digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

How To Start Your First Organic Garden Today

gardenmandy.com — With the cost of food on the rise, salmonella outbreaks, and harmful pesticides being used as standard, there really is no excuse not to grow your own organic vegetables this summer.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • 180andback, on 06/21/2008, -3/+14Cheers, GardenMandy.
    • Csma, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1As a farmer, you can still put "pesticides" in a patch of land that has been ok'd at organic, as long as the presticide is naturally occuring (there is a list of approved pesticides for use on organic farms)
  • rcnevada, on 06/21/2008, -1/+5It's 107 here in Vegas, the other night the low was 87 and the powers that be are nagging about when and how much to water.
    So what can we plant this late in year?
    • GardenMandy, on 06/21/2008, -0/+6Hi there, I am in Vegas as well and am all too familiar with the heat. This late in the season I suggest planting squash, melons, artichoke carrots and green beans. You can try to plant tomatoes but it is pretty hot for the young ones to survive.

      Also try to plant your garden on the northeast side of your house. This will allow for morning sun but will give lots of shade in the heat of the day. Follow the same watering schedule you use for your lawn, for your garden. I usually water first thing in the morning for a few minutes and after dark for a few minutes. Because we live in the desert, we don’t have worry as much about making our plants vulnerable to fungi and bacteria by watering at night.

      Don’t forget that you can plant all the cool weather, i.e. lettuce, snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower and cucumber just to name a few, around the end of September.

      Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.
  • Catspaw, on 06/21/2008, -1/+4Thanks Garden Mandy. It seems evident that we need to become as independent as we can of big corporations. Dr Rima Laibow talks about the Codex Alimentarius rules in this YouTube clip and states that food is going to be deliberately contaminated in order to undermine peoples health to fulfil a depopulation agenda.
    The 40 mins talk is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvEREjI03B8&feature ...
  • jforjools, on 06/21/2008, -2/+4I live in northern Minnesota--and it's been such a cool spring that it's still 'early' in our season. Over the past twelve years, i've planted about a dozen apple trees. Six or seven of them bear fruit dependably. I don't have time to fuss with them--so they became 'organic' apples by default. I don't spray them with anything. I never prune them (unless there's an injurred branch.) Total NO-FUSS gardening!! (With the fabulous benefit of also being organic!)

    The other thing that I do is vegetable garden in rather small gardens. I built a couple of garden boxes out of scrap wood (not treated wood, though). Filled them with dirt...and get an amazing crop out of such small space. There's no need to leave room in between the rows to walk. The slightly raised beds make for easier weeding too.

    I didn't think the wood would last very long. (It's not cedar or anything nice.) But my oldest garden box is now over ten years old--and I still have never had to do a single repair on it.

    It's organic, cheap, convenient, and tasty as hell!
  • fudged71, on 06/21/2008, -2/+2There IS an excuse. Time. Some people don't have it.
    • jforjools, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3Well, my last two attempts at writing this didn't go thru...So forgive it reappears and 'doubles up'.

      What you say is so true. Yet don't be discouraged. If you plant your 'crops' very close together, you won't even need to weed. I refuse to 'water'--and most things live.

      Here's my time investment: At most, an afternoon in the spring. ...And then all I do is pick it when it's ready. (And that's quicker and cheaper than running to the store.)

      Best of luck!
    • Carpex, on 06/22/2008, -0/+2Well, if you have time to waste on Digg, you have time for an organic garden.
      • jforjools, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1(Maybe they're digging from work?)
  • GrandmasterB, on 06/21/2008, -2/+6Nothing tastes better than a home-grown organic tomato...pure perfection.
    • Berkana, on 06/22/2008, -0/+2True. A tomato ripened on the vine in the sun is incomparably better tasting than one picked green and ripened artificially with ethylene gas.
  • Fangsinmybeard, on 06/22/2008, -1/+4Done it months ago.
  • CityFarmer, on 06/22/2008, -1/+3The soil preparation may scare people off. Easier way: Dig a hole, stick a tomato plant in it. Enjoy garden fresh tomatoes later. :-)

    I till everything back into the soil in the fall, and my soil is getting better every year.
  • duddy, on 06/22/2008, -1/+4Hmm, thought that said "Orgasmic garden".

    :(
  • arcooke, on 06/22/2008, -5/+3More gardenmandy spam submitted by none other than, gardenmandy! I'm tired of this crap hitting the upcoming. The articles are horrible.
  • blast_flame, on 06/22/2008, -3/+3Bah humbug! Screw organic. I like chemicles in my food.
  • doctechnical, on 06/22/2008, -1/+1FTA:
    "The kit you picked up from your local hardware store should have a nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium or potash, and magnesium."

    This does not parse.

    "For organics tips to raise your nutrient levels click here."

    Nothing to click here.

    HTH HAND
  • 919kwjc, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1Their's no excuse... except I would rather pay farmers to do the work for me. If we would stop making gas out of corn food prices wouldn't be such a big f'ing problem.
    • jforjools, on 06/22/2008, -0/+1Very true that ethanol is affecting food prices...But right now, food prices in the USA are far more affected by transportation costs. I personally can't afford to buy any fresh produce where I live. (Even banana prices have nearly doubled.) --But if you can do it without gardening yourself, congrats!
  • monsterette, on 06/22/2008, -0/+3....very good ideas for gardening....
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.