Organic Gardening Soil - Tips to Create a Healthy Foundation Articles | Garden Information Center

Growing plants, vines, flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables and
just about anything else you put in the ground with all natural
methods most people would refer to as organic gardening.
Gardening the organic way means the use of pesticides, chemicals
or other environmentally unfriendly substances used to produce
fruit and foliage are never used. Organics are normally
associated with fruits, vegetables and herbs, as people do not
want chemicals on their foods. However, organic production can
also be applied to the production of meats.

Soil preparation is where it all starts in organic gardening.
The first step is building a soil full of nutrients for the
plants grown in the soil all without the use of manufactured
fertilizers and chemicals. This step of organic soil preparation
can take some effort but makes the end result worth the time.

Mixing rich, healthy compost material together starts the base
for creating organic soil. Some organic fanatics use compost
piles, bins or containers to create their own compost. Some
garden centers even sell compost, but creating compost is easy
even without special compost bins.

Creating your organic soil is not difficult simply take the
current soil and start adding items the soil and allow them to
begin breaking down. Make sure all the items you add are natural,
as they decompose the nutrients will remain in the soil.

To mix the organic items into the soil the soil needs to be
loosened and turned. Now start adding the organics such as tea
and coffee grounds, shredded paper, fruit peels and vegetable
scraps. These items can be added slowly as they become available.
The material will breakdown and compost much faster if the
material is small in size. Try chopping kitchen scraps into
smaller bits before throwing them into the garden. I’ve even
thrown scraps into a food processor to chop them smaller.

After the organic items have been added, turn the soil to mix
these new items in to soil and make sure they are covered well.
Then every other day or so water the soil down and mix it up
again. After three to four weeks, your organic bed of soil should
be ready for planting plants or seeds in.

For a better organic soil do not wait until spring. Start
preparing your organic garden in the fall, before the first hard
frost or freeze arrives, the soil will be much richer and ready
for spring planting.