How to Grow your Own Organic Garden at Home

One of the best ways to encourage your kids to love eating vegetables is by growing them in your own garden. You can take this healthy practice even further by growing your vegetables organically. Aside from decreasing the amount of pesticides you and your family consume, having an organic garden means you grow your produce using earth-friendly practices. 

Here are a few tips on how you can start your own organic garden at home, no matter how much space you have.

For homes with a yard: Create a garden patch

• Start a small garden first. If you can allot at least 50 square feet of garden space per person in your household, you can make a basic garden. Remember to start small, as you can already grow a lot of food in just 100 square feet, as long as you plant densely. You can start by planting 1 or 2 small tomato plants, for example. As long as you treat them well and allow them up to stalk up, you can get dozens of tomatoes from just one plant that's healthy and happy. As you gain more experience, you can add more plants such as lettuces and other leaves, which are trickier to maintain.

• Use toxin-free soil for your organic vegetable patch. Your regular garden soil won't do, in this case. The best way to find out if your soil is toxin-free is by contacting local organic farmers and inquiring about their sources for soil. For a modest fee, these growers can also put you in touch with agricultural experts who can test your soil and give you a complete breakdown of its pH and nutrient levels. At home, supplement this good soil by making some of your own. Start by using quality compost, followed by a 2-4 inch layer of straw or leaf mulch, and adequate water. With this, you can keep on making good soil for your crops.

• When you're ready to plant, buy easy-to-grow plants. If you're just starting out with vegetable gardening, buy your plants from an organic farmer. They can help you start off your garden with the right plants, those that are easy to grow. Some plants that are easy to start off with are green beans, alugbati (beets; the leaves can be eaten, too), carrots, cucumbers, and herbs such as basil and oregano.

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For small homes or apartments: Container gardening
If you have limited space, a roof deck, or even just a small balcony that gets sunlight, then container gardening is a good option. Growing organic plants in pots can help brighten up your lanai or even your roof deck. They are also versatile because you can move them around to capture the sunlight and shade them when it's too hot.

• Start by making your own container gardening soil. Take some good quality dirt from your organic soil source, and mix one part soil with one part compost and one part sand. Adding some leaf mulch or moss will help the mixture retain more water.

• Get the proper pots, tins and plastic containers for your container garden. Use a variety of sizes, shapes and colors. You can use everyday objects such as a galvanized bucket, old terracotta pots, even a large colander. You'll need to put drainage holes in these so that your plants don't drown; you can make these using either a drill or a hammer and large nail. Put in as many holes as possible, and then cover them up with window screen material so that the soil doesn't seep out.

• Plant vegetables that are ideal for container gardening. You can purchase cherry tomatoes and peppers, lettuces and other greens, spinach, herbs, onions and carrots; these all grow well in containers as long as they get at least six hours of sunlight a day. Remember to wet the soil mix well in a separate bucket just before you are about to pot your plants. The same rules of potting apply whether you're planting flowers or vegetables: First, place the plant at the center of a container, then add the soil around them, and gently pat around the plant, taking care not to fill the soil too close to the rim of the pot.

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General organic gardening tips

1. Let your plants get full sun. Make sure your plants get enough sun, at least 8 hours a day. This will be tricky during the rainy season, so consult your weather stations first before starting your garden. This is because your plants will need plenty of light and heat so that they can photosynthesize.

2. Water your plants well. This is especially important for container gardens, which tend to dry out quickly. A vegetable patch in your yard can do with a good watering once a day, but for a container garden, you'll need to water your plants twice a day. As a rule, wait until the soil is barely dry in your containers before you water again.

3. Fertilize. You can buy compost-based organic fertilizers from your local organic farmer. These will be plant-based or mineral-based, or some may even be made from animal waste. Organic fertilizers, to be specific, don't contain ingredients with genetically-modified organisms, so be sure to check labels and inquire with your organic farmer about their sources. Whatever your preference, remember that fertilizers are necessary in order for your soil to be rich in nutrients. (Container gardens, in particular, need more fertilization than a vegetable patch in your garden.)

4. Control pests. Since you won't be using artificial fertilizers or synthetic pesticides for your organic garden, you need to have the right tools that will help your plants growth safely and healthily without much problems. Whether you plant a container garden or a vegetable patch, bugs will be a problem. The best thing to do to prevent a bug infestation is by keeping your plants well watered so that they don't wilt (as wilted leaves attract bugs). As for aphids, you'll need to remove these by hand. You can repel them with a simple spray made with garlic, which contains sulfur that is toxic to pests. To make this spray, finely chop three to four cloves of garlic, and add them to two teaspoons of mineral oil. Let this soak overnight. Strain the oil and discard the garlic, then add the solution to one pint of water. Add a dash of organic liquid dish soap. Use two tablespoons of this solution with one pint of water in a spray bottle whenever you need to spray your plants.

Maintaining your organic garden
Whether you have a vegetable patch in the yard or a container garden, you'll need to exert the same amount of effort to maintain it. Remember to give it plenty of time to grow, and be diligent about watering the plants, sunning them, tilling the soil and keeping pests away.

Photo from flickr creative commons