Go organic: 10 tips for beginners

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Organic gardening is all about working with nature and minimizing harm to the environment. You begin to see your garden as a habitat and a diverse ecosystem, not just a place to grow vegetables.

Here are 10 steps to keep in mind as you start your first organic garden.

- Feed the soil, and it will feed your plants. Take every opportunity to improve your soil by adding organic material. This will enhance the soil’s ability to store water and nutrients, while boosting earthworm activity and fostering a healthy balance of microorganisms.

- Make compost from dead plants, crop debris and fruit/vegetable scraps from your kitchen. Pile it up, along with tree leaves, and let it rot. Add compost to garden soil at least once a year.

- Forget the 10-10-10, and use only natural fertilizers. Put on greensand for potash and rock phosphate for phosphorus. Natural sources of nitrogen include alfalfa meal, soybean meal, blood meal, livestock manure and fish emulsion.

- Practice integrated pest management. Control pests in your garden with cultural, physical and biological measures instead of chemicals. Examples include selecting disease-resistant varieties of plants and using a hoe to control weeds instead of spraying with weed killers.

- Monitor your garden closely. Inspect your plants on a daily basis, and keep records of the insect pests, their numbers and life stages (egg, larva, adult).

- Count the insects before controlling them. The number you can tolerate varies from one crop to another. Six aphids on a tomato plant are nothing to worry about but six green cabbage worms concealed in a head of broccoli are not at all desirable.

- Let the bugs eat each other. Free insect control is provided naturally by lady bugs, praying mantids, spiders and a variety of other predators and parasitoids.

- Repel and exclude insect pests. You can spray with products like Garlic Barrier and Hot Pepper Wax to repel insects. Draping a floating row cover over your vegetables will prevent contact with insects.

- If you need to kill insects, use natural products rather than synthetic pesticides. These include insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, spinosad, neem and Bacillus thuringiensis.

- Crop failures may occur. Don’t give up. Try again later in the season or next year. Some vegetables are easier to grow than others in an organic garden.

- Davis is an Extension Agent for the Virginia Cooperative Extension. He can be reached by calling 455-3740.