Organic gardening

It has been a funny day weather wise today, it could not decide if it was supposed to be raining or sunny. There was not much I could do in the garden anyway so I finished of my latest gardening article Essential tools for vegetable gardening This is a question that is often used as a search by people that have landed on one of my gardening articles so I felt that it was something worth writing about.

Today I thought I would talk about Organic Gardening as this is something I feel that should be an important factor when gardening especially where growing your own vegetables is concerned. Many garden pests can be sorted out by organic means.

There are many alternative methods to rid yourself of one of the biggest garden pest the snail and slug. Making a simple beer trap by burying a pot so the lip is ground level and fill with cheap beer and the snail plops in as it goes for a little slurp. Placing crushed egg shells or walnut shells around you most prized vegetables or plants also deters the snail from getting within munching distance.

Using Human hair as a mulch also deters both snails and slugs, they do not like the texture but also the hair cuts these creatures and kills them. These are all organic methods of pest control and are much more preferable to using chemicals such as slug and snail pellets. They are also not harmful to the helpful critters like frogs, toads, hedgehogs and birds that also help with pest control by feasting on the unwanted pests. If you have pets and children they will also be safe and the final benefit is that no unwanted chemicals will get in to your vegetables.

A simple solution of liquid soap and water will help in the battle against green and black fly. Simply spray the affected plant with this solution and apply over a period of days until they have gone. A solution of stewed rhubarb leaf and liquid soap with help combat the dreaded cabbage white caterpillar from munching on your brassicas. Again these are both organic methods of pest control and will save you from the use of chemicals on your home grown vegetables. For more information on how to make these solutions visit A bit of the goodlife where you will find details on how to make up these solutions.

And finally the last thing I want to talk about regarding organic gardening is this article I came across last night. I came across Kevin's blog on which he has a post about using white vinegar as a form of weedkiller. I thought this was truly amazing as I hate the smell of weedkiller and I can not use it in the back garden because of both the hens and the dogs. Plus it is also quite harmful and potent stuff and if it comes into contact with your plants or vegetables then you are in trouble as they become contaminated with chemicals.

I have one half of the front garden filled with granite chips and I have to weed it often and it is one job I hate to do as it takes forever as the area is quite large. Next time I know what I shall be using and doing! To read the article and Kevin's blog visit A Garden for the House.

The plot thickens where the girls and the chicken coop are concerned! Matilda was hanging onto a perch again last night. I had again cleaned out the coop and put in new bedding which I might add I had done three days earlier but she went into the nesting box that same night. The bedding is shredded newspaper which is quite nice and soft however it was the local paper and perhaps she prefers a more intellectual paper like the Times or Guardian! Who knows! Tonight she is comfortably nestled in her usual nesting box.

We had two eggs today which is an improvement but not sure what they are up to. The weather has been very unpredictable of late so whether this has something to do with it I don't know. They had a field day in the small raised bed my little pumpkin has been trod on by a rather irate Matilda as I was trying to get her off! Hopefully it will survive and I will get my coveted pumpkin!

Well that is it from me, until next time x