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Three Ways to Keep Your Organic Vegetable Garden Pest-Free

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One of the most frustrating problems that organic vegetable gardens have is pests. Organic vegetable gardens are more prone to pest infestation simply because chemicals and pesticides are not used in controlling their population. Without artificial pest control products, controlling pest infestation is going to be much harder. Not only is it going to be very time consuming, but it’s going to be very back-breaking as well. However, it can be done. You can control pest population through organic and natural means.

Choose New Plants Carefully

If you’re going to buy new plants from a nursery, you have to check it thoroughly first before making any purchase and bringing them home. You don’t want to introduce pests into your garden, and you most definitely don’t want to introduce sickly and diseased plants. Yes, they may look healthy at first glance, but if you don’t know what to look out for, then you might end up with a pest-infested organic vegetable garden. The new plants might also infect your healthy crops.

For this reason, examine the plants at the nursery carefully before purchasing them. Look at the leaves and make sure there are no dead spots. See to it, too, that the stems are not rotted and that they’re not carrying any insects.

In addition to these, it will also be very beneficial for you if you examine their roots thoroughly. See to it that they look firm and healthy. White roots usually mean healthy plants; while dark and spongy roots mean unhealthy plants.

Encourage the Growth of Natural Predators

Chemical pest control products can eliminate pests in the garden. They can quickly and easily get rid of pestiferous insects that do significant damage to plants; however, they can also get rid of beneficial insects. Now, these beneficial insects and other animals are the natural predators of pests. They feed on them, control their population, and help keep them out of your vegetable garden. Since chemicals can also kill the natural predators, then what’s stopping pests from invading your garden again once the chemicals wear off?

If you don’t want to leave your organic vegetable garden defenseless, then encourage the growth of these natural predators. Don’t get rid of the bushes. Instead, only give them a good trimming once in a while so they can still provide home to natural predators. The same should also be done to trees. Trees provide homes to birds, which are also natural predators of pests.

Use Natural Pest Repellant Products

You can also repel pests by making use of natural and organic pest repellant sprays. You can make these homemade sprays by combining water and ingredients found in your kitchen. For example, oil and garlic spray works very well to kill aphids as well as cabbage moths. It can also get rid of mildew fungi. Alcohol and oil spray can also kill a number of pestiferous insects, and you can make this by mixing isopropyl alcohol, vegetable oil, and water.

There are so many recipes for homemade sprays that you can find online. But if the pest infestation of your organic vegetable garden is severe, then hiring a pest control company that offers green solutions is a very good idea.

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Jennifer Dallman writes for a Peoria pest control company. Through this article, she hopes to teach readers how to care for their organic vegetable garden properly.






5 Tips To Look After Your Garden In Winter

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In the winter, I must admit it is very difficult to care and love your garden; this is down to the cold, wet weather which we experience. It is still possible to care for your garden in the cold months and make it look as amazing as it does the rest of the year. If you ignore your garden all through winter, then you are going to find yourself with a huge task as soon as spring comes round. Follow these 5 tips to make your garden look gorgeous all year round.

Tidy

The key to making your garden look beautiful all year around is by keeping it tidy. You shouldn’t just use your garden as a dumping ground for rubbish you no longer want in the winter. Clear up any unwanted debris and mess, and take them out of the garden. This will give you a good basis to work with. You should also clear up any dead leaves and weeds which you have growing in your garden. This is a task which you should continue to do all year round, as dead leaves and growing weeds is always an unwanted sight.

Lawn

You do not actually need to do much to your lawn in the winter to care for it, the best advice I can give to you is to just leave it. You can do lots of damage to your lawn if you decide mow it in winter and walk all over. You should avoid walking on the grass when it is cold or wet and you will force the grass to stop growing. A way to keep the grass looking fresh all year around is by sprinkling grass feeder and grass seeds onto the lawn. This will cover up any patches and keep the grass growing all through the year.

You should try and remove some of the dead leaves which you have on your lawn, this way it will look pretty all through winter.

Plants

You shouldn’t just assume that because it is winter you can’t have no plants, there are many plants which grow better in the winter compared to the summer. You should buy some winter plant life and plant these just before winter arrives. This will keep your garden looking alive and fresh through the whole of winter. You can also get some gorgeous garden ware such as lighting and gorgeous fencing which will make your garden look even better in the dark cold evenings.

Hayley loves making her garden into a magical wonderland each year. She uses http://www.nutscene.com/ to get some beautiful garden ware for the winter.

Grow Up and Out: Setting Up Your Vertical Garden

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If you love tending to plants but you don’t have the luxury of an expansive space, gardening up is your secret weapon to satisfy your green thumb and get the most out of a small space.

Vertical gardening offers easy solutions for growing plants in a compact space. Although a relatively new concept, this gardening technique is becoming more and more popular among novice and seasoned gardeners alike due to the incredible benefits it can give. For one, it allows tending to several varieties of plants without taking up too much space. It also entails less soil preparation and digging and demands minimal water use. More importantly, unlike the traditional way of gardening (with long horizontal rows on the ground) where plants are susceptible to aggressive weed growth, pests and diseases, vertical gardening minimizes these common issues, thereby allowing plants to grow healthily.

If you’re ready to enjoy the aforesaid benefits, below is a simple guide on how you can set up your own vertical garden.

Pick a wall

Start by picking a wall for your garden. If you have a wall that has an ugly surface that you wish to cover up, this will definitely suffice for the project. Keep in mind, however, that your plant selection will depend upon the wall you pick and the amount of sunlight it receives. Thus, if you have a specific variety of plants in mind, pick a wall that can provide them with the best growing conditions.

Create a frame

The basic support system of a vertical garden wall is a panel composed of a main frame, plastic sheeting and fabric. Setting up a sturdy frame will make it easier for you to take down plants.

The best materials to use to build the main frame are PVC pipes and four way joints, as they are light and they allow water to shed properly. Avoid using metal as the additional weight of this material can put a strain on the wall, or wood, as it is susceptible to moisture and rotting. You can build the whole frame setup before hanging it on the wall or you can simply piece the parts together directly on the wall.

Lay the plastic sheeting and fabric

Once the frame is set, attach the plastic sheeting onto it. The plastic will serve as a backing for the fabric and will also prevent water from getting on the wall. Next, lay at least two layers of fabric on top of the plastic using galvanized screws or stainless-steel staples. You can use just about any type of fabric that can retain water without rotting. Since this layer is where your plants will live as it is responsible for holding the water for them, make sure that you secure it well on place so that it won’t come off.

Set up the irrigation system, fertilizer injector and water filter

In order for your plants to grow well on the wall, you need to have an irrigation system in place that will provide moisture to the fabric. You can create this system out of poly tubing with lock fittings and emitters, which you can purchase from an irrigation supplier. Place the tube on top of the panel and use the emitter to drip water down. When attaching the irrigation system, opt for stainless-steel hardware to avoid corrosion. Then, add a fertilizer injector, which is a simple valve that will send liquid fertilizer to the irrigation system, and a water filter to keep the circulating water clean. Connect the system to a power source to see if it is working properly.

Pick your plants

As mentioned earlier, when picking plants for your vertical garden, consider the amount of sunlight your chosen wall receives. Equally important is to consider humidity, wind and cold to ensure that you will be able to grow greens that can endure such conditions. If you are just starting out with gardening, pay your local nursery a visit to get an advice from a seasoned gardener about which plants are appropriate to grow on your vertical garden.

Insert the greens

The next and final step is to integrate the plants on the wall. Do this by making horizontal cuts on the fabric layer using a razor blade. Remove as much soil as possible from the plants’ root balls to prevent root rot before inserting each of them into the pockets you made. To secure the plants in place, staple the cloth to the plastic backing, making a semicircle around the root balls.

This gardening advice was written by Ericka on behalf of Steel Buildings UK www.steelbuildingsuk.co.uk ,Ericka is fond of home-related topics and tirelessly shares her knowledge by writing and publishing helpful articles online.

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