Organic Gardening

Organic gardening usually refers to gardening practices that do not use chemical pesticides.

This guide provides information covering a variety of organic garden basics for flowers and vegetables.

The albums listed in the Garden Images box on the right, for example, point to pictorial essays covering native flowering plants of the West Coast, primarily, California, Oregon and Washington State.

Choosing native flowering plants is a great way to get started on an organic garden because they require littlle care, and they have evoloved over time with the ability to grow naturally without the use of pesticides.

Garden Images Anza Borrego Wildflowers April Flowers - Pacific Northwest Cactus Flowers Early Pacific Northwest Flowers June Flowers - Pacific Northwest July Flowers - Pacific Northwest Late Summer Blooming Flowers May Flowers - Pacific Northwest Mountain Flowers Redwood Flowers Introduced Flowers Pumpkins and Squash Types of Fruits Types of Mushrooms Types of Orchids Types of Mushrooms Types of Wasps and Bees Weed Identification

Other topics such as beneficial insects such as bees and wasps, along with a weed identification guide, provide helpful tools for managing some reoccurring garden and landscape issues.

The remaining articles listed on this page lean to practical organic garden planning, especially with respect to vegetable gardening. The first set of articles, for example, deal with soil.

Healthy soil is the foundation for any organic garden. Two articles, Types of Soil and Easy Organic Raised-bed Gardening, provide insight into this critical aspect of both vegetable and flower garden planning.

Organic gardening also means adopting natural (or pesticide free) pest management practices. Organic Pest Management offers an overview of insect, plant and insectcide strategies for dealing with garden pests. (continued below)

Flower Seed Packs for Pest Management reviews the claims of flower seed pack producers who market their products as natural pest management tools.

Because single vegetables or group of vegetables attract different pests, organic remedies are often plant or plant family specific. The articles,

• Care for Raspberry and Blackberry Plants
• Growing Tomatoes
• Growing Zucchini
• Organic Pest Management for Chile Peppers
• Organic Spittlebug Control for Strawberries
• Winter Garden Vegetables

provide fast facts for successfully growing these popular vegetables and fruits.

Gardening is often as much about planning as it is about hands on growing practices. The articles Caring for Your Garden Tools: The Flat Mill File, How to Compost and Winter Garden Planning offer helpful planning tips.

Is Your Salad Organic
The average lunch or dinner salad approaches All-American food status, however, the odds of it being organic are very low.

Organic Farming and BT Crops
Do BT crops pose problems for organic farmers?

Tomato Fruit or Vegetable?
Defining a tomato is a difficult task.

World Bank Going Organic
The World Bank is supporting more organic agricultural research and production in states around the world.

© 2003-2008 Patricia A. Michaels