Organic gardening 2025

[Alasgun]

Over the years i’ve mentored several folks who developed an interest in Organic gardening. The more you study, the more your head will explode from all the good ideas and advice you will discover. Some of it may be helpful but some of it wont; a lot depends on your situation; what you grow, how you water it, what you feed it etc.
I tell all of them “dont try to wrap your head around all this at once or you’ll loose interest.”

In my opinion the number one thing i try to pass along is “learning how to make good Compost tea”. There’s tea and there’s good tea; it’s simple enough for anyone to master and along the way you will be building up the microbe population in your ground. Those little buggers are your friend. You hear people talk a-lot about feeding the soil not the plant, this is what they are telling you.

 

[akroberts]

I've heard of the tea but didn't get the real down low on how to make it but I can always ask Google. I'm not trying to do everything all at once but I really need to get a serious hold on the plan for the garden. I know I want to fence it all in because of the stray cats and the neighbors' chickens. I'm just really tired of my garden only doing good one day and crappy sorry the next day.

 

[flowerbug]

The heatwave that went for about 3 weeks or more took a toll on the garden this year and it sucked but next year will be better.

if heat and drought are an issue raised beds are not probably going to help without the added complications of needing more water or an irrigation system.

 

[baymule]

You can use soaker hoses in your raised beds.

I used to get bags of leaves off the curb in the fall. I piled leaves in the coop and run up to 3 feet deep. Chickens loved it. They made tunnels, walked on top of the leaves and reduced them down to about 6 inches. I tossed garden trimmings in too. I cleaned the coop and run out 2-3 times a year and put it directly on the garden.

Here is an old thread from 2012 that shows my 1’x12’ green bean garden that was next to the driveway at the house I lived in for 30 years. There is a picture that shows my garden in the background, it was a strip between the driveway and sidewalk. I divided it into beds with brick walkways. Hard dirt like a rock, but the chicken leaf compost made it rich and fertile.

My 2012 Green Bean Garden-2013-post #48

I love my green beans! They vine like mad and produce long beans 24" or longer. Six of them make a side dish for me and my husband! I got the seed from Baker Creek and plant them in a small space 12 inches wide by 12 feet long next to the driveway in the front yard...

www.theeasygarden.com

This is the sweet potatoes I planted in my front yard garden in 2012. It has good pictures of my small strip of garden that produced a bounty of vegetables.

My 2012 Sweet Potato Journal/post #26 starts 2013!

This is the first time I have planted sweet potatoes. My Dad planted them, but I never did and he is gone now and I can't ask him how! So I am drawing on my memories of his sayings to help me along. I had some sweet potatoes on the counter and they sprouted. I had 2 small beds of new potatoes...

www.theeasygarden.com

 

[ducks4you]

Over the years i’ve mentored several folks who developed an interest in Organic gardening. The more you study, the more your head will explode from all the good ideas and advice you will discover. Some of it may be helpful but some of it wont; a lot depends on your situation; what you grow, how you water it, what you feed it etc.
I tell all of them “dont try to wrap your head around all this at once or you’ll lose interest.”

In my opinion the number one thing i try to pass along is “learning how to make good Compost tea”. There’s tea and there’s good tea; it’s simple enough for anyone to master and along the way you will be building up the microbe population in your ground. Those little buggers are your friend. You hear people talk a-lot about feeding the soil not the plant, this is what they are telling you.

Being So physically immobile in 2024 I made some super good compost tea by inadvertently letting straw sit in a 5 gallon bucket, leaving it for a few months, come back to find it full of rainwater and ready to use!

 

[ducks4you]

I've heard of the tea but didn't get the real down low on how to make it but I can always ask Google. I'm not trying to do everything all at once but I really need to get a serious hold on the plan for the garden. I know I want to fence it all in because of the stray cats and the neighbors' chickens. I'm just really tired of my garden only doing good one day and crappy sorry the next day.

Try grass clippings in a bucket and do what I did and leave it for a good month to capture rainwater and cook.

 

[akroberts]

I will try the grass clippings and rain water, if we get anymore. I'm trying to stay positive about the garden because I'm tired of going to the store and looking at the prices of just little small cans of vegetables and telling myself well it's either pay the BS price or do without vegetables. I love vegetables and going without isn't an option for me. My strawberry plants did really good this year. I mean considering the fact that this is the first year I've ever gotten them to grow instead of die, so I was very happy with that. I planted a bunch of different types of tomatoes and got almost nothing but cherry tomatoes. I only got about 5 hot peppers. Maybe 5 lbs of green beans and a big bunch of yellow squash, no zucchini , and I did get some nice cushaws but that was about the best I got this year. Last year I was trying to find ways of making meals with my peppers, tomatoes and zucchini. It was crazy good though.