Corn

To grow corn organically, it is important that you plant your seeds separately and far apart from all other plants in your garden. Although many use the height of corn as a wind block for their other vegetables, they take up a fair amount of nutrients from soil and manure. Using green manure acts as a catalyst for the growing process in many plants, but especially corn. This vegetable is one of the few that should be rotated frequently because it depletes the soil in which it grows.

Potato Planting

Naturally grown organic potatoes have very large amounts of vitamin C, and they hold lots of nutritional calcium and minerals. Not only do they contain a considerable amount of water, but they are also a very high calorie food. Potatoes are a fairly versatile vegetable, and do not require a lot of fertilization to grow. They are environmentally pleasing, and do not destroy land when growing in a home garden-start planting when you can! They are the second most important crop in the United States, and you can enjoy them in many different dishes that are delicious and nutritious.

Pickling Vegetables

For those who are not interested in eating raw organic vegetables, one option for preserving healthy snacks is pickling them. This is one excellent way to savor those vegetables that you over-planted; and don't have time to eat all at once. You can pickle every single vegetable that will fit in a jar-string beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and many many more. Keep the pickling juice! It's extremely useful for keeping your vegetables from spoiling!

The Plant Detective

One way that plants can be harmed comes in the form of powdery mildew. Formed on the upper surface of leaves, this powder or black dots on leaves are spread by wind, and can infect brand new plants as well as old. The harm that is brought upon these plants causes them to ripen prematurely and have poor flavor.
To control mildews:
1.  prune or stake plants to improve air circulation.
2.  dispose of infected plants.
3.  apply bicarbonate sprays to prevent the spread of infection.
Sprays that contain potassium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate prevent fungal spores from establishing themselves on plants. start spraying when your plants look great, before anything appears!
To create an effective spray, dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 drop liquid soap in 2 quarts water, mix well, and spray on plants. If the spray is too concentrated it may burn the plant foliage.

Work Cited: Rodale's Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening (2009).

Why buy organic flowers?

When people stop to shop for flowers and they see signs on a florist's table marked “Organic,” they stop to ponder why they should bother paying a little extra for organic flowers. After all, people don't live off of flowers, they smell great, and look fabulous-if they're not going to be eating them, what's the use of purchasing something that's organic when it's not consumed? When looking into detailed reports, flowers that are grown with toxins are most often shipped to the United States because the chemicals used on flowers would not be allowed to cross the U.S. Borders. Even though planting flowers with chemicals provides a lot of jobs for people living in poverty, they unknowingly expose themselves to such harmful poisons to help pay their own bills. Is this worth it? Growing flowers organically would also provide work, even if a little more labor intensive-and their flowers would truly be fresh and grown with the best care available. It's time to think critically about why organically grown plants are overall a better choice, not only for the places we live, but also for the planet outside of our familiar towns.

Organic Corn

Growing organic corn should be done in a warm area with lots of open space. Because corn is a wind-pollinated plant, it should be placed in a fairly breezy place with lots of wide rows and columns. Corn does extremely well in hot temperatures, and it is important to make sure that during its germination phase that temperatures remain around 70 degrees. If you are looking for a delicious summer or fall vegetable, corn is a sure bet for a dinner complement. Happy gardening!

Gardening Tips

If you are just starting your garden this summer, the plants that you can start to sow directly into your garden at this point are as follows: beets, carrots, collards, corn, mustard greens, soybeans, New Zealand spinach, beans, rutabagas, zucchini and squash. Cosmos flowers and dill are all right to start germinating inside your home, and your lettuces, cucumbers, tomatoes and flowers are safe to transplant. Gardening tip-most vegetables prefer 6-7 hours of sunlight a day, and planting them in open areas will yield the best growth results.

"Chocolate is a vegetable: Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans.
Beans = vegetable."

Compost

If you are living in a suburb or rural area, one of the easiest ways to provide rich soil for your garden is to use your garbage for compost. This form of recycling is easily overlooked, which is a shame because so much of our daily waste can be transformed into treasures for our plants. However, it should be noted that some meat, dairy, and poultry products can attract vermin when turned into compost, so the best kind of recycled fertilizer should be the remains of previous plants. Simply mix your daily waste in with a layer of soil followed by leaves and hay, and you've got your very own compost for your garden!

“One man's trash is another man's treasure.” --English Proverb

Shaded Gardening

Are you thinking that you'll never be able to garden because you have a location that is kept primarily in the shade? Nonsense! There are plenty of vegetables that can grow with minimum sunlight, and will produce almost the same amount of nutrients as those that were raised in the sun. Here is a slight list of vegetables that will grow in highly wooded or shaded areas:
1)Salad and leafy greens, such as spinach and kale
2)Broccoli and cauliflower
3)Brussels sprouts
4)Beans
5)Peas
6)Radishes
7)Beets
Happy Gardening!

“Though the sun is gone, I have a light.” --Kurt Cobain

Ladybug Summer

As I was taking a walk this morning, a ladybug that had been flying around me for a while landed on my arm. After taking a moment to admire this unique looking bug, I made a wish and sent her on her merry way. As the weather become increasingly hotter, ladybugs will undoubtedly become more populous. Contrary to what many may think, ladybugs are not harmful; but rather beneficial to plants. Ladybugs are helpful insects that eat aphids, which in turn ARE harmful to plants, taking the rich nutrients away from their leaves. Ladybugs also eat soft bodied insects and plant mites, which are most commonly found on diverse species of flowers. So, the next time you see a ladybug in your garden, you should thank her for her services instead of shooing her away—it's never too late to turn over a new leaf and start helping your plants thrive in the summer sun!

“Two little Ladybugs flew around a flower, then crawled beneath a leaf to nap for half an hour!” -Anonymous