SolveYourProblem Article Series: Organic Gardening
Organic Gardening Tips & Advice

Organic Vegetable Garden Supplies You Need
     

When you are newly going organic or just starting another fresh growing season in your garden, you will need to think about organic vegetable garden supplies.

Seeds

Of course you will always choose organic vegetable seeds and bulbs, but beyond this you can also look out for 'heritage' varieties. While these are more often available for flower varieties, you can sometimes find vegetables too. They may come out looking a little different from the vegetables that you find in stores today, but this is part of the charm for most people.

For example, there is an ancient variety of carrot that grows with an almost black outer skin, and many kinds of pumpkin and squashes that are not generally found in mainstream seed catalogs or grocery stores because they are not so profitable for the largescale producer. These can add great charm to your garden and your dining table.

An organic vegetable gardener will always avoid genetically modified seeds. Even if these are sometimes produced without the use of chemicals, they are against the spirit of an organic garden.

Compost and fertilizer

You can buy organic composts and fertilizers from most large garden supply stores these days but of course you can also make your own. Invest in a compost tub now ready for next year, or create an open compost heap. Almost all of your uncooked food waste from the kitchen can go onto it, as well as garden waste. Just avoid using citrus fruit peelings which are too acid for most soils.

If you are concerned that it does not look attractive, you can fence around your compost heap. Be sure to use wooden fencing that has not been treated with chemical preservatives. Plastic or preserved wood will leak chemicals into your precious compost.

If you are just starting out, you will almost certainly find that your garden and kitchen create way more compostable material than you expect. A good rule of thumb is to guess what size of tub or fenced area you need, and then double it!

If using bought compost, it will deteriorate in the packs over time so do not buy a lot more than you need. All bought compost should be used in one six-month composting season.

Dead leaves make a great fertilizer for the soil. Some gardeners like to keep these separate from other compost, or simply fork leaves into the top layer of soil in the late fall.

Other items for your organic vegetable garden

A rain barrel is a great way to recycle water. Vegetables need a lot of water as they grow, and collecting and storing rainwater means you will not be taking so much from the local supplies of drinking water which usually have an environmental as well as a financial cost for your neighborhood. If you have a large garden, you can fit a hose to your rain tub to use the water more efficiently.

For many gardeners, there is nothing that can beat the pleasure of using organic food from your own garden in your kitchen. And it is so easy now that organic vegetable garden supplies can be found practically everywhere.

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2008

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