Saturday, June 6, 2009

Organic Vegetable Gardening - Healthy Way of Life

An Important aspect of organic vegetable gardening is the health benefits. You won't need to worry about consuming chemical pesticides since everything you'll use in this type of garden will be natural. This means your food will be more nutritious and your body will be able to fight against illness better.

The soil is one of the main things that need to be nourished if you want to produce the best nutritious vegetables. It's vital that plants have a healthy environment.

How to Nourish Your Soil

Find out what type of soil you have by picking some up and feeling it. This will help you know how to nourish it in the best way. Sand, Loam and Clay are three basic types of soil. Loam soil is great to grow plants in because it has a lot of organic matter that holds plenty of water. Loam soil will stay together but crumbles easily. One way to tell if your soil is healthy is send a sample away to an agricultural agency. They will test it for nutrients and measure acidity or alkalinity. You can also buy soil tests to you can use at home. A mild acidic or neutral soil is usually fine for vegetables to grow. Compost and manure will improve the quality of your soil. Mulch can help soil keep nutrients and moisture.

Picking an Area to Plant

Organic vegetable gardening needs to be done in area where there is direct sunlight for about six hours. Vegetables need this much sun in order to flourish so they shouldn't be put in an area where anything blocks the sun. The sun will also keep the soil warm. The area where you plant should also have adequate drainage. If there isn't enough drainage it can interfere with the nutrient absorption of the soil. Roots also won't grow properly. Too much drainage isn't good either and can take away nutrients. To find out if you have drainage problems you can use a percolation test which will measure how packed your soil is.
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Designing a Garden Plan

When designing an organic vegetable gardening plan take into consideration that when plants are full grown they take up more space. Planting in blocks will give you more space than planting in rows. Block planting can make it easier for you to take care of your vegetables. Whether you decide to plant in rows or blocks, you should never overcrowd any area so your plants stay healthy. The way you arrange your garden can also depend on the type of plants you use since some vegetables require more space than others.

Choosing the Types of Vegetables to Plant

First, you should always choose vegetables that you and your family will definitely eat. Some common types of vegetables are artichoke, brussel sprouts celery and spinach. Low-maintenance vegetables plants are great if you're a beginner at organic vegetable gardening. Beetroot is easy to care for because it only needs moist soil to grow. You can eat beetroot fresh from your garden between June and late fall. Radishes, zucchini, cucumbers and parsley are also easy to grow. Green beans are a great vegetable choice and a very productive plant.

Wendy Pan is an accomplished niche website developer and author. To learn more about organic vegetable gardening, please visit New Grow Organic for current articles and discussions.

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