Growing Organic Vegetables

Organic food is widely available both in supermarkets and in specialty stores; many governments are supporting organic farming and research; and more and more people are turning to organic methods of gardening. Every time there is another food scare, or the dangers of another pesticide come to light, more people turn to eating, and growing, organically. As the effects of climate change become more obvious, and we are encouraged to reduce our “carbon footprint,” organic gardening offers practical ways in which we can do this in the garden.
Organic Vegetable growing is becoming increasingly popular with the general population. People grow vegetables in their gardens, allotments and windowsills, as we become more health conscious as a nation. Organic gardening methods can cut your cost.

Making compost and leaf mold, for example, can eliminate the need to purchase

soil improvers and fertilizers, and you can save considerable amounts of money on organic produce by growing your own.  Here are some handy tips for the beginner vegetable grower, to nurture their first crops of delicious, nutritious food.

If you don’t have a garden ran allotment you can grow a small amount of vegetables in pots on the windowsill or in a courtyard or balcony. Plants that bode well in such conditions include herbs, tomatoes, chilli’s and peppers.

Warm-weather vegetables include aubergines (eggplant), lima beans, snap beans, corn, Crowder peas, courgettes (zucchini), cucumbers, Malabar spinach, marrow, New Zealand spinach, okra, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, soybeans, squash, sweet potatoes and tomatoes.

Cool-weather vegetables include beetroot (beets), broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, celtuce, Chinese cabbage, corn salad, cresses, endive, escarole, fava beans, garlic, kale, kohlrabi, lamb’s lettuce (mache), leeks, lettuces, mustard, onions parsnips, peas, radicchio, radishes, salsify, shallots, spinach, swedes (rutabagas) and turnips.

Spring planting – Sowing seeds in the spring can start as soon  as first and snows are over and soil is workable. The first seeds that can be sown include peas and lettuce.

Warm weather vegetables do not like frost so should not be planted until you are sure that the frosts are over.

Tomatoes and peppers need a long growing season and are best grown from transplants in short-season northern climates. Tomato transplants should be put in the garden one to two weeks after the last frost.

You can keep planting seeds to crop your vegetables in autumn or even winter.

Some autumn garden vegetables are lettuces, spinach, radishes and peas. When planting late-summer peas, sow seeds up to two inches deep if the soil is hot and dry. While peas can tolerate a moderate freeze, however, they’re more sensitive to freezing in the autumn than in the spring.

Brassicas are frost-tolerant, and a light frost can improve their flavour. Broccoli, cauliflower and the hardier cabbages can even take a hard freeze. Kale is so hardy it will even come up in the snow, so can be planted to crop in the mid-winter! Brussels sprouts are another late-season winner and taste better after a hard frost. Sow Brussels sprouts four months before first frost.



Remember to protect your crops as best as you can from frosts and pests. Ensure they are constantly well watered and the soil is workable with.

Making the leaf mold

Collect fallen leaves in the fall, preferably after rain so they are wet. If the leaves are dry, soak well with water. Stuff them into a container or stack them in a corner, and leave to decay.

Simple leaf mold containers can be made with netting and posts, or bought. There is no need for a lid or solid sides, nor is size critical—just big enough to hold your supply of leaves. Smaller quantities can be stuffed into plastic bags. Make a few air holes with a garden fork when the bags are full, and tie the top loosely. An even simpler method is to just pile the leaves in a sheltered corner and wait.

A leaf mold heap may heat up very slightly, but the process is generally slow and cold. It can take anything from nine months to two or more years to make a usable batch of

fine leaf mold, depending on the tree species and how you are going to use it.

Some organic fertilizers :
 

Plant Based Fertilizers

These include comfrey, alfalfa, and soy to feed vegetables

Soybeanmeal        

High-nitrogen source. Use on annual vegetable beds or as a base dressing in poor soil.

Seaweed meal

Helps build up humus levels in soil. Apply to annual beds, fruit trees and bushes, and lawns.

Rock phosphate

Use to correct a phosphate deficiency: this is a good non-animal alternative to bonemeal.

Organic garden potash

Supplies potash, released over one season. Use it to feed fruit and vegetables.

Gypsum

Supplies calcium without altering pH. A gypsum/dolomitic limestone mix (80:20) can be used to help lighten heavy clay soils.

If you are new to organics, or simply need advice or new ideas, there are organizations that can help.  Organic gardening groups can be found all over the country, and these are especially helpful for advice on local subjects such as tackling problem soil. Your university extension service may be able to suggest organic solutions to pest problems. And many of the large gardening websites have organic forums where you can find advice or encouragement.
Or learn more from books, there are plenty you can find from here How To Grow Organic Vegetables by your self.

Growing vegetables is a past time that the whole family can get involved with, young and old. It produces some healthy and delicious results, but is also health enhancing in that it is a fun form of physical exercise, making you fit and healthy using food and activity.

Why use Non-Hybrid Seeds?

Non-Hybrid or Open-Pollinated seeds allow the gardener to collect seeds from a crop for future planting. Hybrid seeds do not.
Nutritional Integrity
Many vegetables today lack nutrition from over-hybridization. Recent tests are showing that many of the vegetables, grains and other produce you buy, INCLUDING ORGANIC PRODUCE, are nutrient-deficient. If you want to truly be in charge of your nutritional intake, you must home garden. If you want the higher nutrition of original varieties you must use non-hybrids.
Economic security and independence
Growing your own food, now, is becoming an economic necessity for many. Even those in cities are growing food on their balconies and rooftops and in suburban backyards. 2011 will likely become known as the year America returns to home gardening (see Victory Gardens of WWII) as a way of defending against the hostile adversary of an economic downturn!
Security of Food Supply
Securing the nation’s food supply against the “invasion” of GM (genetically modified) and over-hybridization of foods is coming down to the backyard garden. Yours and ours. It is our patriotic duty to defend the genetic integrity of our food supply by growing, saving seeds and sharing original varieties.
World Food Supply
Put simply, the future of the world's food supply rests in non-hybrid seeds. The push toward hybridization and GM foods is becoming irreversible. Hybrid food sources are patented and "owned" by the patent-holders. It is, in fact, a form of patent-infringement to attemptto collect and plant seeds from many hybrid varieties.
Cross-Pollination
With the advancement of genetically modified plant varieties, the danger of cross-pollination with organic and non-hybrid varieties is not only possible, it is happening as you read this. If it is possible for GM vegetables, grains and legumes to cross-pollinate with organic and non-hybrid varieties, then it’s possible for the food system to be altered uncontrollably and irreversibly.
What We Can Do
Plant gardens now and store for the future. Plant as many original variety vegetables, fruits and grains as possible right now and store as many seeds as you can comfortably afford for your own protection, the protection of your

Emergency Food Survival Seed Non-gmo Non-hybrid Gift Variety Pack Retail for $135
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