beneficial if you have a large produce and you can’t attend to each plant one-by-one, placing cloth as shade at top of each one.

To do a shade tent, you would need sturdy plastic tubing that are about 1/2 or 3/4-inch in diameter. Cut this tubing into 6-foot in length, just enough for it to arch a foot length above your crops. For each arch that you’ve made, place a bamboo or rebar stakes, each one at about 18 inches. Put these in the ground at the sides of the plants’ bed until about 10 inches of each of the stakes is visible. Now you can bow your tubing by sliding its ends at the stakes.

With the foundation ready, you can now place a shade cloth over the arches for it to cover the plants’ bed. Make sure to clip the cloth at the tubing so that it will remain in place.

Remember, if partial shade is not readily available when you are into organic vegetable gardening, make one by just doing the abovementioned procedure.

Organic Gardening Magazine, A Resource of Wealth

Green thumbs really do come into play when going about organic gardening. But it is not always about the greenness of one’s thumb but rather the knowledge of that person about the subject that will make them successful in the venture. And where is the right venue to look for such resources but through the organic gardening magazines.

Basic Facts about Organic Gardening
The simplest definition for organic gardening may be that it is the type of gardening wherein the farmer is at one with nature. In such type that may also be called organic horticulture, the gardener doesn’t use commercial fertilizers or even pesticides on their plants.

Organic is the Way to Go
Is it really possible to grow plants without the help of artificial fertilizers and the vast range of pesticides available in the market? Name the pests, may it be ants, rodents, insects, at this time and age, you’d find the suitable chemical to ward these pests off.

But this is not the case with organic gardening, because in this, the farmer uses whatever is available and is suitable for their type of plants, just within the environment. So in this case, the person who is into such type of gardening looks into nature, studies the plants and works on cultivating those without using anything synthetic.

Organic Gardening Magazine
The concept may appeal hard at first especially with people who are so well-versed with commercially available gardening resources. This is where organic gardening magazines will be of great help.

Wherever you are, it will not be hard to find a magazine which talks about such procedure. The Net also has various online magazines about organic gardening. All one needs to do is look for it.

What to Look For
If you are really interested in starting such or already are into one but want to broaden your knowledge about it, here are some more things you might want to consider browsing about.

Horticulture has five parts of study. You may want to look for articles on magazines and other resources based on what types of plants you want to grow or are already growing.

Floriculture is the organic way of growing floral plants. It also explains marketing of such and maintenance.

Landscape horticulture is all about producing and marketing landscape ornaments. This may be a good business venture if handled the right way.

Vegetable production, meanwhile, is part of Olericulture. This also involves maintenance and the right marketing techniques for producers of such.

Pomology is about fruits. This will explain growing such, producing and marketing the products.

Lastly, Postharvest Physiology tackles ways to produce quality products with this type of gardening while avoiding spoilage of the produce.

Going Holistic
Gardening is still a trial and error approach however you want to do it. But organic uses the holistic approach that has been tested through time and cultivated through the years. One’s basic knowledge of the environment and the plants they plan to harvest is all they need to go about this.

These are the basic facts you might want to look out for when searching at the organic gardening magazine or other resources for such topic. The most important thing here is to know your environment so that you won’t have any trouble when choosing the plants that you would want to place in it, thus, the more chances of having great output.

Organic Gardening is Perfect for Mother Nature

Organic Gardening is perfect for you and perfect for the environment. With the world’s problem now with global warming, one must wonder and suggest ways of helping find answers to such. Big or small, everybody can have their share in the solution.

Organic farming may be one because it is like recycling what is already available in the environment to be able to produce the greens. The gardener is helping the environment by growing plants and more so, by helping in diminishing waste in a natural way.

Synthetic is Out
With organic gardening, one must rely only on his/her ability and on whatever nature has for them to be able to come up with the crops. This requires more work, patience and long hours and trial and error procedures on the part of the farmers but once they see the results, they won’t feel bad at all.

With organic farming, the gardeners depend on the environment to supplement their crops. For example, composting fallen leaves, clipped grass, animal manures and other resources would create fertilizers. In making compost, one may opt to do it by oneself, periodically checking on the compost to see if it needs more water to it, or more materials should be added on it. Or they may just pile up what others may consider as trash and let nature, the microorganisms, earthworms and the soil itself do the composting naturally.

The latter is easier to do but takes longer period of time and the result will not be as good as the compost done the way that was first discussed. A good compost will serve as the plant’s fertilizer and likewise a pesticide. If you opt to do the latter, make sure to use only the decomposed materials from the pile so as to come up with better use of such with your crops.

Choose Your Plants
In organic gardening, it is best to know first the condition of the environment that you are in. Study the soil and weather before choosing the right produce fit for your site. This way, it will not be as hard maintaining the crops.

Gardening Systems
There are certain terms in organic gardening that has evolved through time because this is being done since the early years.

Rudolf Steiner quoted Biodynamic farming. While a no-till approach for small time production of grains was invented by Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese writer and at the same time, a farmer. This he also called the Natural Farming. Other gardening techniques for small scale production are the French Intensive, Biointensive and Small Plot Intensive kinds of farming.

The abovementioned are formal organic farming systems that have specific requirements and techniques.

Gardening Tools
To complete your gardening set-up, you would have to have tools. Now don’t be swept by the oh-so-many fancy gardening tools that are available in the market. Some are just to fancy as to having a real use with what you really need to do.

But to start with your organic experience, you might want to try having some or all of the following. A folding saw with a rubber handle is recommended as long as its blade is replaceable. A Moth-Blocker will be most beneficial, on the other hand, for crops like that cauliflower and broccoli because this will hinder the moths from laying its eggs on the produce. A Row Cover or Shade Fabric can be bought or can be done at home if you know how to do such. This will provide the needed shade for your plants. Of course, you have to invest on a good digging tool because you will need this a lot, just like a hat, which you should also have to protect yourself from the sun’s rays.

With everything ready and with the proper information that you are now equipped with, organic gardening is perfect so you may want to start with it as soon as possible. Mother Nature will surely thank you for doing so.

The Basics Of Planting Vegetable Gardens

Not a lot of people try planting vegetable gardens these days, especially not in the city. What with the busy lifestyle, constrained spaces, and pollution, it seems inconceivable that a vegetable garden would survive. The fact is, you can actually grow them even if you are smack in the middle of a busy city. Its only important that you get the basics of planting vegetable gardens right.

First things first. Soil preparation. This is one of the most basic things that any new gardener will have to learn. Whether you plan to use a plot of land in your backyard or start a vegetable garden in plant boxes, soil preparation plays an important role in whether your vegetable garden will survive or not. There are three types of soil that you need to be familiar with; sand, clay and silt. Sandy soil is loose and helps the roots of plants breathe because it lets the air pass through easily. Clay soil absorbs water faster and keeps it inside longer, a soil composition that has more clay particles in it would be ideal for places that are too hot and the soil dries up quickly. Silt is a fine mixture of sand and clay particles.

When preparing the soil for your vegetable garden, dig up the soil and break off the lumps. Take out the rocks, roots, and weeds while youre at it. Check if you have just the right mixture of sand, silt, and clay before you begin planting vegetable gardens. Ideally, silt and sand should both be 40%, and clay should just be 20%, this is to make sure that the water isnt trapped inside too much that the roots will choke. Also, if the water is trapped too long inside the soil, the roots will rot. One good way to test whether the composition of your soil is good is by scooping out a handful and forming a ball with it. The soil should hold the shape of a ball without too much difficulty. If the soil cannot hold the shape, you might have too much silt or sand in the mixture. If the soil holds the shape but does not crumble easily when you poke it, it might have too much clay in it which you need to balance out with a little silt or sand.

Once you have finished cultivating the soil where you want to plant your vegetables, pick what kind of vegetable you want to grow there. Keep in mind that some vegetables dont grow well when you plant them too close to certain types of other vegetables. Potatoes, for example, shouldnt be planted too close to squash or tomatoes because it inhibits their growth. They can be planted in the same garden, just dont plant them beside each other.

After you have decided on the kind of vegetables you want and planting them into the cultivated soil, youll have to learn about how to water them properly. Vegetables need to be watered consistently. When planting vegetable gardens in a big space, you might want to consider using a soaker hose. A soaker hose has many holes along its body that waters your garden by letting the water seep through its holes.

Planting vegetable gardens require manual labor (yes, actual work), and a lot of patience. The rewards are very well worth it, though. Especially for people who are concerned about their health. Growing your own vegetables makes sure that theres the least amount of poisonous (and in the long run, carcinogenic) particulates in it as possible.