Organic Gardening: How to Create a Successful Organic Garden
How you grow your fruits and veggies can have an impact on your health. Organic foods are usually healthier, tastier, and packed full of nutrients. They contain more antioxidants than those grown with conventional methods. That’s why people who have allergies to foods, preservatives, and other chemicals find that their symptoms often subside when they eat organic foods.
Organic veggies have fewer pesticides: Veggies and fruits that are properly grown with organic methods don’t contain the synthetic insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides used in conventional agriculture.
Organic food is fresher: When food is grown without chemical preservatives, it lasts longer. You can eat organic fruits and veggies fresh from your garden since you harvest them where you live.
Organic gardening is good for the environment. Growing veggies without using synthetic chemicals and pesticides can reduce air and water pollution, improves the richness of the soil, and creates a healthy environment for local wildlife.
One of the ways to combine the benefits of organic and eco-friendly gardening is to adopt low-maintenance procedures that we’ll be looking at below.
Which Fruits and Veggies Need Low Maintenance?
Growing veggies can be time-consuming. Weeding, watering, fertilizing, and keeping pests away requires a lot of time and effort. That’s why you need to choose your crops carefully to reduce the amount of work you need to do.
Here is a selection of vegetables and fruits that you can grow with low maintenance gardening procedures.
1. Lettuce
Lettuce is one of the best low-maintenance plants. Growing lettuce is rewarding because it gives you mature plants within a few weeks.
2. Cucumbers
Crisp and refreshing cucumbers are easy to grow. Wherever possible, plant your cucumber from heirloom seeds. Birds and insects pollinate these seeds and their species have been existing for several decades. Ensure that you grow your cucumbers in a place with plenty of sunlight and water. Inadequate watering makes the cucumbers have a bitter taste.
3. Strawberries
Strawberries are a perfect example of a springtime fruit, and it’s quick to grow. Your runners will produce rapidly after planting them. Once you plant your strawberries, they will produce crops for at least three years. Here are a few tips on how to grow your own:
- Plant them early in summer
- Space them by about 12 inches
- Protect the young plants from excessive heat
- Ensure they receive a lot of sunlight (after their roots are well-grounded)
- Use a raised bed and avoid drowning them in water.
4. Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes need little effort to grow. That’s why you can find them in almost all gardens. Nurse your tomatoes before transplanting them. After planting, you can cut off a branch of the plant, and it will develop roots for a new plant.
There are different species of tomatoes you can plant in your garden. However, if you are a new gardener, opt for cherry tomatoes because they are the easiest to grow.
5. Peppers
Growing peppers or chilies is fun and trouble-free. Chilies can keep producing for up to 3 years, and you will harvest fresh peppers throughout this period.
There are different types of chili to choose from such as bell peppers, eye chili and tabasco. After choosing your favorite chili plant, you should provide cane support for each plant after it starts fruiting.
6. Beetroot
The best time to plant beetroot is from April to July. After they are half-grown, take out their alternate roots. Then leave the others to mature. Don’t throw away the half-grown beets; you can use them to make salads.
7. Potatoes
You can grow your potatoes in big pots or a large compost bag if you don’t have much space in your yard. They need very minimal maintenance. Just add some seed potatoes to one layer of compost and then cover them with additional compost. As the sprouts start appearing, cover them with more compost.
8. Radish
Radish is quick to grow; it typically matures within four weeks. That means you can plant one today, and you will have ingredients for your salad within a month. While you have a variety to choose from, you should start with the smaller ones because they are easier to plant and nurture.
Now that you know the veggies to choose for your organic garden, here are some tips to help you plan and maintain it for a good harvest.
Begin with a Smaller Selection
It’s nice to think big about your new garden. But you should start small and develop the knowledge and skills needed to grow your garden gradually. After you’ve mastered the basics, you can increase the number of crops and manage a larger garden.
1. Grow What You Need to Eat
Focus on growing veggies and fruits that your family will love to eat. Look at the groceries you buy every week.
If you like eating salads, then grow lettuce, tomatoes, and greens. If your family enjoys eating salsa, then chili, tomatoes, and onions should be in your garden.
2. Pick Vegetables that Are Easy to Grow
Choose vegetables that need little watering, weeding, pruning, and harvesting. Be conscious of the time and seasons for various vegetables. Cool-season plants can thrive in fall and winter, while warm-season plants need higher temperatures and warm soil to produce fruit.
Plant warm-season plants in the spring since the winter frost won’t hinder the growth. Examples of warm-season crops include cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes. Cool-season crops include beets, lettuce, radishes, and potatoes.
3. Use Transplants
Planting seeds and waiting for them to sprout brings a lot of joy and fulfillment. But it takes a lot of effort and time to take care of seedlings under controlled conditions before you transplant them to your garden bed.
If you want quicker results, you can buy transplants from a garden nursery. A single tomato seedling can produce 10 pounds of fruit during one growing season.
4. Reduce the Need for Weeding
Grow your veggies in containers or on your patio to reduce the need for watering and weeding. Using containers negates the need to dig or weed the plant. However, you will need to water your garden containers in the morning and evening since they will dry out faster than plants in the ground.
Proper planning is the key to growing a successful organic vegetable garden. If you apply the tips provided here, you will be on the way to growing and harvesting fresh, healthy, and nutritious produce for you and your family.
