I love gardening, but I avoid chemical enhancement at all costs.  It’s easy to go organic, but there is a lot to learn, so we’ll take it one step at a time.

Reducing chemicals around your home and garden is easier, cheaper and more effective than you think.  It’s safer for pets and kids, plants are healthier, flowers have more color, and your veggies and fruit have better flavor.

Natural Pest Control

Its time to take a good look around your yard for leaf eating pests such as leaf miners on citrus or spider mites on your fall foliage.  Using a horticultural hydrogenated vegetable oil, spray in late evening when bee activity has stopped.  Set your sprayer for a dilution rate of 4 tbsp. per gallon.  Spray to drench leaves, all visible wood and soil under the plant. Your beneficial insects will be happy you supplied the vegetable oil for dining on leaf eating insects!

What’s in Your Garden NOW?

Here in San Diego, it’s time to start your cool season veggies.  Which ones??  Think of it as spring planting with short time-frame crops such as leafy veggies so you can enjoy home-grown fresh salads until late fall.

Where are You Planting?

You’ve heard it before: location, location, location.  Find that perfect spot that will give eight hours of sun light.  The best sun for veggies is morning sun until two p.m.

Work the Dirt

Your growing vegetables spend 100% of their lives in soil.  So spend the extra time making sure their bedroom is nice & cozy, just the way they like it.  A good soil additive looks like this:

Blend fully composted organics = 70%, chicken manure = 20% and a good balanced organic fertilizer with worm castings = 10%.

Incorporate two inches of this mixture into top six inches of soil.  Water in.  Then let the area rest for a few days, only watering to let the weeds emerge. I have found a leaf rake works well. Push down an inch or so swishing the rake backand forth enough to disturb those weeds. Doing this twice in the course of a week will save you a lot of aggravation later (same preparation for a new lawn).

Extra soil amendment mixture is handy elsewhere too: top dress your potted plants with one inch of this mixture and water in.  For existing trees, build a ring at the drip line twelve inches wide and three inches thick and top dress with three inches of mulch.  Decrease your watering as the PH and biology balances itself out.  Avoid over-watering in the future.

A Quick Word about Compost

If you already have a compost bin, great!  But if you don’t, there’s no need to buy one.  A large plastic garbage can with lid will do fine.  Put ALL vegetable and chopped yard waste in the bin and turn often.

Back to Life

Organic gardening means you can grow food for your family, share it with friends, or donate it to your local food pantry.

To pick up on some more organic gardening tips, visit the Kroc Center’s Community Garden – it’s a totally organic place for personal growth and healthy, delicious vegetables’ growth!