Organic Green Spot Gardening

Compost  when properly produced is  dark, crumbly, decomposed organic matter that smells like the earth.  The finished product is humus and is a treasure for the organic gardener.

Compost enriches soil  and improves plant growth when it helps break down heavy clay soils .  The ability to hold water and add nutrients to the soil will aid in plant growth.

Many gardeners fail to make use of their yard wastes and miss an opportunity to improve plant yields.  The following yard wastes are easily added to the compost pile.

• Grass clippings
• old plants and their potting soil
• flowers
• weeds that do not spread
• small twigs
• wood chips

However, there are some organic wastes that should not be added to the compost pile.

• large branches
• lumber that has been treated, painted, or preserved
• dog and cat waste
• weeds spread by runners like morning glory
• diseased plants or insect infested plants
• meat, fish, or dairy products (vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea leaves, eggshells are fine)
• weeds gone to seed

Earthworms are nature‘s clean-up crew, aiding in the production of lush, humus-rich topsoil from spent plant and animal materials. These elegantly efficient organisms have been on earth for hundreds of thousands of years longer than humankind, largely untouched by evolution due to their nearly perfect adaptation to their role in nature.
Humankind has studied and learned to appreciate the talents of the earthworm, developing systems that capitalize on the natural role it plays in recycling organic matter back into humus. We now use earthworms for the remediation of organic “waste” materials, reducing the pressure on landfills and aiding in the regeneration of our valuable topsoils.

https://www.organicgreenspot.com Click for  Organic Worm supplies on this website.

Raised Bed Gardening

High-yield container gardening can help reduce the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides for healthier and more naturally grown vegetables, herbs, and flowers. A raised bed can help extend the growing season, make outstanding starter beds for larger scale gardeners, and can also be used in greenhouses.

Advantages of Raised Bed Gardening

1. More production per square foot – The traditional home garden yields about .6 pounds per square foot of vegetables while research at Dawes Arboretum near Newark, OH found an average yield of 1.24 pounds of vegetables per square foot.

2. Improved soil conditions – Tractors, tillers, or human feet compress the soil and make it more difficult for water, air, and roots to move in a flat garden space.. In a raised bed. saturated soils get a dose of lime every spring via percolation. Acidity can be maintained in the 5.8 to 6.8 range that vegetables prefer because percolation is reduced by gravity in a raised bed..

3. Use less fertilizer – Fertilize the growing area and not garden paths.

4. Use less water – The gardener waters plants where water is needed avoiding waste on paths or to the side of the beds.

5. Pest control – The bottom of the bed can be lined with poultry wire or hardware cloth to stop burrowing rodents.

6. Less weeds – Lining the bottom of the bed with plastic, mulch or cloth stops the weeds. It is easy to remove weeds from the loose soil in a raised bed.

7. Extend the growing season – The soil warms faster and cools slower so beds can be planted earlier in the spring and will produce later in the fall.

Visit me at Organic Green Spot for your Organic Gardening needs!

http://www.organicgreenspot.com