Guest Post:

Contrary to popular opinion, pesticides and man-made fertilizers are not necessary to create an attractive and productive garden. Commercialized gardening chemicals can be dangerous, especially if you are growing food in your garden. Organic gardening is much healthier both for the plants and for the gardener who is working with them.

The first thing to do is pick an area that gets at least half a day’s worth of sunshine. It will also need to have good access to water and be able to drain well, or you could raise your garden bed a few inches from the ground.

To prevent weeds you will first need to dig and pull out any ones that are remaining, rake out the debris after you are done to ensure that the area is completely clear, you can wait a little while to see if any weeds sprout again. Afterward you should add natural compost to the soil along with greensand. The sand will help supply your soil with phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen.

Dig up some of bed soil and mix it with the fertilizer, if the ground is clay you should add additional sand to it. Leave the soil for about a month so the nutrients can be properly distributed. During the meantime you can find organic mulch to place over the soil, ground bark or coconut husks work great for this.

You should also create a compost pile in the back of your garden. Any extra leaves, natural food waste, and anything organic can be placed in this pile. This will make for an excellent fertilizer with all the necessary nutrients. You will need to be careful when placing some foods on the compost pile as they may smell or attract rodents, some natural kitchen waste will be fine. Another great source of organic fertilizer is grass trimming from when you are finished mowing the lawn, they break down fairly quickly and are easy to handle.

Home Turned Green: resources for indoor gardens and outdoor gardens.