Organic gardeners try their best to preserve the health of their plants, except for using harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
Organic gardeners do their best when it comes to using non-harmful pesticides and chemical fertilizers. So, in order to keep your plants in the best possible shape, yet completely naturally, you need some tips and tricks, so today we are going to show you some. These natural remedies may seem strange to you at first, but, trust me, you won’t change them for nothing when you see the results:
To improve soil:
Bury the kitchen waste in the garden
Cover up it with the soil piled along the edge of the ditch, to avoid bad smell and flies. As soon as you cover up the ditch, it will look like a raised bed, so plant the vegetables there the following year.
Cover this up with the soil piled along the edge of the ditch, in order to avoid bad smell and flies. When you cover up the ditch, it will look like a raised bed, so plant the vegetables the following year in that area.
Adjust pH with wood ash and coffee grounds
If you have various plants, the pH of each of them varies, so bring it as close to neutral as you can with large-scale soil amendments. You should alkalize the soil in the asparagus patch, or the vegetable beds for beet, broccoli, beans, using the wood ash from food burning stoves and fireplaces. You can also use coffee grounds around ericaceous plants like: azaleas, roses, and rhododendrons.
Weed tea as fertilizer
You can use a weed tea fertilizer since the weeds use the nutrients of your garden plants. Cut them up and dunk them in water (previously kept in the sun). In just a few days, your nitrogen-high green tea will be ready to be used as folia spray or soil fertilizer.
Use your pee to fertilize plants
As weird as it sounds, the urine is high in nitrogen, so even its composition varies, the general NPK ratio is 11-1-2. So, the nitrogen promotes lush foliage growth and it is extremely effective in greens and grassy plants, like corn.
It is advisable to pee a bit away from them, instead of directly on them, because the amounts of salt may scorch the plants. You should collect the pee in a bottle, dilute with water in ratio 1:10, or even more, and apply it on the root zone.
Vinegar as weed killer
Weeds are one of the most annoying thing, that a gardener would do anything to get rid of. Instead of using chemical weed killers, try with vinegar, since it is a better and a more natural way.
Pour it into a spray bottle and drench the weeds ( it is preferable to do this when its hot and sunny). The acid will scorch the weeds and destroy them in a few days.
Afterwards, water the place in order to eliminate the excess acidity, or just sprinkle some baking soda.
Add oyster shells and eggshells to your garden beds
Boost your soil’s health by using a slow-release fertilizer made of oyster shells and eggshells. Make the crushed pieces as small as you can, so you will be able to use a rolling pin. The calcium carbonate in the shells will alkalize your soil.To fight diseases:
Bury some pennies in the garden
Burying a few copper coins in your garden, will support the health of your soil and keep your plants safe, and you will avoid fungal infections. Once you bury a copper coin in the soil, it will release metal slowly and kill the fungal spores in the soil.
Fight fungal diseases with baking soda
It is not recommended using commercial fungicides since they are hazardous for your houseplants and vegetables. However, baking soda is a great substitute, completely effective and natural.
Just add a tablespoon of baking soda in warm water and put the solution in a spray bottle. After this, soak the plant in it to drip down and drench the soil.
For bug control:
Neem oil
Neem oil is the best way to protect your plants. Neem oil prevents development of insects and their ability to proliferate.
Add a couple of drops of any detergent, 1/2 of water, and 1 teaspoon of Neem oil in a spray bottle, shake, wait for 8 hours. Then drench the soil and the surrounding soil. Repeat every week.
Bring in some guests to feed on the pests
You should introduce potent natural enemies to keep pests away, because they can cause huge damage. You can purchase aphid eaters online of garden supply stores. Also, you should plant yarrow, or clover, or herbs like mint and fennel, which can also help against insects.
Remove aphids with soap and water
You can prevent and remove mild infestations with a nice bathe, made of water and a soap, since the oil-cutting formula successfully eliminates the waxy coating on the aphids and makes them prone to dehydration. Add 2 tbsp of dish soap in 1 gallon of water and mix well. Spray your plants.
Control ants in the garden with borax and honey
Ants are not that dangerous for your plants, yet their aphid farms can cause serious damage, because they have soft-bodied pests that can stuck plant to buds. Make sure you control the ants before you get some complications.
Mix borax and honey and prepare a paste. Apply this paste around the base of the stems of your plants infested with aphids. This will dehydrate ants and it will serve as an organic ant-killer.
To promote plant health:
Drive a nail into a tree to make it yield
Driving a nail into a tree gives amazing results in jolting a tree into flowering and fruit set. So, if you drive a nail into a trunk of old apple tree, it will be coaxed to flower.
People in India do this to stimulate coconut trees to bear fruit. This is so effective trick, so try it and make your trees bloom. Remember, that the nails doesn’t damage the trees.
Coconut water for root development
The coconut milk, or coconut water, which is high in minerals, improves the root development.
So, you can replace the synthetic rooting hormones by using coconut water, high in gibberellic acid and cytokinins and enhance the germination of seeds and root development.
Improve fruit set with Epsom salt
Epsom salt, which is very high in magnesium, can help if your pepper plants drop fruits.
In a quart bottle of warm water ad two tbsp of Epsom salt and shake. Spray your plants for 2 weeks and start flowering until the fruiting process is over.
Extend growing season with tubs of water
You can use tables of water to regulate the microenvironment in the garden. The water is heated by the solar radiation,and the garden soil. The soil cools down in the evening, so the water slowly releases the stored up heat. This way, the garden is kept warmer due to the water, and this boosts your plants.
In order to help the absorption of heat energy, use water tubs in controlled environments within plant tent. Just cover the tubs with black plastic sheeting (to prevent water loss).
Rusty nails in watering can help fight iron deficiency
Iron chlorosis is a condition that manifests by yellowing of leaves while their veins remain green. This condition comes as a result of the inability of the plants to absorb iron, often caused by excessive amounts of phosphorous in to soil.
To fix this, spray your plants with some water high in iron. You can ensure regular supply of iron by some rusty nails in the watering.
Play music
Almost all gardeners talk to their plants, and now, you can start playing some music. It was confirmed by plant biologists that music improves growth of plants significantly.
Observations have found that plants prefer classical music to country music, absolutely love jazz , and hate rock.
Other interesting facts towards music are: DeMorgenzon vineyard in South Africa plays baroque music, while Paradiso di Frassina in Tuscany, Italy, plays selected classical pieces in order to stimulate their growth and development.