Benefiting Others And Yourself With Organic Gardening

What benefits are there with organic gardening other then having a more beautiful garden or eating healthier veggies and fruits? Actually there are more special benefits than most folks and organic gardeners ever think about. This article will mention a few of the additional benefits and give you some thought provoking ideas that may surprise you.

Did you know you can feed children around the world with your organic garden? “How in the world can you do that?” you ask. It’s really quite simple and only takes a little more planning and work on your part.

When you began to plan your own personal natural garden you should layout a larger and grander garden. It doesn’t make any difference if it’s for flowers, veggies, fruits or bushes to beautify your yard. That’s right! Make it bigger. When it’s harvest time you will have more flowers, plants and veggies than you can possibly use.

Instead of plowing under the excess crops from your organic gardening or inundating your friends and relatives with it take it to the local Farmers Market or the Flea Market and sell it. Chances are you won’t have a problem selling it and you may end up with a pocket full of cash. Take the cash from the sell and donate it to your favorite “Feed The Children” charity. When you do this a starving child will benefit from your garden, long after you harvested your crops.

Another great benefit from raising your own organic fruits and veggies is it’s a great school project for your child’s school. Help your child and their classmates set up their own organic garden. The immediate lessons they learn will be about how to help the environment, healthy eating, teamwork and it makes learning fun for them. Again, set it up, so the children can take the crops to the local Farmers Market or Flea Market to sell.
The proceeds from the sell can be used to buy something which will benefit all of the children of the school.

This next benefit is one that is seldom thought about by your children or possibly by you.
This is the benefit of the physical exercise you and the kids will receive by working in the garden. You know that the kids today don’t play outside the way you did when you were a kid. An hour a day of working in your garden will help in weight loss (burning calories), lowering blood pressure, strengthening the heart and lungs, building muscle and sharpening the mind. Relieve stress and sleep better. The end result being you and the kids will be much happier and healthy to boot.

One last benefit you will realize when working with the earth and growing things organically is the restoration of your sprit and soul. You will receive such a sense of well being when you have a fruitful harvest, you just can’t beat it. You will know you have done your part to help “Mother Nature” return to her natural state and will have touched all the other human beings by doing so.

As you have just read the benefits to organic gardening can benefit not only yourself and your family, but you can actually reach out and make a difference in the world.

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Discover A Little Secret About Organic Gardening

The greatest little secret about Organic Gardening is that it’s no different than regular gardening. You heard right! There just isn’t any difference, well only a slight difference. The fact is you still need to plan your garden and then work the plan, regardless of whether you are planting a regular garden or doing it the organic way. The information in this article will show you a few of the similarities and differences between the two.

It’s important for you to understand that a proper plan is necessary to have a successful garden. When you talk with “veteran gardeners” one of the first things they will tell you is “too plan your garden”. As an example of a planned garden, the first step of a planned garden would be the location of the garden and the size. The second step would be determing the type of garden; trees, vegetable, flowers, fruit, bushes or a mixture of all of the above.

Once the above decisions have been made a determination should be made as to the spacing of the rows and which plants or veggies are compatible with each other. The importance of this step can’t be stressed enough, nor is it any less important in either regular gardening or in organic gardening.

The reason for this is some plants require more nutrients, sunshine or even more water to help them flourish. Failure to have compatible plants could result in an all out war between the plants, which in turn could destroy your garden with only the “fittest surviving”. Again this rule applies not only in a standard garden, but also if you are going the organic way.

Now let’s talk about some of the differences in organic growing verses the regular growing of your garden. Frankly the biggest difference is going to be the type of products you use to add fertilizer, pesticides, weed killers and other growth enhancement material to your garden.

If you are planning not to practice organic gardening then you will more than likely be using some type of growth additives which are an artificial compound made up with manmade chemicals. However, if you are going with all natural additives you will be using compounds which are more compatible with “Mother Nature” and are made up of natural by products. A few of the organic compounds would be mulch, made up of wood chips, saw dust, leaf and grass cuttings.

As you can see it doesn’t take a bio physicist or an engineer to be a gardener. However, it would make a lot of sense for you to take the time to research regular gardening and organic gardening. Although the differences are subtle there are differences.

The Benefits of Eating Organically Grown Vegetables

If you have gone to the doctor, chances are he or she has told you to watch what you eat. If you have been eating the right amount of fish, meat, fruits and vegetables then you have nothing to worry about. But because some of these contain harmful chemicals, perhaps you should start switching to organically grown vegetables and other food products.

Why should you buy organic food products? Simply because the majority of these items have been genetically modified. Farmers have used various techniques, chemicals and fertilizers to make them bigger even if they know that this is dangerous to your health.

No magic or anything fancy is used to make organically grown crops. You only need fertile soil, sunlight, water and some compost to make it work.

A recent study shows that following this simple plan helps vegetables have 50% more vitamins and minerals than those made from conventional methods. If you eat them regularly, you are able to have a healthier life.

You will probably feel like you will live longer too as organically grown vegetables taste much better. This is because although fertilizers and pesticides have their advantages, they remove essential vitamins and nutrients so you are not getting the required daily allowance that your body needs. In short, you may think you are but in reality, this isn’t what’s happening.

Another benefit of eating organic vegetables and food is that you help the environment. This happens because farmers will no longer use harmful chemicals and put these into the ground.

The land which they have worked on can be planted by the next generation because the land that has been cultivated for so long is still fertile.

When you go to the supermarket, one thing you will notice is that the price of organically grown vegetables and other items are much more expensive than those conventionally grown.

Should you always buy something if it is cheaper? In the case of food, the answer is no because you can’t put a price on the lives of those who eat it.

Surely, you also don’t want to wait until someone you know gets sick so think about the future and go organic.

Eventually, the price of organic items will go down when more farmers decide to sell these in supermarkets. It is only because there is a small section of this available now in the store but when it becomes an industry standard, things will change.

Until that happens, you can probably plant and grow these in your backyard. You just need the supplies especially the seeds or the fully grown plant to help you get started.

Don’t forget to do some research first so you know how to take care of them. After all, sprinkling water every morning is just one of the many things you have to do to help them grow.

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges in organic food is that the US imports a lot of vegetables from countries that are not yet practicing this back to the basics method.

But with a little help and encouragement, they too will come around so everyone not only here but in other countries as well will be able to enjoy the benefits of organically grown vegetables and fruits.

Organic Vegetable Gardening Is the Way to Go

In the US, farming is $6 billion industry. To keep it that way and with the health and welfare of the public in mind, the Department of Agriculture has taken steps so farmers can shift to organic farming. This does not only save money but also has some health benefits.

But first, we have to know what organic farming is. This is a technique that has been practiced by ancient civilizations that simply relied on the land they worked on, the sun and the water to make the harvests grow.

It was only when scientists invented fertilizers and pesticides that we moved away from this technique because it was thought that this will make the crops bigger and harvesting faster.

Unfortunately, the use of fertilizers and pesticides has done more harm than good. The chemicals used are harmful but never in small dosages. But imagine what if somebody consumes this in excessive amounts and unknowingly develops an illness or their baby has birth defects.

Such threats are real which is why we have to do something before it happens. Before the Department of Agriculture wanted everyone to go into organic farming, tests were conducted.

The results show that organically grown vegetables have more nutrients and vitamins compared to conventional farming. The same goes for its taste.

Organic vegetables do not have hydrogenated fats, artificial flavor or coloring, sweeteners, additives, preservatives or residual antibiotics. This means that what you get is all natural. But don’t forget to wash these first before it is cooked to remove any residue from the compost used in helping it grow.

The government or the Department of Agriculture is not the only one who should push farmers to shift towards organic farming. You can do your share by talking to the farmers themselves as they are the ones who plant them. You can also start planting organically grown vegetables yourself because they cost a bit more in the supermarket.

Before you start planting, check how big is the area so you have an idea what kind of vegetables can be planted given your limited space. You then need to buy the necessary tools and make some of them yourself. This information can be found online, in books and from the gardening store.

If you don’t want to start making an organic vegetable garden using seeds, you can get starter plants instead but be aware that they cost a bit more and this takes the thrill out of gardening.

But if money is no object to you, by all means get this from the store. Just make sure that there is a stamp which certifies that this has been approved by the Department of Health, Quality Assurance International, California Certified Organic Farmers or the Oregon Tilth Farm Verified Organic.

If everyone does their share, no one will use chemicals and fertilizers anymore. Everyone can live healthy and eat healthy. At the same time, we are able to protect the environment so future generations will be able to use the land we have used to plant their crops in the future.

Organic vegetable gardening is truly the way to go. If you noticed, some restaurants have done their share as well by making people know that whatever they use is organic.

Getting Started with the Hobby of Organic Gardening

Organic gardening can very well pass up as a hobby for starters. This can be true if you are the type of person who has the passion for gardening. This may not be everybody’s cup of tea. So consider yourself lucky if you are among those who can grow green things out of the blue.

Gardening requires certain skills. You have to know the type of soil, what kind of plants you can place on them, how you will take care of those plants, aside from the many other considerations that you must be aware of when you are serious about it.

It may sound complicated enough for the beginners. But if you have been marked as the one with a green thumb and you’ve already honed your skills on this, then you might as well try the organic way of gardening. This method is particularly special as well as hard. It will require you to double your effort as compared with the regular stuff that you do with the usual gardening tricks.

The Concept
The basic rule on this type of gardening is that you will only use synthetic products in all your endeavor with regards to the task. This will include the important elements such as the fertilizers and the pesticides.

You can actually get from the earth what you will then use for your organic venture into gardening. You will use such elements to be able to grow something new, these are your plants, your vegetables or whatever greens you may want to grow. Do you get the picture? To look at it from a bird’s eye view, it is like working closely with nature. Or as others may say, this is like being one with nature.

Organic Fertilizers
Is there such a thing, you may ask? Yes, and you are the one to make it. You can actually perform composting on the materials found on your garden. You can use fallen leaves and twigs, animal manure, but this will depend on the type, and many more.

Organic Pesticides
This type of gardening wants, as much as possible, to stay away from pesticides. But if you can’t afford to pick the insects one by one by your bare hands, then you can go to your local grocery store and ask for an organic pesticide that is available commercially.

The old way really is to be vigilant with your garden and take off every pest that you see. You should only turn to the organic pesticides when it becomes too many and uncontrollable that you can no longer handle. You can also try to bring in the animals that feed on those pests. This way, you’ll have some help in picking those pests up. And that is also helping the other animals satisfy their hunger.

As a hobby, this may be time consuming. So if you cannot devote enough time into it, might as well find a partner or drop the idea until you’ve found the right time to carry on with the tasks.

Organic gardening really entails a lot of hard work. So you better be prepared to perspire in the process. To ease your tiredness when you are already into it too deep, just think that what you are doing is helping nature. This is your way of giving back what nature has bestowed on you since the day you were born.