If you are new to gardening, or have been gardening for some time conventionally, you may want to know how to build an organic garden.
Most people garden organically because they want to keep as many chemicals out of their body as they can.
Eating foods that have been raised organically is an easy way to get a lot of chemicals out of your system.
We have a lot of ground, so to speak, to cover to get you started.
In this short space we will talk about compost, soil preparation, grow or buy plants, organic seeds and mulch.
It looks like a lot of work, but it really isn't and it doesn't happen all at once, thankfully.
Compost If you are planning to garden organically you will want to get your compost pile started.
There have been several books written about building compost, there is no way we can even cover a small part of what you will want to know.
This will be your fertilizer from now on.
A quick tip is to just start putting anything that is, or was, growing into the pile.
This can be trimmings from your kitchen vegetables, grass trimmings, leaves, newspaper, cardboard boxes, just about anything.
Just do not put any meat scraps into your compost pile, for several reasons.
Prepare your soil If you are just starting, it is best to kill all the weeds and grass from the plot planned for your garden.
You can do this by smothering them out with newspaper, leaves, cardboard, old carpet, anything that will not let any light hit the ground.
Till the soil with a shovel, fork or a rototiller, do not work the soil until it has dried enough to not make clods.
Should you buy or grow plants If you want to stay strictly organic I recommend you grow your own plants.
Plants raised by a nursery have chemical fertilizers poured on them.
So, it is best to buy your seed and start your own.
Organic seed Since we are talking about seed, should you only use organic seed? You can find most varieties of garden seeds, which are organic, from seed companies that carry them.
To stay totally organic you will want to start with organic seed.
Mulch One of the best tricks to growing organically is to use a lot of mulch.
Again, you can use just about anything that will decompose as mulch.
Just watch out for things that have chemicals in them.
Mulching will make your job a lot easier, as you will have a lot less weeds to pull and you will save water.
You should now know how to build an organic garden.
Just follow the steps.
Get started composting, prepare the soil, grow or buy your plants, use organic seed and mulch the garden.