Another thing that new organic gardeners become confused about, and sometimes even frustrated with, is figuring out how to control pests and bugs in their gardens. It doesn't matter if you're growing roses, annuals, perennials, bushes, trees, vegetables or something else… all plants have one or more bugs which seem to like to feed on either the plant leaves and stems, the flowers themselves, or both.

The most natural way to control pests in your garden is to simply hand pick the bugs off of leaves and flowers as you find them. This is a time consuming process for large gardens though, and many people do not like controlling pests this way alone. Thankfully there are many other things you can do to help with the process naturally though.

One step you'll need to take is effective weed control. Be sure to leave enough space between your plantings to allow yourself room to pull up weeds as you see them. In vegetable gardens particularly, it's helpful to leave a wide enough space between the rows which will allow you to take a hoe to the area, because this makes weeding go much faster. If you pull or hoe weeds while they're still quite young and small, you'll see the best results too. Because they come out of the ground much easier, and they don't have a chance to start dropping seeds and drawing in a lot of bugs and pests to the area.

Another natural way to control pests though, is through planting itself. By planting certain herbs and flowers around your garden, you can naturally control and even repel a wide variety of common garden pests.

Planting chives around your apple trees for instance, will help prevent scab. And if you plant chives around your roses, they help prevent black spot.

Elderberry is a plant which can be used to get rid of garden moles. Just stick branches and leaves from this plant down into the mole holes, and they'll leave the garden. You can also make a tea or wash with the leaves from this plant, and it will help repel aphids, carrot root fly, peach tree borers, and cucumber beetles too.

Garlic is another wonderful, all natural repellant for your garden too. The flavor of garlic can be abosorbed by other plants though, so don't plant it near any vegetables that might taste bad with a hint of garlic flavor in them.

Lemon Balm is another wonderful, all natural herb which works excellently as a repellant for a variety of things. You can sprinkle lemon balm leaves throughout your garden to repel a number of different bugs and pests, and you can even rub the crushed leaves on your skin to prevent mosquitoe bites too.

Tags: Natural Pest Control, Organic Gardening

Fertilizing an organic garden is easier than most people think. Just as you can improve the flavor of vegetables by planting certain plants together, and you can help repel common pests, insects and diseases by planting certain plants together, you can also fertilize your garden naturally using specific plants too.

One of the best fertilizers you can use in a garden of course, is compost. And compost is made with all natural, organic materials such as grass clippings, shredded leaves, sawdust, fireplace ash, and even shredded newspapers. You can also toss in fruit and vegetable matter from the kitchen to help your compost become even more rich and fertile for use in any area of your garden.

Besides compost though, you can actually just put certain plants into your garden area to help fertilize the soil, and provide additional nutrients your plants need.

Alfalfa for instance, is a wonderful hardy plant which can survive in almost any conditions, yet it's very high in a large number of vitamins and minerals that are beneficial to your soil in general. Alfalfa will provide your soil with nitrogen, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and potassium for instance, plus it's long strong roots will help break up hard, rocky, clay like soil too.

German Chamomile is an annual growing herb which will reseed itself each year if you leave some of the flowers unpicked each season. This herb helps contribute calcium, potassium, and sulfer to your soil. It's also excellent for improving the taste of cucumbers, cabbage, and onions. A perennial version is the Roman chamomile, and it will grow in almost any kind of soil with full sunlight.

Clover is an excellent addition to any garden. It has long been considered a source of "green manure" and can be a companion plant to almost anything. In fact, it's particularly useful for increasing the soil fertility of grapes. Clover will attract many beneficial insects to your garden too.

Comfrey is another herb which has wonderful medicinal healing properties, plus it provides your garden soil with calcium, potassium, and phosphorous. This herb likes to grow in moist areas.

Kelp is a natural seaweed which works wonderfully both as a fertilizer and a pest repellant. You can put a natural kelp supplement pill into the soil near any plants to help them grow more beautifully, and you can even drop one into a flower vase to help your cut flowers live longer. Put kelp into a tea mixture for spraying, and it feeds the plants through their leaves while also repelling a variety of common garden pests and bugs too.

Tags: Alfalfa, Organic Gardening, Plant Foods, Natural Fertilizers

Xeriscaping is the act of creating naturalized gardens using plants, flowers, shrubs and trees which are acclimated to the particular area you live in. Xeriscaping is becoming very popular, because when you create your garden based on flowers and plants which grow naturally in your area, you end up needing to water and care for them much less.

Xeriscaping is particularly useful for creating gardens that need little to no watering, and it's used the most in the desert southwestern area of the United States, because water is quite scarce in those areas.

When most people start thinking about how to create a garden which uses little to no water other than natural rainfall amounts, they immediately think of creating a cactus garden. And cactus gardens can be quite beautiful in and of themselves, but this is not the only way to create a beautiful garden which doesn't need supplemental watering from you.

One excellent way to help reduce the amount of water your plants need for instance, is to buy special water crystals to add to your garden soil. These crystals are designed to absorb and hold water for long periods of time - usually about two weeks - so that you can water your plants less yet still have them be healthy and beautiful.

The water crystals absorb water each time you water your garden, then they slowly release that water to the plants over time. You can buy potting soil which already has these crystals added, or you can buy the crystals themselves and add them to the existing areas of your garden they're needed most.

You can also help your garden plants and flowers conserve water by simply giving them a good thick layer of natural mulch. Use dead leaves, dry grass clippings, sawdust, wood chips, or even tree bark pieces to cover the ground around your plants. This covering will help keep the soil from drying out so fast, thus you won't need to water your plants as often even in the dry heat of summer. The mulch will also keep your plants from being ravaged by the bitter winter cold as badly too.

There are of course, many types of plants which require very little water to thrive too, and they're not all cactus plants. Cactus are plants which probably have the lowest water needs of any kind of plant though, and there are many which are quite beautiful throughout the year. Most cactus plants create blooming flowers, and many of them change to various colors in different seasons too.

Besides cactus plants though, other gorgeous plants grow quite well even in the worst of the drought seasons. These low water plants are often very unique too, and they really make your garden stand out from the neighbor's. Some of the best plants to use for low water gardening needs are the Desert Mallow and the California Poppy. These often have flowers which range from light peach to orange in color, but you'll sometimes see them in other shades as well.

The leaves on these plants may seem a bit strange to someone who has never seen them before though, because they're a paler green color and they're a bit hairy. These plants draw butterflies and hummingbirds though, so they'll be an excellent addition to your xeriscaping garden plans.

Tags: Xeriscaping, Low Water Gardening