Organic Gardening

You have now planted your own organic vegetable garden and have done everything that you can to get it started.  Unfortunately the seeds have not started sprouting or your started seeds have not grown much if it all.  Before you throw in the towel and give up on organic gardening there are a few things that you should try.

First of all, have you been hand weeding your garden daily?  This might sound like a pain and stupid chore but it could make all the difference in the world.  Make a point of visiting your vegetable garden each day and carefully checking for weeds.  Do not let the children do it and do not rely on a glance from your back window to tell you whether weeds are growing or not. 

Many gardeners have done casual checks and later realized that the sprouts they thought were growing in their garden were really weeds.  Make a close inspection each day and weed by hand to make sure the job is thoroughly done.  Throw these weeds away do NOT put them into your compost pit.  In order to get the best results dedicate 20 minutes each day to pulling weeds.

If you have been weeding your garden each day and your plants still seem to be growing slowly start adding rich, aged, compost to the slow growing vegetables.  Many plants just need a helping hand and some vegetables, corn, pumpkins, and squash, all need compost to provide richness and nutrients.  Spreading some aged compost from your composts pits will help your vegetables grow properly.

After adding compost to your vegetables every few days leads to no results consider investing in some manure from your local garden supplier.  They will often have organic manure on hand for your gardening needs and this will act as a stronger fertilizer than your compost.  If you are afraid to try manure you can invest in some aged compost purchased from a nursery first.  In many cases your compost pits will only be a few weeks old when you are trying to use them to encourage growth some older compost might just do the trick.

Do not be afraid to increase the amount of water that you are giving your garden.  You should be careful not to over water your plants but you want to make sure that your plants are getting enough water to survive and thrive.  When you water your plants in the morning always check to see if the soil appears dry.  If the soil seems dry one day after watering you might want to consider increasing the amount of water you are giving them.  The soil should always be a little damp around your plants.

Lastly, do not be afraid to spray your homemade pesticide or even a bit of diluted soapy water on your plants to get ride of insects.  If you notice a lot of pests are attracted to your vegetable garden consider spraying once every ten days or once every two weeks.  Also, spray diluted soapy water directly onto vegetables that have insects on them all the time.