OK Organic Garden Questions

[Littledisciples]

I hope to keep it organic anyway. So far I haven't used anything at all LOL. So anyway I got my little plants comming up. So cute their babies. The bean plants are comming along nice and the onions too. Of course those two grow fairly easy. So anyway. We did not use weed killer or anything when we rotatilled our garden. We live in a area with very rich soil so thier is no need for tons of compost. So now that the plants are comming up their is also mostly grass and clovers comming up too. How do I get rid of it with out using weed killers?( No chemicals). I went around each of my bean plants and got most the grass out by hand. However with out getting the roots I am sure its going to just grow again. :rolleyes I also noticed some Ants have set up home in my garden. How do I rid the garden of them? Once again want to use very little chemicals. Is their a all natural salution or less toxic approach? :think :shrug

[Lady TS]

As far as the grass/clover, yeah, pull it out. Might need to break up the soil a little, but like you said you have to be careful not to hurt the little plants.

We mulch. Assuming you don't 'weed 'n feed' your lawn, you can use grass clippings. Or you can get straw, but it's a lot messier, IME. I prefer the grass. Pile it on 2 or 3 inches thick between the plants. When the plants are tiny, be careful not to put it too close to them(2 or 3 inches, I'd say) or they might get smothered/burnt by the decaying grass. The 2-3 inches of grass will pack down over a few weeks and block out most of the sunlight to the soil below it. What weeds do make it through should be relatively easy to pull out.

As far as ants.....not sure on that one...

[Littledisciples]

We mulch. Assuming you don't 'weed 'n feed' your lawn, you can use grass clippings. Or you can get straw, but it's a lot messier, IME. I prefer the grass. Pile it on 2 or 3 inches thick between the plants. When the plants are tiny, be careful not to put it too close to them(2 or 3 inches, I'd say) or they might get smothered/burnt by the decaying grass. The 2-3 inches of grass will pack down over a few weeks and block out most of the sunlight to the soil below it. What weeds do make it through should be relatively easy to pull out.



I don't weed n feed my lawn. Hence the reason it looks so terrable back their LOL. So Mulching is that good for the plants then? I never have done that. Thanks sorry to sound dumb but I only heard of mulching never done it.

[Littledisciples]

oh sorry I wonder can you use pine shavings to mulch with? It's just pure pine shavings. :think If not we will use the grass.

[Iarwain]

Mulching with an organic mulch is wonderful for the plants! Personally I would choose grass over pine shavings for a couple reasons. First it will break down better when you go to till it in in the fall and secondly because it is high in nitrogen which will add nutrients back to the soil. Also I know pine needles are acidic and can upset the ph balance of the soil (they're good mulch if you're growing acid-loving things like azaleas or blueberries, however). I don't know if that's true of shavings or not but it could be. I like to start with a 1-3 inch layer of grass clippings and add more as the summer goes along and the first batch starts to break down.

As for pulling weeds a hoe is faster than by hand. If you get them while they're small you can gently run the hoe blade so it's just below the top of the soil and it'll upset all those little weed roots. Just be careful not to get too enthusiastic and take out your veggies by accident! Sometimes you just have to hand weed, but if a hoe will do the job it's much faster.

As for having rich soil there's no such thing as too much compost! Compost adds organic matter to the soil. Each time you till the ground it gets all the organic-matter-digesting-microbes all worked up and they break down the organic matter in the soil. So it's helpful to add some back each time you till so they have something to work on and don't deplete your soil. Organic matter is what helps soil to retain its moisture and it slow releases nutrients to your plants over time. It keeps the soil from compacting too. If you think you have good dirt now try adding plenty of compost every spring and fall and watch what your garden does! Organic gardening is at heart NOT the growing of good plants, but the growing of good soil. Feed your dirt and the plants will follow.

[jtidwell]

I wonder -- are ants such a bad thing? (Other than fire ants, that is? :jawdrop) The ones I have in my garden don't seem terribly obnoxious to the plants, but they do keep the soil aerated and drained well, with all the little tunnels they dig. Oh, and some ants eat aphids. So I let 'em be.

If you do want to get rid of ants, though -- or particularly nasty weeds -- pour boiling water directly on them. Your other plants will thank you for the extra water, as long as they're outside the hot zone!

[Iarwain]

Oh yeah, ants in the garden are not a problem (except fire ants! YIKES!). Some plants are pollinated by them.

[Littledisciples]

oh ok I did not know if the ants would eat them. Well their not fire ants. So I will let them be. I just went over two rows with grass mulch and a thin layer of pine shavings. I read on another site that it is ok to use pine as long as you put grass underneath it so it does not disrupt the ph balence thing. I will probably go ahead and put more compost on then too when I get some money. :phew That was a lot of work just two rows. My garden is going to be big LOL so Ya work but worth it. So I am now tired because we did not have any grass shavings on hand I went and mowed half the lawn LOL. But I got mostly grass on their. Thanks for all the great tips and advise.

[canadiyank]

It's fun to start doing an organic garden. Yep, mulch is your friend. :yes I use only grass clippings and it works really well. If you have some stubborn spots of weeds you can put down wet newspaper or wet cardboard first and then cover it with grass. We killed a bunch of grass that had overgrown a flowerbed by doing carboard covered with grass.

Have you checked out www.organicgardening.com ? They have helpful forums there, too. :tu