5 Tips to Simple Organic Gardening 

As you step out onto your own little patch of Mother Earth, let me ask you something: How does your garden grow? And hope your answer is not: “with chemicals and sprinklers in the row”! As pesticide and water-shortage  continue, natural, organic based gardening has never been more the order of the day. But – how do we – ordinary people fight with tight budgets and hardly any time at all to improve the natural health of our green space?Easy and can by fun too!

So – do you want to shed pesticide and sprinkler dependency? Here are five little tips that will give you a good start and are actually kind of fun too!

1.Water with a Frisbee:

The image of lazy evening sprinklers working overtime  is, frankly pretty old. Grass and plants actually do much better when they are watered less often – it teaches the roots to grow down, away from predators and heat. To figure out how much water you need to give them, put an upside-down Frisbee on your lawn and turn the prinklers on. When the Frisbee is full, your garden or lawn should be satisfied for a week – or longer if it rains. And please – water early in the morning or after sundown – you will minimize evaporation and your green gems will love it !

2.Get into the mulch mantra:

Mulch is the kind of word that almost makes you smile – no? And for sure – avid gardeners swear by it! It is simply a natural material that will hold moisture in the soil and protect plant roots against elements. You can take all those leaves you rake off your lawn in the fall, toss them into dark coloured garbage bag with a shovelful of dirt and leave them over the winter. When you open the bags in the spring, you will find a mucky (and free!) load of glorious mulch. You then easily spread it around the flower beds and around the base of trees. You can also visit your local garden centre and pay for the mulch of your choice if you need it right now – either way – it is a gardener’s must!

3.Put Mother Nature to work:

Ladybugs are friendly bugs – they are like your natural pest control agents. can you believe that some gardeners actually order ladybugs in bulk? Apparently there are websites that will provide this unusual item – I didn’t go searching for it, because I have natural and fairly large groups of these little cute bugs in my garden naturally. But whatever you do – don’t kill them please, they are good for your garden! And keep watching this website – I am working on adding information about all the garden friendly insects that you are most likely chasing way now! (or worse!)

4. Turn your garbage into gold:

Compose everyday kitchen scraps in an outdoor covered bin kept in a sunny spot. They will turn into “Gardener’s Gold”for you! That mean – rich compost loaded with nutrients. Mix this into your garden beds – it’s like sneaking vitamin pills into your child’s breakfast cereal – it will boost the overall health and it will keep pesky pets at bay.

5. Throw and dance party on the lawn

Did I not promise that some of these basic tips will be fun? So here is the fun one – throw a party to celebrate your newly greened horticultural habits and tell invitees that they will be kicking up their heels – on your lawn. This of course will mostly apply to the ladies – but i bet you can find some guys who will have a few refreshments and participate in dancing on your lawn – wearing high heels! (take pictures, please!) So – dancing on your lawn, wearing high heels – those spikes will be doing some serious aeration for your lawn. The morning after? Follow with spreading some of your Gardener’s gold over your lawn – and watch! Beautiful green healthy lawn will be your reward!

I do hope you liked this – please let me know and you are more than welcomed to comment and add your experiences as always!