Saturday, July 26, 2008

Organic Vegetable Gardening Can Be Done Using Containers

Organic gardening isn’t only for farmers or people who have backyards. This is because it can be do using containers.

Organic vegetable gardening containers have advantages. You can use it décor every time you decide to let it get some sunlight when you place it by the balcony or patio. If the weather gets too cold outside, you can bring it indoors. But best of all, you don’t have to deal with certain threats that can only happen outdoors like weeds, insects or soil borne diseases.

Organic vegetable gardening containers do not use soil. You need to use potting mix that is much lighter and provides excellent drainage. You need to use organic fertilizer though to help it grow. An example of this is mulch that can be made from chipped bark, garden compost, leaf moulds and manure which helps prevent it from drying out.

Another thing the plants inside these containers need is a lot of water. Ideally, you should put these in small amounts at least 30 minutes after an initial watering because putting in too much could drown your plant.

The containers can be hung aside from just putting these on the ground. If the container that you purchased does not have any holes, make a few.

By now you may be asking, “What are the ideal vegetables to be planted in these containers?” To give you can idea, these are bush beans, capsicum, carrots, eggplant, lettuce, onions, peas, radishes, spinach and tomatoes.

You know that organically grown vegetables need sunlight. If you have a lot of these containers and it is getting pretty windy outside, you can protect them from falling by grouping these together with the taller ones with these as your walls.

The best organic vegetable gardening containers are those made from clay, plastic or wood. The length of the roots and its width is the deciding factor when choosing what size you will buy from the store. For instance, if your vegetable happens to have 6 inches of roots and grows to about 10 inches wide, it is best to get a container that measures 8 inches deep and 10 to 12 inches wide. You must always give room for allowance as this may grow bigger.

We mentioned earlier that one of the advantages of the organic container is that you don’t have to deal with insects. But sometimes, bugs like the hookworm manage to get to your plant. If this happens, just bring the container to the sink and wash the leaves. Should there be slugs, get rid of them by sprinkling diatomaceous earth on the soil.

If there are aphids on your vegetables, fight fire with fire by getting other insects to do the dirty work. A pack of ladybugs will do the trick without causing any collateral damage.

The use of organic vegetables containers makes it people without a backyard the chance to plant their own crops at home. This is ideal for residents living in condos and apartments so they can save money to pay for rent or buy other things when the sustenance they need is just sitting by the balcony or window.

If you want to try it, go ahead and ask someone at the gardening store for some help to get you started.

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