What is organic gardening?

Organic gardening involves using the principles of organic horticulting in your garden. Issues such as how the soil is built, how the soil is nurtured, and how pests are managed are of paramount importance to organic gardening.  Basically, organic gardening involves working in cooperation with nature in your garden.

In simple terms, organic gardening means that you grow your garden without using synthetic products or chemicals such as those used in pesticides and fertilizers. You would use sensible methods to replenish the soil like feeding the soil with composted plants, or rotating the plants that are planted in a given area to allow the soil to get enriched.

Creating and maintaining an organic garden can be fun and satisfying .

Why is the soil so important?

The soil needs to be fed and nourish, so that it can nourish our plants in turn. This simple, common sense idea is a core principle in organic gardening.

You can encounter types of soil in a garden.   Clay soil is rich in nutrients and holds water better, but the soil can sometimes hold the water too well and not let enough air in. Sandy soil, on the other hand drains water well, but is usually low in nutrients. In either case, the solution is to add some organic matter to improve the soil’s texture and improve the nutrient content in the soil.

How can you eliminate pests without chemicals?

If you are an organic gardener, does it means that you have to live with pests in your garden?  That certainly seems to be a common question in the minds of gardeners unfamiliar with the tenets and methods of organic gardening.

The gardener’s job of watching over the garden and plants diligently remains the most important first step. Secondly, the gardener has to adopt the mindset of cooperating with nature. Thirdly, the gardener has to recognize that old methods of gardening won’t necessarily be consistent with the desire to be an organic gardener, and so they have to commit to become more knowledgeable about the specific issues faced by their plants and then look for natural options to solve them. 

Sometimes, with pest control, if you know the exact nature of your pest problem, you may not need to do anything at all because the invader’s time in your garden may be strictly temporary, and they’ll be gone at the end of the season forever. It is not necessary to be trigger-ready to kill the pests all the time, with this approach.

Sometimes, it is valuable to look to nature to see if there are other insect that are natural predators for the pests inflicting your plants. If so, it would suffice to introduce a small number of the “beneficial insects” into your garden to solve your pest problem. For example, ladybugs love to eat aphids. 

Yet another example is to use physical barriers like sticky traps to catch flying insects.  Simple, yet safe and effective methods like this abound.

Here are some common and effective techniques to keep your garden thriving, organically:

• Allow for some pest damage. i.e. Don’t set the target to be 100% pest free.
• Select plants carefully. Choose varieties that are disease resistant.
• Use smart planting of companion crops that can discourage pests naturally
• Rotate crops from year to year to disrupt pest reproduction cycles
• Use row covers to protect plants during pest migrations

Becoming knowledgeable with methods like these will help the gardener in making wise choices in dealing with pests in the garden.

How can you enrich the soil without fertilizers?

There are many ways to keep your soil nutrient rich , without resorting to chemical fertilizers.

You can use “green manure”. Green manure is a type of crop that is grown for a specific period, with the main idea of adding nutrients and organic matter to the soil. Leguminous green manures like clover and vetch fix the soil’s nitrogen content in a manner that plants can use. Other green manure crops can help increase the organic matter in the soil. Some cover crops behave as natural weed suppresants while preventing soil erosion and compaction at the same time. Oat, Rye, Fava Beans, Clover, Mustard, Fenugreek etc. are all popular green manures.

You can use “compost”. Compost is a decomposed combination of plants, animal and other organic materials that is rich, black soil. As an additive to the soil, compost provides a rich growing medium and nutrients for plants. You can make compost yourself by using vegetable, food and other organic waste materials from your home. Many methods and materials are available to help with composting. Compost is like a natural fertilizer for plants.

You can use “mulching”. Much is a protective ground cover placed over the soil to help it retain its moisture, and suppress weeds from growing . Organic mulches also provide nutrients to the soil as the cover decays.

Summary

Organic gardening is a nature friendly way of approaching gardening that does away with the use of toxic chemicals in the entire life cycle of growing plants in your garden. By working in synch with nature, you’ll enjoy the satisfaction of having your garden flourish.

There are some good resources availabe online and you can start here by using this guide to the best Web resources on organic gardening.

For other gardening resources , please consult this gardening guide.

I used to think that Sudoku was just another useless game that would only be good for killing time, a game that would not be worth the effort it takes to complete. However, after playing a few games I have fallen in love with Sudoku. I find it fascinating and I must admit I’m addicted to it! Since I enjoy this game so much, I would like to share some sudoku hints with you in order to convince you to give this game a chance. Who knows, maybe you’ll love it as much as I do!

Each person needs to exercise their minds and by solving Sudoku, surely you will be able to get that brain stimulation. But before we go to the different Sudoku Hints, let me first share with you what Sudoku is. Sudoku means the digits must remain single. It is a mind game that will require a reasonable amount of logical thinking.

The game consists of a puzzle with a series of grids where in it involves a 9×9 grid that contains 9 3×3 tiny grids. The concept of the game is for the player to allocate the numbers 1 to 9 to very grid. The Sudoku game rules are as follows:

1. Each single number should appear only once in every row or column.
2. Each single number should be allocated only once in every row or column.
3. No repetition of number in a 3X3 grid.

Sudoku Hints: The game not only involves adding the numbers, but also searching the sums of the rows, columns or regions of the grid. This involves a mere number game therefore addition of numbers is not required. In this day and age wherein there is already the presence of a lot computer, internet, TV and other media sources, it would really be a brain refresh if you will be able to solve a game as simple as Sudoku. This may be considered as a pastime that is low in technology but you may be able to find one which is free in newspapers or in books that are filled with a lot of puzzles.

Nowadays Sudoku games are available everywhere around the globe be it in the print media, or over the computers and even on your cell phone. There are numerous varieties of them. You can enjoy playing Sudoku games with the help of Sudoku Hints available on the internet and also in the books on the topic of Sudoku. Here are just two hints given for your use:

1. Begin with what is obvious Elimination of options is one of the simplest Sudoku Hints. It can be helpful in solving several number of Sudoku puzzles. In this you simply have to check for those numbers which have already appeared in that grid so that they can be eliminated from being duplicated in the same grid, row, or column. With the help of a suitable hint given, you would be able to solve a majority of the puzzles and riddles, however complex or simple they may be. When a puzzle has been given to you for solution, after you have thoroughly gone through the same, you would be able to find some other solution also, which may be existing there very often.
2. Marking with your Pencil Sudoku can be a very challenging game, particularly since most of the time, you are trying to keep long chains of number possibilities in your head. Consider writing the possibilities in very small pencilled handwriting in the corners of each cell. As you progress throughout your game, you can cross off those pencilled possibilities rather than trying to keep juggling them in your head.

Sudoku is a game that is worth playing in you spare time. With few sudoku hints about this game and by concentration for few hours, you will surely be able to solve the Sudoku puzzle. A little understanding of this game is enough to allocate all the numbers to the puzzle.

There are some people that can plan things better than others. I have always been someone that can organize, plan, delegate and carry off most type of events from fund raisers involving several hundred people to smaller dinner parties. I think a big part of this is that I love to pay attention to small details. I have always been this way. I notice little details from what is in a room to what a person is wearing to what color eyes people have. I have used these skills to be rather successful as a corporate event planner as well as a party planner in my personal life.

Since I have been an adult I seem to be the go to individual when it amounts to birthday party ideas as well as ideas for anniversary and retirement parties. Just now my kids came to me asking ideas for presents for dad and I am the one that need to advise on these matters. Indeed whenever I get worried at work my husband tells me to cease the trouble of corporate and take up one of the numerous offers I have had from caterers to be their party planner. I have considered some of these offers from time to time; nevertheless it is hard to give up the security and income that I have from being involved with a big corporation. I enjoy getting involved in different birthday party ideas and other parities, nevertheless I am a part of the corporation so I see the actual effect that my efforts of raising funds has. If I would just plan and arrange various birthday party ideas I would not have any actual feeling of gratification that something great was going to occur as a result of my endeavors.

A few months ago my sister called me for birthday party ideas for her husband. He was going to be sixty-one. He did not want anything great for his sixtieth birthday party last year. My sister has never been capable of surprising him in all the years they have been united. The only thing I suggested her was on the choice of retirement gift in the past. Now she desired me to help her pull off a surprise party for him. I told her that I would have to think about some diverse ways that we could pull off a surprise for him. I told her I liked the fact that she was doing this on a year other than one ending in a zero or five because people were more wary during those years. My brother-in-law is rather a prankster so I knew I would be capable of getting the help of many people to pull of different birthday party ideas. I have given my sister a few different ideas to consider for the event. My best bet will be also to find a special gift for my brother-in-law such as family ski vacation in order to surprise him. Once she gives me her decision I will begin the planning. I am happy that I found a way to put my skills to function.