Organic vegetable growing

Growing your own fruit and vegetables organically is not really difficult. It might take a little more work than growing with chemicals but the advantages more than compensate for the extra time you will have to put in.

Imagine being able to pick fresh produce and to eat it right away without needing to scrub it to remove chemical residue; consider how much more nutritious are fresh vegetables than those you buy in the store which were probably picked more than a week before you buy them; think about all the preserving you will be able to do so you can enjoy your garden throughout the year. And all for pennies and a few hours a week.

In temperate climates such as that to be found in England, it is possible to grow all year round and, with a 10’ x 10’ plot produce enough vegetables to feed a family of four for the year.

Choose a site, for your garden, that is not in a low spot (i.e. will not become a pond if it rains) has sunlight but also some shade and is within easy reach of your house. This last requirement is really a psychological one as gardens that can’t be seen from the house tend to get ignored!

Measure out the area you want and then cut in around the edges to define it. You may want to put some edging around such as bricks, planks or such like. This will help keep the edges clean and make it easier to cut the grass around the garden.

Now comes the hardest part! The plot needs to be dug over (cultivated). This can be done by mechanical means using a rototiller or similar machine or it can be done with the old-fashioned fork and spade. The rototiller is faster and easier but does have one major disadvantage if the plot you are working on has lots of weeds like dock. Weeds like this will germinate from the tiniest piece of root and the tiller will chop up the roots and, thereby, help the weeds to multiply. It is worth the extra effort to dig with fork and spade and to clear out the weeds by hand once the digging has loosened them.

If you live in an area where the winters are hard with heavy frost, the plot can be left over winter and the ice and frost will break up the soil even more. If you want to start growing as soon as possible then you will need to make sure that the soil is filled with the nutrients and life so important to the organic grower. A quick check as to the viability of your soil is the earthworms that you find when digging. The more there are, generally speaking, the better the soil. If the soil has previously had lots of chemicals on it, there will be few or no earthworms and you will need to do a lot of work to revive it.

One of the other advantages of organic growing is that you can recycle a lot of the kitchen waste that would otherwise be discarded. Vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags can all be added to your compost pile and, properly managed, this will produce a wonderful, soil like compost that can be used in your garden. Composting is a matter for another article but the main principles to employ for good compost are that it should never be too wet, should be turned regularly and you should never put too many grass clippings in as they tend to ‘suffocate’ the pile.

Grass, leaves and things of that sort can also be applied directly to your garden as a mulch (a covering to retain moisture) and then dug in as they rot down. You are looking for a soil that is loamier than anything else – that means it contains a lot of humus and stores water, nutrients and warmth. The more you put into your garden the closer to that ideal will the soil become.

All of this is the labor that precedes the real fun. Soon, you will be able to plant and start to see the results of all the work.

For the best and most consistent results, you will need to grow different crops in different parts of your garden. This is called rotation and is essential if you are to keep the right balance of nutrients in your soil.

Divide the plot into four equal parts. These will, for example, be for

1.Potatoes and tomatoes

2.Brussel sprouts interplanted with lettuce Cabbages Broad Beans (Fava) followed by spring cabbage in temperate zones

Peas

Beans

3.Carrots Parsnips

Chard

Onions

4.Sweet corn Courgettes (zucchini)

Pumpkins

(This is just an idea of what can be grown. Change to suit your individual preferences)

In the first year the vegetables go in to the plots as above. In year two you move them forward by one plot so those in plot 1 move to plot 2 and those in plot 4 to plot 1.

Buy your seeds, onion sets and potatoes from a local garden store (if you can get organic seeds so much the better) They will be able to advise you on what grows best in your area and which, of various types of vegetables, are the best flavored or for preserving etc.

The instructions on the packets will tell you when to plant and whether you should start in trays or go straight into the garden. Neither way is difficult! The instructions will also tell you the spacing that they recommend. This is where I differ with the seeds men.

It has been my experience that crops grown organically, in soil that is alive and filled with nutrients, can stand much closer spacing than crops grown in other ways. I tend to reduce spacing to about 50% of that recommended. This will not affect yield and will help with weed control too.

It is essential to keep control of weeds from day one. If they get away from you, you will never catch up and the weeds will draw off nutrients that should be just for your vegetables. That means lower yield and smaller fruit.

Do not be afraid to get down on your hands and knees to weed. Work carefully along each row and between each plant loosening the soil and taking out all the weeds. If the soil tends to dryness you might want to put grass cuttings around the plants. This will also keep down the weeds and help in keeping moisture in the soil.

You must water regularly but be careful not to over water. Tomatoes need a lot of water especially when fruiting but potatoes should not be drenched. Watering also helps pollination with many of the crops if applied as a fine spray. That will mean greater yield too.

If you see signs of disease (and this will get less the more organic you become) or infestation then take action immediately. Destroy diseased plants (never dig them in) and remove any infestations. There are good organic remedies on the market for such things as the potato beetle, white flies etc and your garden center will help here also. As you become more organic and have removed chemicals from your garden, lots of insects will return and many of these are known as beneficial insects. They prey on other harmful insects and are to be encouraged. Soon there will be a good balance with Nature and many of the weed and insect problems will be things of the past.

You can also include companion plants in your garden. These are plants which, when planted with certain others, help in terms of health and keeping away harmful insects. Examples of these are:

Spice plants with strong fragrances such as sage, rosemary, thyme, southernwood and peppermint which ward off cabbage butterflies and slugs

Nasturtiums attract black flies and keep them off other plants (you will see they work by just looking under a leaf one time!)

Marigolds, through their roots, sterilize root nematodes and prevents their reproduction

Onions, like garlic, are fungicidal and can be used to protect strawberries. Close to carrots they keep away the carrot fly.

There are many more and, once again, you can seek advice from the experts at your garden center.

Bit by bit you will move towards a working partnership with nature and be using her to help your garden grow. You will learn when to pick and when to eat. You will become aware of everything else going on around, and within, your garden that are important signs. For instance, when you your strawberries start attracting the birds they are ripe and ready for you to pick. But be quick, as the birds know a good thing when they find it!

When you have that first meal with vegetables that you have grown yourself you will know the pride that comes from organic gardening. You will, once again, eat safely and with no fears of toxins or other dangerous chemicals.

Take the first steps. Find the place, mark it out and start digging.

Good luck.