Organic Gardening Basics

Organic Gardening Basics
What are the top Beginner books for Gardening..with all the Basics?

I would like to know a few of the best beginner gardening books available(new ones too), that completely help the new & first-time gardener. From starting a garden, to knowing exactly how much topsoil and other fertilizer bags, peat moss – whatever, is needed. I have a design, it’s an 8′ x 8′ circle, and I would love to know how deep is a basic general amount to add the soil, & how much. Also, what I need to buy in bags to get my soil all prepared. Can someone please help me in this area? I want to go as organic as possible for the first year – I realize in future years I will learn more and have more of a compost pile, but basically a small basic garden.

I’d be happy to help you out but we may need to go back and forth a little. The thing is that there is no one perfect source and there is no one absolute way. You could probably just start your garden now and wait til you do have compost of your own. On the other hand It’s nice to do some basic improvements in a clear bed if you are planning on planting any perennials. I wouldn’t bother with topsoil or peatmoss. You can buy the bags of compost and manure. It isn’t great but it isn’t entirely worthless either. You may want to check in to mushroom compost. I haven’t used it because I have my own compost but I hear it is really good stuff. It’s kind of expensive but apparently very rich so you don’t need that much. I don’t know what’s up with your soil so I can’t get more specific. I don’t know whether you’re planting veggies or herbs or flowers or what either and I don’t know where you are so I’m sorry if I sound kind of useless.
Here are the titles to some books that I have found very useful on my learning curve:
Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Perennials
(Rodale’s books are generally good)
Burpee’s Complete Gardener
Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening
These are general titles with a lot of basic information. They aren’t geared specifically organic but they have been very useful to me. I just take in what I need and get my organic info elsewhere. I think Rodale does have some books on organics, I just haven’t run across them.
E-mail me through answers, if you want, and tell me what you’re wanting to grow and what your climate and exposure and soil are like and we’ll see if we can’t get you a little more set up. I always love to see people take up gardening. It’s the best thing I ever did for myself.

Organic Gardening Basics

Organic Gardening Guide – 3 Basic Steps For Good and Successful Organic Gardening

With gardeners turning to organic cultivation of flowers and vegetables in large numbers, many of them find an organic gardening guide as a handy tool for equipping their flower and kitchen gardens with plants grown in a healthy manner. This helps them decide what is best for their gardens and their pockets and what they should avoid doing if they want their greens to be in the pink too.

Now for organic gardening to be successful one needs to follow three basic, but most important steps.

1. Preparing the soil – As soil plays an important role in sustaining and holding plants, it is necessary to prepare it for planting by treating it with organically prepared compost and fertilizers. This helps the soil acquire all the vital nutrients that it may be lacking, but which the plants require for good growth. This should be done whether one is planning to either grow flowers or vegetables as both require a good dose of nutrients.

2. Selection and care of seeds – It is mandatory for the grower to know what kind of plants would suit his garden. Hence, you should buy seeds accordingly. An organic gardening guide helps you decide what the right medium for sowing your seeds is and when to transplant them from the original containers to your garden.

Caring for seeds is extremely important as the success of your gardening depends on it. Make sure that the medium in which you are planning to plant your seeds is adequately moistened to suit the germinating needs of your plant. While some seeds need to be covered, there are others, which require exposure to sunlight.

The plants should be exposed to the prevailing weather conditions before shifting them from the containers to the garden. Keep them cozy and moist during the germinating stage. Always refer to your gardening guide for exact information about tending to your seeds before planting them.

3. Protection from insects and weeds – After you have planted your seeds and they begin to germinate, it becomes all the more important for you to protect them against insects, diseases and weeds. Using natural products to deal with pests is the wisest thing to do in case of organic gardening as this does not have any ill-effect on the plant. Besides this, allowing natural predators of pests into your precincts helps too.

One should also take timely steps to keep the garden free of weeds. Steps such as exposure to sunlight and applying mulch apart from physical methods as pulling out the weeds by hand, also helps check the growth of weeds.

About the Author

Clint Sidney is a gardening enthusiast and recommends this excellent Organic Gardening Guide. You can learn more about gardening at GreatGardener.eHelpshome.com.

1 Vegan to dinner tonight -help me make a meal ?

I’m a reasonably decent cook but live in a small rural place so don’t have access to any fancy ingredients at all its just the basics.
Here’s all thats suitable in my larder :
potatoes
carrots
broccoli
parsnips
frozen garden peas
onion
soft prunes
tin chopped Tomatoes
tin of kidney beans
tin baked beans
tin of light coconut milk
macaroni
quinoa
wholewheat brown pasta
basmati rice
couscous
3 grain rice-red,wild,brown
organic brown rice
puy lentils
red lentils
flour self raising and plain (if you give a vegan pastry recipe)
sundry goods- tomato ketchup,garlic granules, dried mixed herbs, salt pepper,stem ginger, paprika, cayenne, allspice, chilli powder,mace, nutmeg,veg cubes,mustard bayleaves, tabasco,mustard
cashew nuts and pistachio nuts
soya milk
tin of prunes
pears
strawberries
grapefruit
kiwi

You can make a stew or a vegetable pot pie. You can make a black bean veggie burger. You can look up a recipe at vegweb.com or google vegan black bean burger to get a million recipes. You can do spaghetti or lasagna and add your own roasted vegetable to it.

Gardening Basics : How to Grow Organic Vegetables in a Raised Bed