When you’re an organic gardener, you avoid introducing any synthetic fertilizers or pesticides to your plants. That means your food is not only fresh, but it’s safe to eat, too! It’s also healthier, with more nutrients and flavor than store-bought produce.
The first step in Garden Guys is to get a soil test. Knowing the texture and acidity of your soil helps you determine the best mix of nutrients to feed your plants. Then you can amend your soil with nutrient-rich products like Miracle-Gro® Organics Plant Food for Vegetables and Herbs, which is specially blended to start feeding instantly.
The Beginner’s Guide to Organic Gardening: Tips for Starting Your Green Journey
In organic gardening, you also take a layered approach to managing pests and diseases. By using companion planting, where different types of plants provide a natural benefit to each other, you can encourage the growth of beneficial insects that will naturally control the populations of annoying pests and disease-causing pathogens. Also, nipping off infected leaves and buds, handpicking or uprooting diseased plants, crop rotation, and maintaining garden cleanliness all help to keep things under control.
And don’t forget to nurture your organic garden with regular applications of mulch, a combination of well-draining soil amendments, and compost. These will help suppress weeds, retain moisture levels, and keep the soil healthy and rich, which in turn helps your plants to be better equipped to handle nature’s curveballs of weather, pests, and disease. When your garden’s plants are strong and healthy, they can focus all their energy on producing bountiful harvests.