Achieving Organic Gardening Success Mulching With Hay

The majority of our food was started from seed by “yours truly” and is heirloom with NO chemicals at all!  We use organic growing methods.   I want to share with you some things you can do to achieving organic gardening success.

Boost Your Organic gardening success

Companion Planting

Think of it like this, in your garden some plants are friends and some will hinder each others’ growth, foes.  For this information we referred to two sources:  Sow True Seeds Catalog and a free companion planting app on our phone.  I prefer Sow True Seeds because I just prefer paper over technology.  Both break down the plants into categories of antagonist, helped by, and helps.  For example, corn hinders tomatoes!

• You want to plant things together that are not competing for the same nutrients.
• You want to separate plants that share pests.  Scents and flowering are a component in companion planting as well, like chives with your fruit tree.

Nitrogen Fixing Trees

The Mimosa tree is loathed by many because it spreads shoots all over the yard, but we love our Mimosa!  It enriches the soil with nitrogen.  We have a garden near the Mimosa tree.  We planted tomatoes, red kidney beans, peppers, zucchini and flowers in this garden and it is all jamming!  The Mimosa tomatoes are a lot bigger than others planted in a different section of the yard and they were planted later!

So, how does this apply to you if you find yourself Mimosa tree poor?  God has given us other nitrogen fixing trees as well!  Let’s take a look at some of these beauties:  Black Locust, Alder, Red Bud, Kentucky Coffee Tree, Acacia, Mesquite are a few more trees that, like our Mimosa, would be a great place to plant organic vegetables.

Mulching

Yes, mulching with hay has helped our garden tremendously.  Hay mulch is the NUMBER ONE thing that helped us achieve organic gardening success.  It not only takes care of the grass, it will continue to decompose and build the health of your soil.  It will also help hold moisture around your plants in the dry days of summer.

We found a source of hay that was not sprayed or fertilized.  We were gifted an invaluable resource that has helped our organic gardening and mulching.  Check out the link on the right to get Ruth Stout’s book.

Mulching can also be woodchips, pine needles or dead leaves.  We have used leaves in the past and find they blow away too easy.

Daily Observation

I check on our plants daily for pests!  Some pests, like horn worms, can be removed by hand and deterred, to some extent, by borage and marigolds.  For our beans, we were having trouble with a beetle.  I put soapy water on all of the bean plants.  This works great but needs repeating after a rain.

To achieve a chemical free organic garden you have to check on it regularly.  Take swift action at the sign of any problems.  Case in point, we recently battled our new enemy, the squash vine borer.  Vines had to be slit and the grub removed and then covered with fertile soil.  UPDATE:  This year we will be covering our squash with an insect mesh grow tunnel.  The mesh will keep the vine borer away!

In Closing…

And finally, but most importantly, we pray!  We ask Him to bless our harvest!  We plant, but God gives the increase.

Thanks for stopping by!   Leave us a comment below if you’ve got an organic gardening tip.

Check out these gardening posts:

Tomatoes

Gardening with the Moon

Survival Garden Crops

Talk to you soon,

Shaun & Alisha