When the winter chill is out of the air and spring starts to settle in, a lot of people out there break out their shovels and plows and decide to plant a garden. If you want to plant a garden this year, why not make it an organic garden? Here are some fantastic tips you can use to make sure that your garden grows. Plan your garden for best results. Before you put one spade into the dirt, you need to decide what you will plant, and where. You want to plot your garden's size, and then decide what plants use according to their individual needs. Consider lighting, drainage, and spacing for each plant. Make sure the hole you plant for a tree or shrub is at least three times wider than the root ball of the seedling. Most of the root system of a tree or shrub is found in the top foot of the soil. Planting a seedling in a small hole will result in slower growth and failure to thrive. Plant evergreen shrubs. Certain shrubs can provide triple duty throughout the year: they bear leaves year-round, produce flowers, and sometimes have ornamental fruit that attracts birds and other wildlife. This makes them very desirable in any landscape design. Excellent varieties are Berberis, Holly, Camellia Japonica, Ceanothus, Viburnum and Skimmia. Most will survive in any conditions. Hang shiny silver objects throughout your garden. These can act as natural pest deterrents; no need for chemicals. The reflections can disorient flying pests such as aphids that require the sun to direct their flight, and may frighten off larger pests such as birds, and even rabbits or deer. It is possible to grow an organic garden all year if you have a sufficient light source for an indoor garden. Plants need plenty of light in order to grow properly and there are bulbs that can be purchased to provide indoor gardens with the appropriate amount of light to have them thrive and produce a fruitful bounty. Consider building raised beds. If you build your own raised beds, you can choose the perfect size for your garden, and you can fill it with a type of soil that is suitable for what you intend to grow. Since there will be little soil compaction, there will be more oxygen in the soil, and water drainage will be much better. The soil in a raised bed warms up much earlier in the spring, increasing the growing season. When growing organic plants, you should move your containers to a bright area immediately upon sprouting. This is because the seedlings need a minimum of 12 hours of light per day in order to properly grow. You can use a greenhouse, a sunny area, or a couple of fluorescent lights. Organic gardening means trying to grow plants as naturally as possible without the use of chemicals. So when the time comes to kill harmful, plant-eating insects, try planting a few flowers in your vegetable garden. The flowers will attract beneficial insects that naturally kill the harmful ones. These beneficial insects perform other valuable services like pollination as well as pest control. When you are digging holes in your yard in which to plant shrubs, bushes, or trees, do not make it perfect. Holes with perfect sides will actually work against you by restricting plant growth. The roots cannot penetrate the sheer face made by a shovel. One of the best things about a garden is that once you put in the initial labor, you can sit back and enjoy the fruits - or vegetables - of this labor as your garden begins to grow. Make sure that you're using these tips correctly if you want to experience the best possible results with your organic garden.View more gardening products: phoenix home and garden
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