Whats better than having a sunny patch of your property to use as a vegetable and herb garden?  Well, growing all of those wonderful, tasty treats without the use of nasty chemical pesticides and fertilizers of course!  Thats one of the big reasons that I tend to grow alot of my own veggies through the summer.  That, and also because most vegetables that you find in supermarkets are picked before they are ripe, and allowed to ripen either on the truck or on the shelf at the store.  They never really develop their true flavours that way.  You’ll notice the difference immediately when you harvest your ripe veggies straight fro the plant.

So, here are 10 tips to help make your organic garden a little easier to grow and tend to:

Organic Aphid Control – Aphids are pretty selective in the plants they like to live and breed on.  Use this simple recipe to take care of infestations and to help prevent them from occurring.

Proper Mulching Techniques will help you to keep nasty weeds down and will also do alot to retain moisture in the soil when there are dry periods throughout the summer.

Container Composting will allow you to have a place to put kitchen scraps, grass clippings, pulled weeds and all sorts of other biodegradable goodies that will turn into nutrient rich soil you can use next year.

Making your own compost tea is a great way to make sad looking plants perk up a little.  You can either spray it directly on plants, or water plants with the tea.

Rain Barrels for your garden are an excellent way to reduce the amount of tap water you use with your garden hose.  Plants absolutely love rain, as evidenced by the wonderful, lush green growth that you see a couple of days after any good rainfall.

Organic Fertilizers and Amendments are the way to go!  Avoid use of chemical fertilizers if you can.  The key to having great plants is having great soil.  Organic fertilizers allow you to ‘feed the soil’ which in turn feeds your plants in a natural and safe way!

Neem Oil is a great way to kill of any pests that are becoming very troublesome.  It is particularly effective on spidermites.  You need to use it several times over the course of a few weeks to ensure that you kill off each successive generation of pests as they hatch!

Using Vinegar to spot spray and remove weeds is a great way to get around using harmful herbicides.  Herbicides are known to cause cancer, and they also pollute ground water sources as well as nearby lakes, rivers and streams.

Crop Rotation is one of the best ways to prevent your soil from being depleted of essential nutrients.  Various plants require different amounts of different nutrients.  By planting different crops year after year, you can be sure various nutrients will be replenished for the following season.

Saving your Seeds allows you to grow your favourite strain of tomatoes, basil, corriander or whatever seeds you decide to save.  It’ll also save you a few bucks in the long run!

I hope these tips help you and make your organic vegetable gardening season much easier!!