The Centre Fold Project

With the garden season upon us we wanted to tell you about how to do a specific kind of gardening: organic gardening.

Organic produce is one of the most popular things right now. Ever wanted to be able to grow your own organic produce? Well, growing fruits and vegetables using things only found in nature can be a hassle, but we are going to give you all the right tips and how to grow your product with absolutely no man-made chemicals. Instead of using the common non-natural products like fertilizer we are going to teach you how to control insects, disease, and weeds without these harmful products.



Some things to consider are the size of your family, the amount of produce you will can, store, freeze, or sell, as well as what you will use fresh. Do not think that this will be completely easy work. You need a good plot of well-drained soil that is located near a water supply. Having it close to your house is convenient, but make sure it isn’t shaded by tall buildings or trees. Enclosing your garden with a fence is typically helpful Many gardeners like to draw out the location of their garden on paper: including each row and the crop/crops that will be planted there.

Not even the perfect gardener can produce amazing plants without the right tools. Having a rake, shovel, and a few other items with the help you immensely. Having a great water source that isn’t going to provide your plants with foreign substances is also vital. A good polyurethane garden hose is a good tool that is often overlooked. It will provide your garden with a great water supply.

It is important to still keep your garden fertilized and conditioned with organic fertilizer and soil conditioning materials. These materials tend to be slow working so they should be mixed into the soil three weeks prior to planting. Your soil should be prepared prior to this for the seeds or transplants. If your materials aren’t mixed these clumps of unrotted organic materials can interfere with your seeding operation and may result in nutrient-deficient plants or possible soil-borne diseases.
Animal manures are probably the best source of fertilizer for organic gardening.

You should only use manure that has been aged for over 30 days (or manure that has been composted). Manures can be very different from
the amount of fertilizing nutrients they hold. Their composition varies according to type, age, condition of the animal, kind of feed used, age of rot, and the moisture content. Animal manures provide the micronutrients your plants need. Some kinds of manure are composted, re-hydrated, and mixed with plant litter; this enhances their fertility.

When irrigating your garden, you should wet the soil thoroughly at least once a week, unless you live in an area that gets a lot of rainfall. This makes it so the soil is moistened throughout the entire root zone.

If you just lightly sprinkle your garden every day it will only wet the surface and will encourage shallow root growth. Drip/trickle irrigation is great because it is great for water conservation. Use of previously mentioned soil conditioners and fertilizers will help your soil retain moisture better. Good garden mulch is also great for conserving soil moisture.

So there you have it! Go out and have an amazing gardening season by doing the most fashionable kind of gardening: organic gardening.