How to Start on Organic Flower Gardening
Flowers make people smile and feel happier. And because of their beauty and colors, they make the world look a lot better. It would be nice to have these wonderful sights in your garden all year round.
Organic flower gardening is one of the easiest and most enjoyable activity that you can indulge yourself with. Any long-time gardener will tell you that no matter how much they’ve grown, seeing their flowering plants blossom into these bunches of colors and sweet-smelling floral scents is truly a magical experience. And that alone is enough to convince anyone to grow an organic flower garden.
Like most organic home gardens, a flower garden requires the basics: a good and healthy soil, enough sunshine, adequate water, organic fertilizers and some tender loving care. But before you head out to buy your supplies, take some time to plan your garden first.
In order to have a colorful garden all throughout the year, you must carefully choose your plants based on their life span and blooming season. Annual flowering plants are the easiest to grow and blossom but they live only for a year. Perennial flowering plants have a much longer life cycle, but you’ll usually have to wait for two years before they start to bloom flowers. But these plants are great if you want to enjoy flowers in your garden at the start of every summer and carry on for several months.
It almost so easy to find plants that will do well in sunny weather. But finding plants that will thrive on cold and darker climates is a bit more challenging. Pick plants whose blooming seasons fall on different times in a year so you’re sure to have an array of beautiful flowers every season. Also, group small blooms in cluster and mix match them with larger flowers to create an interesting combination of colors and texture in your garden.
Flowering plants do not require a special kind of soil as long as it’s already prep up with organic matters and nutrients that they need. Annuals planted on a nutrient-rich soil may no longer need to be fertilized, unless they are planted in containers. Potted soil is easily depleted of nutrients and must be replenished every once in a while.
Perennials, however, will need organic fertilizers (compost and mulching are recommended) once or twice each growing season because they will feed on the same soil for many years. Just be careful when applying organic fertilizers as too much can damage their roots. Go easy on foliar applications as well because too much can burn the flowers.
Deep, instead of frequent watering, is also a good practice for perennials because this will encourage them to grow deep roots and make them tougher during the dry season. Annuals, on the other hand, will enjoy weekly watering but with just enough to keep the soil moist. Over-watering is as bad as under-watering for most plants.
Deadheading or removing spent or withered flowers is one good tip to trick your flowering plants into growing more blooms. Plants know that once they’ve produced flowers, they will start to pollinate and seed. Removing spent flowers will convince them that the job is not yet completed and bloom more flowers. As a result, you’ll be able to enjoy flowers on an extended period.
Organic flower gardening is especially rewarding when friends and neighbors start noticing and praising you for having a very beautiful garden. Start your own organic flower garden with this complete organic gardening guide.
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Organic Garden Seed: The Starting Point of an Organic Garden
If an entire garden is grown from seeds, then to an organic purist, an organic home garden must begin with organic seeds.
But what is an organic garden seed?
Organic seed is derived from plant that is grown organically, that is, without fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and any other synthetic and lab-concocted gardening products.
One benefit of organic seeds is that you can be sure that these seeds are prepared for the organic life. Unlike with conventional seeding, where seeds are placed under the best and ideal conditions for growing, organic seeds came from plants that were subjected to harsher and tougher environments. As a result, organic seeds will do better in an organic garden at home than most regular seeds.
What’s wrong with regular garden seeds?
Very few people realized that more chemicals are sprayed on the seeds than on the plants that they come from. Seeds are often coated with fungicides to protect them against fungi and spores present in their husks that inhibit seedling growth. Imported seeds are also usually treated with a mixture of chemicals to ensure longevity. Some are even genetically altered to grow a ‘better variety’ of plants that are disease-resistant, with leaves that repel pests, and roots that do not rot.
But at what cost?
Frequent use of chemicals can change the genetic structure of seeds. Many organic growers avoid genetically altered seeds because one cannot exactly determine what extent of mutation will be present once they’ve become fully-grown plants. Genetic defects are also passed on to the seeds. And because they were modified at the genetic level, no one can clearly identify what ill-effects and dangers they will pose on humans once they are consumed. Likewise, breeding with other varieties of plants can lead to further mutation. When this happens, there’s a high possibility that they cause irreparable damage to the natural ecosystem.
Organic seeds, apart from produced by plants that were grown the natural way, remain untreated and unaltered.
Companies and farms selling organic seeds are required to pass through rigorous tests and process inspections in order for their products to be certified as “Organically Grown” or OG. If you want to buy organic garden seeds, you can start ordering from certified sources ahead of time because most organics seeds are available only at certain seasons. Find more information on how you can grow organic garden seeds here.
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Organic Container Gardening
Organic container gardening is actually one of the easiest forms of gardening. It’s great for people with limited space outdoors but would like to grow beautiful and vibrant flowers, and fresh and lush vegetables. Organic container gardening is also suitable indoors as you can transform ordinary household containers into organic plant containers, which can be placed anywhere inside the house.
If you’re seriously considering organic container gardening, here are some things you should know about:
Containers
You would want to use containers created from natural materials such as clay, and wood, or recycled products like food-grade plastic pails, buckets, and tin cans. Actually, your choices are limited by your imagination. Just keep in mind that keeping it all natural is the key.
But you should also be aware the soil in containers made of porous materials such a terra cotta pots tend to dry out faster. Likewise, dark colored containers has a drying effect because they absorb more heat than light colored pots. Size also matters because soil in small containers cannot hold too much water and nutrients. Choose containers that are appropriate to the size and needs of your plants.
When choosing an organic container, especially if you prefer to recycle, make sure that it can be fitted with drainage holes to hold the soil back and drain the water. Filters or screens can also be used to keep the soil in place and prevent it from being drained with the water.
Soil
Soil is also one vital element in organic container gardening. A good organic potting soil must always be free from chemicals and artificial fertilizers. Aside from that, potting soil must be light and porous to allow air to circulate and retain moisture twice as much as regular garden soil does. Soilless organic compound containing peat moss, perlite and vermiculite is a favored potting soil mixture because it is sterile, pH adjusted, holds water well and allows for free airflow. Mixing two parts of a good potting soil with one part compost improves the quality and fertility of your soil.
Location
Organic container garden thrives best in areas with sufficient light. So whether you’re putting your potted plants indoors or outdoors, make sure they will have enough sun exposure. But being under the sun for too long can also cause your plants to wilt. During the peak of summer, you can conveniently place your potted plants in shaded areas if you think they have been exposed to the sun too much. Consequently, you can also bring them indoors to protect them from frost during winter season.
Water
Plants in containers cannot expand their roots deeper to search for moisture in the soil and will only have as much water as their soil can retain. So they need to be watered more frequently than plants in the ground. Don’t wait till they start to wilt before watering. One way to check if they already need water is to put a finger 2 to 3 inches deep into the soil. If it’s dry to the touch, then it’s time to water your plants. Other indications are if the container feels lighter when you pick it up and if your plants looks pale and dehydrated.
Remember, you need to feed the soil in order to feed the plant. Use slow release organic garden fertilizers to provide a steady supply of nutrients to the soil. And the best organic fertilizer for the job is the fish emulsion. Fish emulsion is a natural liquid fertilizer from the byproducts of fish oil and fish meal industries that is readily absorb by the soil. Lining the surface of the soil with compost is also a good idea to boost its organic matter content.
Having an organic container garden is not really complicated because you’re tending smaller pots than a large garden area. Unlike with a regular garden, you can easily monitor leaves for pests and other plant diseases, and deal with them right away before they start to seriously affect your plants. In fact, containers act as barriers that prevent soil-borne diseases and pest from infecting you plants.
And the best part is, because they are in containers, you can easily move plants around which makes gardening and landscaping a more flexible activity.
The plants and vegetables that grow best in organic container gardens are tomatoes, peppers, beans, herbs eggplants, greens such as swiss chard and lettuce, and zucchini.
For effective and proven ways on growing any plant in containers, I highly recommend you check out the information I’ve collected here.
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Organic Garden Fertilizers VS Synthetic Garden Fertilizers
Organic garden fertilizers usually come from live materials like plants and animals, and non-live but organic elements like rocks and minerals. They normally have a wide range of nutrients and trace elements, and they provide additional organic matter that enhances the soil ecosystem.
Most organic garden fertilizers provide a slow, steady supply of nutrients, which is better in the long-run as nutrients are provided as the plants need them. They are made up of complex molecules that do not easily dissolve in water and nutrients are released through an ongoing action of the soil microbes. Hence, they provide nutrients to the plants consistently and for a considerably longer period. There are also some fast-release organic fertilizers like liquid seaweed and fish emulsions that readily provide nutrients to plants that need instant boost.
Synthetic fertilizers on the other hand, are chemically prepared concoctions that often contain three important elements: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) or NPK. But these types of fertilizers do not contain organic matter and don’t do anything to nourish the soil.
They often provide fast-release nutrients that can be used by plants immediately after application. The problem however, is that plants may not be able to use all the nutrients right away. Synthetic fertilizers are highly soluble and the excess can easily find their way to nearby bodies of water like rivers, streams and lakes, and cause pollution. Some manufacturers are coming up with slow-release formulas, but still, they only provide NPK and do not improve the health of the soil at all. Most synthetic fertilizers are made from mineral salts and if not used correctly, can burn young roots of seedlings and kill soil microbes responsible for releasing natural soil nutrients and making them available to plants.
Generally, using organic garden fertilizer is the safer and gentler way of supplementing nutrients to both the plants and the soil. It mimics nature’s process of nurturing the plants by giving nutrients as and when they are needed. It nourishes the soil and improves the soil microactivity and it does not have harmful and adverse effects to the environment. Still some argues that organic fertilizers are more expensive than their synthetic counterpart. But if you look at the larger picture and factor in all the benefits of using organic garden fertilizers, it will come out as the cheaper and better option.
There are scientific studies conducted that proved how synthetic fertilizers can cause harmful effects not just on plants but on humans who consume them as well. While organic fertilizers always remain safe and highly recommended. To find out more about these findings, and to know how you can find or even make your own organic garden fertilizers, go here.
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