eHow launches Android app: Get the best of eHow on the go.

How To

How to Create an Organic Garden

Member
By John Gossett
User-Submitted Article
(0 Ratings)

Organic gardening is not just a conversation piece. You can tell the difference in the taste of whatever you grow there. Of course you have added challenges to grow healthy plants and prevent pest infestation, but it’s really more economical and interesting to garden naturally.

Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  • Rotor tiller
  • Wheel barrow
  • Shovel
  • Post hole digger
  • Composted horse manure (one gallon bucket full per plant)
  1. Step 1

    Start your garden in a good spot with excellent exposure to sunlight for most or all the daylight hours and that has a foot or more of good topsoil.

  2. Step 2

    Till the garden repeatedly and remove all vegetation between each tilling. As many as five years of gardening in the same spot may be required before the soil becomes manageable and weeds become less of an issue.

  3. Step 3

    Count at least three years since any chemicals were used in your garden before you can start to call it organic.

  4. Step 4

    Select seeds and seedlings that are guaranteed to be organic, when the seeds are grown from organic plants. It’s not just the soil that makes it organic.

  5. Step 5

    Create rows that are slightly higher than the paths in between: 2 feet wide, flat and at least 4 inches higher than the paths.

  6. Step 6

    Use a post hole digger to dig out 6 inch wide and up to 12 inches deep holes every 2 to 3 feet where you will grow each plant.

  7. Step 7

    Fill the holes with composted horse manure. It will both nourish your plants each year and build the soil for future years. The large amount of compost is necessary to provide sufficient nourishment for the entire season (no chemical fertilizer can help you out in mid-July).

  8. Step 8

    Place your seeds and seedlings in the manure, cover with soil, water and manage your garden with whatever discipline you prefer. High acid plants such as tomatoes will thrive in pure compost, but you should probably mix in up to 50 percent topsoil from the surrounding mound for beans, squash, cucumbers and most other alkaline vegetables.

Tips & Warnings
  • A fence around a garden is always advisable to keep out small animals. If there are deer, which there almost always are, an electric fence is a good idea.
Subscribe

Post a Comment

Post a Comment

Related Ads

  • Have you done this? Click here to let us know.
I Did This
Get Free Home & Garden Newsletters

Copyright © 1999-2009 eHow, Inc. Use of this web site constitutes acceptance of the eHow Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.   en-US Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.

eHow Home and Garden
eHow_eHow Home and Garden