Organic Gardening
October 15th, 2007 at 05:43pm
Under Organic Gardening
“As safe as table salt!” said Monsanto, makers of the world’s most widely used herbicide - Roundup. Unfortunately, people bought this pitch, and continue to buy it today, despite the 1990’s ruling of a New York court forbidding Monsanto to describe their product as safe, non-toxic and as harmless as salt.
We are posting this as part of the Internet’s very first International Blog Action Day. If Tangergreen.com could give people one quick planet-saving, species-saving tip, it would be to stop using the herbicide, Roundup, created by Monsanto.
What is Monsanto?
Monsanto is considered by many to be Environmental Enemy Number 1. During the course of this corporation’s history, they have engineered and inflicted the following on the world and its people:
- Agent Orange
- Bovine Growth Hormones
- Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
- Carcinogenic Herbicides
- PCBs
- DDT
Monsanto’s documented history of lying to the public, suing small farmers and unleashing Frankenstein-like monster chemicals and organisms into our food chain, water supply and air is what has caused them to be considered the least ethical and most environmentally unconscious corporation in the world. Visit the Millions Against Monsanto website for further documentation of this corporation’s activities in our world.
What is Roundup?
Roundup has been aggressively marketed to homeowners, gardeners, landscapers and farmers since its unfortunate invention in 1976. It is a highly toxic herbicide, detrimental to the environment, plant life, animal life and the human species. Non-Monsanto-conducted studies have shown us that Roundup causes the following serious harms:
- Liver damage
- 50% increase of miscarriage in pregnant women exposed to Roundup
- 90% decrease in production of the male sexual hormones in men exposed to Roundup
- Poisoning of our vital groundwater
- 70% decrease in amphibian biodiversity and 90% decrease in the numbers of tadpoles
If survival of our species is important to us, we need to take it very seriously that exposure to Roundup drastically destroys male hormone production at the same time as causing miscarriages in women. This assault on the human reproductive system is clearly a deadly combination in terms of our ability to regenerate the human species. The man at the local nursery may eagerly be recommending Roundup to you as the answer to the dandelions in your lawn, but is it worth it if the young couple next door to you discovers they cannot conceive or bare children because of your need for a weed-free yard? Certainly not.
Global warming and fungus are currently decimating our planet’s frog population. By pouring Roundup into the groundwater which then forms the pond and stream environments that are the homes of amphibians, we are literally dooming frogs and toads to extinction. The conclusive studies that have been conducted regarding Roundup’s lethal effect on frogs have been public knowledge for some years now, but the world power of Monsanto and the lack of concern of the American government are keeping it on the shelves. Roundup has been banned by the Danish government because of its documented harms to the environment, animals and humans.
Roundup effects everyone and everything that comes into contact with it, from bugs, to songbirds, to your children. Monsanto’s marketing efforts mean that one of your neighbors, someone next door, down the street, downtown, is likely spraying Roundup while you read this. This year, you and your children and pets will walk through Roundup-infected areas at school, the store, outside the mall, on public trails. New mothers will be pushing baby strollers through the invisible poison. The elderly and auto-immune deficient citizens will walk through Round-up while they are attempting to get exercise and fresh air. Roundup is the #1 cause of annual pesticide/herbicide-induced illnesses and injuries, according to the California Pesticide Illness Surveillance Programme. It needs to be pulled from shelves, out of our homes, out of our environment.
A Roundup-free World
In the 1940’s Monsanto began marketing their infamous product, DDT, to the world. Marketed as a wonder cure for all manners of things, and of course, perfectly safe, it was soon being sprayed on crops and humans all over the globe. It became the world’s most commonly applied chemical, as Roundup is today. Monsanto, typically, attempted to deny all reports of this deadly chemical
causing toxic residue buildup in the fatty tissues and milk of human beings, and damage to the liver, kidneys and central nervous system. They attempted to deny that DDT caused a songbird holocaust from which many bird populations have yet to recover. Public outrage, happily, won the day and DDT was banned in the 1970’s. Every time I see a Western Bluebird in my yard, I thank my stars that some few of them were left alive from the DDT genocide and that populations are only now beginning to become stable again.
DDT was marketed as a blessing to homeowners, gardeners and farmers. Roundup has been marketed to your community in the same way, and the same lies and denials are being used to keep it legal and profitable for the manufacturer. Roundup, ’safe as table salt’, is destroying our health and the vital biodiversity of our planet. Just like DDT, it needs to be banned.
Before DDT, before Roundup, before the onslaught of products created by the makers of chemical warfare were invented, farmers and homeowners maintained their lands and properties with manual labor. Crop rotation, the small farm, and the seasonal growing calendar enabled humans to grow enough food to feed everyone with no lasting damage to humans, genetics or the environment. Agribusiness, solely reliant on chemicals to produce chemical-laden ‘foods’, has changed the world in so many negative ways, has disenfranchised the small farmer, brought us dozens of new illnesses and created trillions of dollars of profits for unethical corporations like Monsanto. The price our planet is paying to keep Monsanto wealthy is simply too high.
Hand labor, the tool of our forefathers, is the answer to growing food or keeping your garden tidy. Keep your neighborhood safe for your neighbors, your planet safe for life - please, don’t use Roundup.
By admin
August 15th, 2007 at 11:15pm
Under Organic Gardening
Organic zucchini and yellow summer squash are fantastic summer vegetables that are best when picked fresh from the vine and cooked immediately. As a member of the cucurbita family of vegetables along with pumpkins, summer squash is a great crop to grow and harvest. If you are in an area that gets a substantial amount of heat and sunshine in the summer months, you’ll find that harvesting zucchini and yellow crookneck squash is something you need to do every day - sometimes even twice a day if your crop is growing well.
Zucchini can grow to enormous sizes in a relatively short time, and can hide themselves well under the large, fuzzy leaves of the squash plant. Make sure that when you harvest, you check closely under all of the leaves so that you can pick the fruits on time when they are at their best. A large organic zucchini is great for stuffing and baking, but the smaller squashes are the best for fresh dishes like stir frys and pasta.
How long does it take to grow organic zucchini?
Not long at all. It grows so quickly and can produce so much that you’ll be searching for different ways to cook all of the zucchini you’ve grown. With a 45 to 55 day duration from seed to ripe fruit, this is one quick-growing vegetable.
How do I plant my zucchini seeds?
The best method for planting your zucchini is to sow the seeds about 1″ into rich, moist soil. After you’ve planted your seeds, make sure to water them and then water every couple of days if the weather doesn’t do it for you. Once your zucchini plants germinate, you should keep the best little plants and remove any smaller ones. This will reduce the competition in the soil and give you more robust, healthier plants. Don’t worry - even by reducing the number of overall plants, you’ll get plenty of zucchini to eat.
How to I fight zucchini pests?
The most common insect you’ll come across is the cucumber beetle, which is a small, ladybug-sized beetle that is green and is usually spotted. These beetles love to eat the leaves not only of squash, but of cucumbers as well. You should be aware that these little bugs can bring disease to the plants, also. So how do you get rid of them? Remember the first rule of organic gardening - no insecticides! Simply remove any little beetles that you find on your squash leaves. Then take a clove of garlic, and rub it on the leaves and stems of your zucchini plants. Repeat this process every week or so as the plants grow. Insects don’t like the smell of the garlic, and will stay off of your plants if you practice this simple technique of organic growing.
When should I harvest my zucchini?
The best time to pick your zucchini is when they are between 4″ and 6″ in length. They will be very tender and should be used immediately in your best pastas, soups, or vegetable dishes. If you like, you can select a couple of your growing zucchini and let them get very large. Despite being tougher, a couple of large zucchinis can then be used to make stuffed baked squash - very tasty!
Zucchini and other summer squash are truly a summer treat. Once the harvesting time for your zucchini is over, you’ll have to wait until next year to enjoy truly fresh, organic zucchini. They are a delicate vegetable and don’t keep well, so don’t plan on storing some in your refrigerator for use in the coming weeks. Enjoy your zucchini fresh and delicious in the summer growing season, and then plan on growing your winter squash as the fall begins.
By admin
August 15th, 2007 at 11:14pm
Under Organic Gardening
From the wide variety of organic cucumbers - crisp long or lemon-shaped vegetables or sweet and dill varieties for pickling - this is one fun crop to grow. Like growing organic tomatoes, you should grow cucumbers during the warm days of summer, and the hotter it is, the better the cucumbers like it. You want to make sure that the soil you are growing your cucumbers in is rich in nutrients, but be careful not to overburden the soil with amendments like nitrogen, as this can be detrimental to your organic cucumber growth.
Our personal favorite for our own organic garden are the lemon cucumber varieties. There is just nothing like these little crisp, lemon-shaped pale organic cucumbers for a cool summer treat. Lemon cucumbers are great in salads or as additions to sandwiches, or even just to eat all by themselves, cold from the refrigerator with a little sprinkle of salt! We eagerly await the arrival of these delicious cucumbers in mid-summer and have been able to enjoy them here in the warm regions of Northern California all the way up until the end of October in a good growing year.
A secret to good organic cucumber growing is to use trellising on this crop. Encouraging the plants to grow upwards will allow you to plant more cucumbers in a limited amount of space and will make the most efficient use of your soil. Use string or mesh netting to grow your organic cucumbers. Once your cucumbers really get going, make sure that they have an adequate water supply, and encourage their production both by adding organic compost and by harvesting the fruits frequently. At harvest time, pick frequently. If your cucumbers are allowed to grow and then are not readily picked, it can strain your plant and prevent further growth.
How do I plant my cucumber seeds?
Always sow your organic cucumber seeds in rich, warm soil. This should be done after the last danger of frost in your area has passed, as cold soil will inhibit the germination of the cucumber seeds. Cucumbers are definitely a summer vegetable as they like the heat. Your first planting of this crop should be done in late spring, and, depending upon the variety you are growing, there will sometimes be enough of the season left to plant a second crop in the late summer for harvesting in early autumn.
Sow your seeds 1′ to 2′ apart in your rows, between 1/2″ to 1″ deep in the soil, and with about 3 seeds in each spot. Once the plants germinate and begin to sprout, you can thin them out to only the healthiest-looking plants. If you are growing your seedlings in a greenhouse, make sure to not let them get too big before you transplant. Also, make sure that the soil that you are moving the seedlings to outside has had ample time to warm up. In order to get a head start on the growing season, a black plastic mulch over your rows can help to effectively warm up your soil before transplanting. Give the soil a good helping of compost before you plant, and once the vines begin to appear, add another layer of compost around the plants and turn it into the soil.
How often should I water my cucumber plants?
Because cucumbers have a very shallow root system, they are not adept at digging deep into the soil in pursuit of a water supply. Therefore, planting them in good, moist soil and keeping the plants well watered throughout the growing period are absolutely essential for growing a successful organic cucumber crop.
What pests will affect my organic cucumber crop?
Once again, we find that the cucumber beetle will be the most common insect you’ll find helping himself to a meal in your organic garden. The cucumber beetle eats the leaves, vines, and flowers of cucumbers, squash, and melons. He knows a tasty vegetable like this one when he sees it! Remember, the little beetles are having their lives, too, and are looking for something to eat just as you are. Be good to the insects, to your crops, and to the environment by refraining from using any kind of chemical pesticides to combat this little bug. Simply remove the cucumber beetles from your plants, and give the leaves and stems a rub with a clove of garlic. The smell of garlic will keep the bugs away, and you will be taking care of your plants and your health the organic way! Also, keep a lookout for aphids, which can develop and grow in little colonies underneath the cucumber leaves. Treat the plant with garlic the same way you would for deterring the cucumber beetles.
How do I prevent my cucumber plants from suddenly wilting and dying?
You may have experienced, as we certainly have, that a crop of healthy and rapidly growing plants will suddenly become yellowed and discolored, begin to wilt, and quickly die. Why do some plants look to be in the prime of health one day, only to start dying the next? The most likely answer is that they have succumbed to bacterial wilt disease. This disease actually comes from the cucumber beetles themselves, and it is why it is so important to be on the lookout for these insects and to remove them from your plants as quickly as possible.
How should I harvest my organic cucumbers?
You should harvest any variety of cucumber in the early part of the day. Cucumbers don’t do as well when they are picked in the heat of the afternoon. Store your cucumbers in the refrigerator for up to three days for the best freshness.
Whether you are growing slicing cucumbers or pickling cucumbers, always pick the fruit when they are between 6″ to 8″ in length. If the cucumbers are allowed to grow longer than that, they begin to get tough and the seeds inside become hard. Never leave over ripe cucumbers on the vines. If the vines are not picked clean of fruit, they will stop producing cucumbers.
There’s nothing like a fresh cucumber, straight from your organic garden. Even compared to the supurb quality of a farmer’s market organic cucumber, nothing beats one of these vegetables when they are picked fresh and delivered onto your dinner table minutes later. Enjoy this crisp, tasty crop all summer long along with your other summer vegetables like tomatoes and squash.
By admin
July 28th, 2007 at 09:38pm
Under Organic Gardening
Organic tomatoes that are fresh from the vine are some of the most delicious crops you can grow in your home garden.
With all of the varieties of tomatoes - from beefsteak to cherry to the wide assortment of heirloom tomatoes - there are many options to consider when growing these vegetables in your organic garden. This is one crop that you can grow throughout the summer and into fall, and the difference between your own and tomatoes commerically grown in a greenhouse is easy to taste.
You can, in fact, grow your own tomatoes in a small greenhouse if you have one. Grown correctly in this environment, your tomato production can begin early in the season and extend well past the time when tomatoes are normally available to grow outside. The problem with most commerically-grown, conventional tomatoes is that they are picked when still green and are ripened in an artifical manner. If you can grow your own tomatoes in a greenhouse to enjoy when they are fully ripe, then by all means do so. But here, we’re going to focus on the average home gardener, growing tomatoes outside in summer during the height of the tomato growing season. First, some basic facts about caring for this favorite vegetable.
Tomatoes like it to be hot
Whether you are starting from seed or transplanting tomato starts, be sure that the area you are growing your plants in receives full sunlight. This means that the tomato plot of your organic garden must get at least six hours of sunlight in one day.
Tomatoes need a good amount of water
In order to grow tomatoes with the most flavor, the plants must receive enough water and receive it consistently. It is helpful to add a mulch around your plants after they are about a month old. A drip system will help you maintain a constant, controlled amount of moisture, but if you water by hand, make sure to water only at ground level, avoiding the leaves. Also, water in the morning or afternoon and stay away from evening or night time watering.
Give ‘em plenty of space
In order to best fight disease, your tomato plants need a good amount of space between one another in order to maintain the best air circulation. If the plants are packed too closely together, there isn’t enough room for good air to keep moving through and your tomatoes will be vulnerable to fungus and disease. 1 1/2′ between plants is, at best, the minimum distance you should plant. A more ideal range would be 2′ - 2 1/2′ between your plants. It can be a matter of space with the small organic gardener. If you don’t have a lot of room for growing your different crops, then you may have to plant tomatoes closer together. But you may consider simply planting less tomatoes and getting a more quality crop, rather than having more plants closer together and going for quantity.
Make sure they have a good, solid root structure
When grown in a greenhouse, some tomato seedlings can become a bit straggled. If you have the beginnings of a long plant with comparitively shorter stems, transplant them to your garden with the entire stem underground horizontally instead of vertical. To new growers, this tactic may seem strange, but the neat thing here is that the plant will then grow roots all along the length of the stem and send new stems up. You then have a larger, stronger plant growing up from a more stable root structure. Obviously, more space needs to be taken into consideration when you transplant a seedling in this manner.
Don’t spray!
It may be an obvious piece of advice when talking about organic gardening, but for some newer gardeners, the temptation to use a little pesticide on your plants when you see tomato-eating caterpillars making their way along the stems may just be too great to ignore. Don’t do it! For the larger insects like caterpillars, just remove the little guys by hand. For smaller bugs like whitefly, we’ve found the best organic tactic is to take a little garlic and rub it all along the leaves and stems of any infected plants. The smaller bugs won’t like the garlic and will stay away from it, leaving your tomato plant alone.
Tomatoes and potatoes don’t mix
When setting up your organic garden plots, it’s a good idea to remember that you should keep related species of plants as far away from one another possible in your crop rotation. Tomatoes are in the same family, Solanaceae, as potatoes. Once you’ve finished with your potato harvest, don’t plant your tomatoes in the bed that your potatoes were just in. There should ideally be a few years of rotation with other crops through your garden before tomatoes should occupy the same space. For small gardeners who don’t have a lot of crops in their rotation, it’s probably best not to grow both tomatoes or potatoes. If you do wish to grow these two crops as your only crops, then the wisest course of action would probably be to simply not do a crop rotation and let each type of crop stay in their own plots for several years. If you have a big enough piece of land, you can then move your garden to a different place while the original land goes fallow for a few years.
Now that we’ve covered some basics, let’s take a look at some favorite varieties of tomatoes, so that you can get some inspiration about which kinds you may like to try growing yourself.
Beefsteak Tomatoes
These large varieties of tomatoes can be bigger than your hand, and are a favorite among many for both their large size and delicious flavor. You will have a longer waiting period from seed to harvest, but for many people, the quality of these tomatoes makes it worth the wait.
Roma Tomatoes
These longer, cylindrical-shaped tomatoes don’t generally have the same juiciness as their larger cousins. As such, many people grow roma tomatoes in order to make sauces with them and to use them in canning. If you’re planning to grow a lot of tomatoes in order to make tomato sauce for canning or freezing over the winter, then this variety of fruit may be the one for you.
Cherry Tomatoes
Small, sweet, and easy to grow, cherry tomatoes are a favorite of the patio gardener. These plants grow swiftly and produce a good harvest of fruit when cared for properly. They can be tossed in with a green salad or cut into halves and cooked up with a vegetable pasta. They also make a terrific snack just on their own.
By admin
July 28th, 2007 at 08:40pm
Under Organic Gardening
Make your organic garden sustainable by using good crop rotation.
“In a word, crop rotation means variety, and variety gives stability to biological systems.” - Eliot Coleman, The New Organic Grower
One of the most shortsighted things that modern agriculture has done to our landscape is the development of the monoculture crop. For thousands of years of agriculture practices among human civilization, small and even moderately large cultures have successfully grown and harvested their own crops for generations using sustainable practices such as crop rotation.
What we mean by sustainable agriculture is a system by which we do not deplete the land of essential nutrients through our growing of crops, a pattern that forces many farmers to supplement the soil with harmful fertilizers. Amending the soil continually in this manner (instead of using good organic soil preparation practices) means that time and resources are wasted when they wouldn’t have to be with proper sustainable agricultural practices that would naturally keep the land productive and fertile for generations. As we will see in our more in-depth discussion of crop rotation below, rotating your crops will lead to better pest management and improved soil conditions and soil structure. Crop rotation is simply a good step towards keeping your own organic vegetable garden indefinitely productive and capable of producing the best crops, year-round.
With any monoculture crop like wine grapes, the same piece of land is used endlessly for years on end with the same crop grown over and over again. This leads to more pest problems, as a permanent source of food for certain insects will make their population increase. In modern agriculture, this will inevitably lead to an increase in harmful pesticides that are put into the environment to try to combat these problems. Monoculture also leads to the depletion of the soil nutrients, as the same crop needs the same elements present in the soil year after year. As we have discussed above, without those nutrients returning to the soil, new elements need to be added each growing season in the form of artificially-produced fertilizers. These fertilizers will be used up with the growing of that crop for one season, and then more money will have to be pumped into obtaining more to make the soil able to handle next year’s crop.
We have lost sight of the basics of agriculture. If we could step back in time to heavily agrarian cultures present in Central America or even in Europe many centuries ago, we would find societies that were entirely dependent on growing their own crops able to do so without our modern techniques of fertilizers and pesticides. How did they do this so successfully? First, they didn’t have the means to transport perishable foods like vegetables over long distances in cool, refrigerated vehicles as we do today. Second, they didn’t need to. Communities were completely self-sufficient instead of being as specialized and divided as our society is today. Back then, squash, corn, and beans were grown on the same piece of land and used the natural, inherent qualities of the crop to give nutrients back to the soil. Today, we are quite accustomed to getting our tomatoes from Canada, our apples from New Zealand, and our potatoes from the Midwest. Modern transportation has made this possible. But the incredible costs associated with transportation makes this a more expensive way to obtain vegetables that simply aren’t as fresh and have the potential to be exposed to dangerous bacteria along the transportation route if they are not contained in the appropriate manner.
Crop Rotation is a system in which you can grow all of your organic vegetables in your own garden and naturally return the nutrients to the soil for each successive year. Basically, it works like this. Since different crops require different nutrients from the soil, growing one in one plot the first year and then moving it to another plot the second year allows it to grow in fresh soil that it hasn’t been depleted during the previous year. The crop taking its place is, in turn, exposed to new nutrients and can grow well in new soil. After the harvest, when the remainder of these plants are tilled into the ground in readiness for your soil preparation for the following season and green manures are allowed to grow as a cover crop, nitrogen and other trace elements from the crops are returned to the earth for use by the next crop to occupy its space. For those with large pieces of land, crop rotation can be even more effective if you use one part of your land for your garden. After growing crops on that piece of land for a few years, allow it to go fallow or grow a cover crop on it for a few years while you relocate your garden to another part of your property. Once the soil has had time to build itself back up, move your garden back to the original spot and repeat the process with your other field.
So, let’s jump right in to our discussion of crop rotation as it will pertain to your own organic garden. By getting into the habit of good crop rotation, you will absolutely see an improvement in your harvest. Let’s take a look at some factors that benefit your crop as a result of a planned and effective crop rotation:
Control of Pests and Disease:
Moving your crops around means that the bugs (both insects and harmful microbes) won’t be able to find a consistent source for what they need to prosper. Change the location of your crops from season to season, and those bugs won’t be able to get comfortable and settle in to your free food supply.
Increase of Elements in the Soil:
The natural processes of the life of a plant include seed, growth, and death. In a world without farmers managing crops, these plants would grow and then die without the intervention of a human removing them from the earth. As the plant dies, it returns to the soil and decomposes. This process releases essential nutrients like nitrogen back into the earth, which will become the food for the next generation of plants. Till your crops back into the ground after harvest and get that cycle going of returning those precious nutrients back into your soil. This will also put other essential elements such as phosphorus and potassium into your gardening plots, and these are absolutely necessary for productive vegetable growth.
Release of Carbon Dioxide:
Plants respire in the opposite manner of humans and animals, creating a beautiful balance of life on this planet. While we breathe oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide, plants do just the opposite. They take in carbon dioxide and excrete oxygen, that elemental gas we all need for our survival. By turning plants back into the ground and tilling the soil, soil microbiology production is increased. This means that you help the ability of the beneficial microbes already present in the soil to grow and produce necessary carbon dioxide by giving them a rich supply of food - the decomposing crop remains from the previous planting.
Improved Soil Structure:
Different crops grow their roots at different depths. Some are shallow-rooted, and others, like carrots or parsnips, are themselves the root and dig very deep into the soil. This allows for soil and the nutrients that it harbors further down to be brought up closer to the surface. Deep rooted plants absorb nutrients further down in the soil, leaving the soil closer to the surface available for the succeeding crop. And nutrients that are brought to the topsoil by deep rooting vegetables are made available to more shallow rooted plants when they decompose.
A few final ideas and suggestions for your crop rotation
Now that we’ve learned about the benefits of crop rotation, the only thing left to do is to try it for yourself. There are no strict rules about which vegetables should go where in your rotation. Just make sure to be rotating your crops around in order to maintain good, nutrient-rich soil so that your organic garden can be as sustainable as can be. You may not even find it necessary to rotate your crops each successive season. Doing it every two or three years may make the best schedule for you. The most important thing about growing your own organic garden is to test ideas for yourself until you come up with what works best for you. Having said that, there are a few rules of thumb that experienced gardeners use when setting up a rotation. They include the following:
Plant carrots after squash or potatoes
Squash and potatoes are what farmers call “cleaning crops” because the way they are grown leads to a natural reduction in weeds. A farmer can easily cultivate weeds on a squash plot before the vines begin to really grow well. Once they do, they keep down any remaining weeds naturally because of the size of vines and leaves. Potatoes are hilled for harvest, a process that turns the soil over and prevents any weed seedlings from taking root. Having grown one or two of these vegetables in a plot, it is all ready for the following season when root vegetables can be grown there. Plants like carrots are notoriously difficult to keep weed free and can have a hard time competing with them. However, if the plot has been made clear of weeds before hand, growing your root vegetables becomes considerably easier.
Plant your tomatoes away from your potatoes
Tomatoes and potatoes are two members of the same family, Solanaceae. Whenever possible, it is best not to grow vegetables that are closely related to one another in the same plot or near one another. It is good practice to plant potatoes in a plot that is the furthest in your rotation away from tomatoes. For instance, if you have 8 plots or beds for vegetables, plant your tomatoes in plot 1 and your potatoes in plot 5. Then, you will have several years of other crops combined with green manures to rebuild the soil and prepare it for the related crop. Read further about how to grow organic tomatoes.
Corn is the best crop to follow cabbage or broccoli
Cabbage and broccoli, two members of the Cruciferae family, take a lot of nutrients out of the soil and can be detrimental to any following crop in the same plot. However, farmers have noticed that corn is the crop least affected by this trend. If you have corn as a part of your crop rotation, you will have the best luck with your other vegetables if you dedicate the plot that will be growing it to cabbages and broccoli the preceding year.
These are some simple suggestions and guidelines that should help you get started with a really effective crop rotation. Again, you will need to find the best way of doing a rotation that ideally suits your own garden. You may find that all of the above ideas will make your vegetables better and better each year. Then again, you may find that other alternatives help you in your particular circumstance. Just keep in mind that organic gardening, while beneficial in many ways to your family and to the environment, should also be fun. Experiment with your own ways of growing plants. You may discover a trend in small farming that hasn’t been explored yet and could be beneficial to other organic growers.
By admin
July 28th, 2007 at 08:39pm
Under Organic Gardening
Get your soil in the best condition for growing organic vegetables with these simple steps.
When a farmer is growing organic vegetables, there are two different schools of thought on how best to prepare the optimum conditions plants need for growing. Our first choice is to feed the plant directly, and this has its benefits. However, in order to truly maintain a sustainable piece of land for agriculture, we need to learn how to feed the soil.
What are we feeding the soil and plants?
Like animals, plants need not only water, but food to survive. While animals take in more complex forms of food in the forms of plants or other animals, vegetables need food in the form of minerals and essential elements that are present in fertile ground. As with the care of all living things, a farmer needs to supply both his plants and animals with the proper nutrition in order for them to be healthy and productive. And while not all soil is in prime condition for growing plants, it can be with some work and patience. By correctly preparing the soil, along with good farming practices like crop rotation and using green manures, you can grow first rate vegetables. Let’s take a look at what is involved with both the feed the plant and feed the soil methods, and see which process will be most beneficial to both you as the grower and to the environment in which we live.
What do plants need to survive?
No matter what route you follow to grow your crops, you need to start with the basics about what your vegetables will need to grow. Soil provides stability for the plant as a place for it to grow a root structure with which to absorb water and other nutrients from the ground. But your soil will be useless unless it has an adequate amount of elements like nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Other much needed elements include zinc, cobalt, and boron. Without a good supply of these elements in the ground in the form of minerals, the plant will starve to death, wilt, and die. There is nothing more frustrating or helpless feeling than putting in the work of planting vegetables, watching them start to grow, and then seeing them start to discolor and fail, often before reaching a point where they can put out any fruit. Before the planting begins, it is important to start with the empty canvas - your land or vegetable bed - and see how we can improve and prepare it for the vegetables that are to grow there.
The Four Most Important Needs for your Soil
The main amendments that any soil needs to be productive can be broken down into these four categories. Whether you are starting with poor, gravelly dirt or a rich loam, these ingredients should be added to the soil to a greater or lesser degree in order to improve the land and to prepare it for a future cycle of sustainability and high productivity.
Lime
Some form of ground limestone should be applied to your garden soil in order to maintain the pH level at a range between 6 and 7. Too high or too low of a pH level in your soil and your plants won’t grow well. It’s a good idea to have your soil tested before you begin to work the land so that you will have some idea of the pH level. Make sure that the lime you add to your soil contains the necessary elements magnesium and calcium, as these are much needed for optimum plant growth.
Humus
No vegetable garden soil would be complete without a generous supply of composted organic matter, or humus. Many farmers use compost made from animal manures, but this isn’t necessary. You can get a terrific compost pile going made up of any organic matter you can find that is a part of your household and your garden. Straw is a good base to begin with. Along with that, make sure to add all of your vegetable peelings from your kitchen, the raked up fall leaves from your lawn, any remains of last year’s garden, and so forth. Your compost heap will grow over time, so just make sure to keep it covered and give it moisture to keep it a productive source of organic matter.
Your compost shouldn’t be wet, but it should be damp to keep it from drying out. The boost of energy that compost provides a vegetable garden in the form of nitrogen and other necessary elements is invaluable.
Phosphate
This ingredient will give your soil the necessary supply of phosphorus to keep your vegetables growing strong. Phosphate is available in different forms from your local gardening supplier, and should be applied in good amounts in 1 year out of every 4. Between 1 and 2 tons of phosphate per acre should be tilled into your land, depending on the quality of soil you are working with. Obviously, the more phosphorus-poor soil you have, the more phosphate should be added. Whatever type of phosphate compound you decide on (either colloidal or hard rock phosphate), just make sure that you use it. Apply it on a regular schedule of every four years, no matter whether you are growing vegetables on a small farm of 5 acres, or in your small backyard garden plot.
Marl
This rock powder is what contains the potassium that your garden soil needs. Marl should also be available from your local garden supply store, and it should be applied every 4 years just like phosphate, and in the same amounts. Potassium and phosphorus go hand in hand in soil preparation, and both are equally important in the process of enriching your soil.
Amending the Soil? What about Sustainability?
We’ve discussed the importance of creating a ecological system of sustainability in your organic garden. This means that the natural processes of growing plants should allow them to rely on the annual cycles of nutrients returning to the earth in order to let them be successful year after year. So why are we talking about adding all of these amendments to the soil in the forms of rock powders and organic matter? Isn’t that about bringing in additions from a source outside your garden or farm?
It is important to realize that we are using the above practices to establish a system that will itself become sustainable. By improving the soil, you are setting up a place for your vegetables to grow that will (hopefully) become such a rich and productive piece of land that you won’t need to amend it over time. This is the key difference between feeding the soil and feeding the plant, which we mentioned at the beginning of this article. Now that we have the fundamentals down about what nutrients your vegetables will need, let’s discuss these two approaches in more detail.
Feeding the Plants
Many growers prefer to feed their plants a wide variety of compounds that contain necessary amounts of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus to allow them to produce for a single season. These compounds are usually in the forms of powders or liquids and are applied directly to the dirt around the plant. Many are water-soluble, meaning that water is then added to make the elements available to the plant. This works for many people, especially those gardening in planters, and can yield a crop during the growing season. However, the disadvantages to this system are both labor-intensive and economic. When you buy fertilizers for your plants every year, you are incurring a cost that needs to be invested annually. Industrially-produced fertilizers are expensive and are seen by many as necessary in our modern world. But take a moment to reflect on the history of agriculture and the natural processes of ecology. While growing plots of vegetables in orderly lines is not a natural occurrence, the processes that are already in existence within the chemistry and biology of the soil certainly are. We have gotten used to fertilizers because we think we need them. Do we really? Haven’t humans been growing vegetables for generations without them, and growing them quite successfully? Isn’t there a better way to farm?
Feeding the Soil
There is a better way, and that way involves paying attention to the natural processes of the earth. All too often, human beings have gotten it into their heads that they can do things better than nature. The problem with this attitude is that nature always catches up and there are repercussions for us in the end. Genetically modifying plants to make them immune to disease or pests may initially help big agriculture produce mass food for the public, but the cost of that lies in the new health crises related to the consumption of food that has been altered on a genetic level. We may have found a temporary solution to famine, but at the cost of harming ourselves? Famine may last for a year or ten years. Changing the genetics of food is permanent. The results of GMOs are plants that can’t produce seed, or ones that actually require supplementing them with insecticides and herbicides that are themselves detrimental to our survival. We can never be “smarter” than nature and never will be, and the results of trying to be will result in our own destruction.
Feeding the soil represents a way of rejecting these ideas and practices in modern agriculture. If we can recognize that the soil is already prepared to do what it is meant to do, then we realize the absurdity of trying to improve upon it. Adding elements and minerals to the soil means adding natural ingredients which are naturally there in rich soil, allowing for the biological and chemical processes that are inherent in the system to occur as they want to. It doesn’t mean artificially boosting the soil with man-made fertilizers which won’t sustain your garden. Getting our phosphates, potassium, and nitrogen from sources as close to the forms that they exist in nature (rock powders, decaying organic material in our compost, green manures) are the best ways to improve our growing conditions while remaining in tune with the cyclical processes of earth’s ecosystems. The practice of amending the soil with the above four necessary ingredients will, over time, create a sustainable ecosystem within the confines of your garden, be it ten acres or ten yards. You will help sustain not only your own garden, but the environment as a whole by limiting our reliance on outside sources of minerals, and completely eliminating our use of artificial fertilizers.
Take the soil back into your own hands. You have the power to change the earth for the better by starting in your own backyard. Start with the basics by starting with the soil.
By admin
July 28th, 2007 at 04:31pm
Under Organic Gardening
Find out how using green manures in your organic vegetable garden can reduce or eliminate any need for alternative fertilizers.
We’ve all heard of animal manures as a soil amendment for vegetable gardening. Farmers have been using manure for centuries in their soil preparation as a way to add beneficial elements like nitrogen, potassium, and calcium back into the soil to be used as essential food for their vegetable crops. However, by incorporating a system of green manures into your garden, you can provide your land with an green alternative to using animal products.
What is a green manure?
Green manures are crops that are grown by farmers on their vegetable plots or beds which aren’t meant for harvesting or consumption. They are simply grown in order to be tilled into the soil to add their nitrogen and other elements back into the earth to make the piece of land more productive. While many traditional farmers grow these plants as feed for their animals, they don’t need to be used as such. They can go directly back into your soil to make it more fertile. These crops include plants such as alfalfa, clover, rye, vetch, soybeans, and oats. Green manures can be grown in a couple of different ways. Let’s take a look at the benefits of green manures, as well as a couple of different methods for incorporating a green manure into the crop rotation of your organic vegetable garden.
The Benefits of Green Manures
First, let’s take a look at why we would want to bother with growing plants in our garden that we’re not going to harvest. We can always add fertilizers and other amendments to the soil, so why bother? Keep in mind that we are practicing these methods of farming in order to create a sustainable garden. If we can give the soil everything that it needs to be good, rich earth, we can grow better vegetables that are healthier for you with methods that are better for the environment. Industrial manufactured fertilizers are expensive and can be full of detrimental or even toxic substances. You don’t know where this stuff is coming from and you certainly don’t want to put it into your soil. Your land is your own, so be proud and aware of what you’re putting into it, just as you should be aware of the food that you are taking into your own body. The economics are simply better, too. Seed is quite cheap in comparison to buying outside fertilizer. The costs for supplying an adequate amount of fertilizer to even one acre of land are substantial, whereas the price of seeds needed to cover the same area is much less expensive. Here is a breakdown of some of the benefits of growing green manures:
Protects your Soil from Erosion:
Plants constantly growing in the ground keep the ground stable. The root systems of plants give integrity to the soil, strengthening it and binding it together. Soil that is left barren can be adversely affected by rain, sun, and wind.
Adds Nitrogen back into your Soil:
Cover crops, especially legumes like soybeans, add beneficial nitrogen back into the soil. The three big elements that you need to be aware of that plants need to grow well and to produce food are nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. While adding supplementary sources of other elements to your soil often come from outside your garden, a free source of nitrogen from established plants is a sensible practice.
Bring Nutrients from Deeper Soil to the Topsoil:
Your deep-root vegetables like carrots are naturally adept at bringing elements from further down in the soil closer to the surface for future, shallower-rooted crops to benefit from. They do this by digging deep with a substantial root structure. Green manure crops do the same thing. Plants like clover have a very deep root structure and can bring these elements up from the deep places where they will be needed by your other crops.
Protects against Weeds:
Weed control is one of the biggest factors that an organic vegetable gardener needs to be aware of. Once weeds get started, they can become difficult to manage and be incredibly invasive to your crops. They compete for space, and can overwhelm or kill your food crops. The best way to go about getting rid of weeds is not giving them the space to let them germinate in the first place. With a cover crop taking up your available soil space, there is less room for weeds to grow.
Now that we are familiar with some of the major benefits of growing a green manure, let’s look into the different ways that the organic farmer can go about this.
Growing a Cover Crop
For many farmers, their garden is divided into two different schedules for the entire year - the season for growing their crop, and the season for growing their cover crop. When the harvest is finished, the cover crop is sown into the soil and grows until ready to be tilled under for the next season of food crops. For instance, once you’ve finished harvesting your crop of tomatoes in September or October, a crop of oats can occupy the same plot for a few months until being tilled into the soil for your planting of peas or beans in the spring. The remains of the tomato plants from the previous season coupled with that burst of fresh nitrogen from the oats makes the soil rich and ready for your legume crop.
Undersow your Green Manure
You can also grow your green manure crops alongside your food crops at the same time. Why would you want to grow both kinds of crops at once? Wouldn’t the green manure crops crowd out or leave the food crops at a disadvantage, or vice versa? The answers to these questions revolve around timing your planting, and if done correctly, this method can be even more beneficial than simply growing a cover crop after you harvest the food crop.
For example, if you plant clover next to and a few weeks after your squash plants, the squash has had adequate time to grow and secure it’s place on the land before the smaller crops come up. Once you’ve harvested your squash a few months later, the clover is firmly established in the bed, efficiently protecting the soil and improving the soil structure. There is no empty field that has to then be sown with the green manure only to wait for weeks before the crop gets going, leaving the plot susceptible to erosion and other soil damage. The cover crop is already there once you harvest. It can then continue to grow for months before you till it and plant your next crop. This method of undersowing your green manures is not only a good idea, it may simply be necessary in colder climates where the planting of cover crops like soybeans or vetch simply isn’t possible after harvesting vegetables in late fall.
How to Sow your Green Manure Crop
Sowing your green manures is a strong and effective way to manage your organic garden, and taking the time to plant these cover crops properly and with as much attention to detail as your food crops will yield the best results. This isn’t simply about scattering some seeds that will come up alongside your crops for harvest. Sowing green manures correctly and effectively means taking the time to consider some essential factors:
Sow Into a Weed-Free Bed:
If there are scattered weeds throughout the plot of land you’re going to be gardening in, you present a big problem for the plants you are hoping to grow there. Established weeds will suppress the smaller crops, overcrowding them and killing them. This is true for your green manure crops as well. Plant your seeds in clean, rich soil that is free of competing weeds.
Plant Your Green Manure Seeds with as Much Attention as Your Food Crops:
You may find that the most efficient way to plant cover crop seeds is to use the same kind of drill that you would use to plant root vegetables like carrots. Your green manure seeds need to be planted in a specific way, between your plantings of your food crops, in order to be the most effective.
Different Food Crops Require Different Green Manure Spacing:
Not all of your crops for harvest are the same size. From melons to peas, squash to tomatoes, potatoes to carrots, different crops require different soil nutrients and different amounts of space between the plants. This will have a direct effect on how much of the green manure crop you can plant between them. Between rows of corn, for example, five rows of a crop like vetch or soybeans can grow. Between carrots (which are planted closer together than corn), you’ll have room to grow only one row of clover. Crops that require more space like tomatoes should give you a good amount of room to grow as much as 20 rows of oats.
What Green Manures should I grow?
This all depends on what crops you are going to be growing. As shown in our discussion on crop rotation, there are some guidelines that you can follow, but you may wish to experiment for yourself and decide which system works best for you. You are in charge of your own garden, and your job is to discover how to make it the most effective piece of land that it can be for growing quality organic vegetables. However, here are some suggestions to get you started on specific crops and the undersown green manures that work well when grown the season before you plant them:
Tomatoes - Vetch is a suitable crop preceding your tomatoes.
Corn - Clover is a good choice for the plot that will next host your corn plants.
Potatoes - Soybeans have been found to be one of the best preceding crops for potatoes, as they help reduce the possibility of many potato diseases.
Squash - Try planting rye before your next crop of squash.
Peas - Peas respond well to having oats planted and tilled before their turn in the crop rotation.
We’re all learning better ways to become more self-sufficient, and green manures are a great start for getting your organic garden to better sustain itself. The benefits to improving your soil from the use of green manures are well tested and shown to yield better quality crops that have a better chance of surviving. And as with many green improvements to our lives, it has been ultimately shown to be a most cost-effective and natural solution to enhancing the way we live and grow.
By admin