Starting Your Organic Garden From Seed

“Sow dry and plant wet.” This rule of green thumb is common sense when planning to plant seeds in your garden. Sowing from seed is much cheaper than buying and transplanting young plants from a garden center. However, if you live in a more northern climate, you will likely have to grow your seeds indoors first, then plant after the threat of frost is well over. Tomatoes are one example, as they need a long growing season.

Sowing Your Seeds Indoors

To sow indoors, you will need a clean pot or seed tray containing a sterile seed starting mix. A good organic soil mix would be vermiculite or perlite mixed with good compost.

Fill the container to just below the rim and gently press the soil mix around the edges to remove any air pockets. Sow your seeds thinly on the surface of the soil, or check instructions on your seed package for sowing depth. Tap them directly from the seed packet or from a folded piece of paper.

If the seeds you are sowing are very small and fine, then before sowing, mix in a small quantity of fine sand so you can distribute them more evenly into the soil. Large seed or pelleted seeds can be sown straight into individual pots or containers.

Water your seeds lightly as soon as they are sown by placing the trays in tepid water until the soil is moist – this does not disturb them. To maintain even humidity, you can cover the trays or pots with a sheet of glass or clear plastic. If the seeds require darkness to germinate, then place a sheet of newspaper on it, until the seeds begin to sprout.

Keep your seed trays shaded and the soil mix moist. When the first shoots emerge, remove any covers.

Planting Seeds Directly In Your Garden

Wait for a dry spell before sowing your seeds outdoors. Don’t plant seeds in very wet conditions, or you may lose many to mold and fungus. Only give enough water to coax them to germinate. Always firm the soil around the seeds, either by treading on it or firming it with the back of your hand. If seeds are sown in a loose growing medium, cold, dry air can shrivel or dry them as they begin to germinate.

For best results, sow seeds into a bed of well–cultivated and finely raked soil.

Transplanting Your Seedling Outdoors

When the threat of frost is well past, it is time to plant your seedlings outdoors. Wait until your young plants have at least three pairs of leaves on them. Then plant them into weed-free, crumbly soil, handling each one as little as possible. Do this in wet weather so the roots have the best chance of taking hold. Don’t worry if they look rather sad for a few days, just keep the soil damp.

The optimum time to plant is just after a good rainfall, and when the next few days are supposed to have a mixture of cloud and rain. If you know a lot about building an organic garden, you know that the soil means everything. Rich organic compost and manure mixed into your soil will bring about stronger and healthier plants.

When to plant depends on your soil and situation, but think of the old English saying - ” If you can sit on the ground with your trousers down, then you can sow your seeds.” Happy planting!

Contributed by Goorganicgardening.com. Click here to read all about organic gardening, composting, and seed sowing.

Four Ideas to Design Your Garden

We all have different lifestyles and amounts of time, and this is reflected in the way we design and maintain our gardens. Those who are retired will likely have more time to create beautiful flowerbeds and bountiful vegetable gardens, while those with children will likely think more about play spaces in the yard, as well as safety.

Your yard is like another room in your house, albeit it without a ceiling! If you love the outdoors, why not make it more enjoyable with personal decorative touches to make you garden attractive? The following are four concepts to think about:

The Social Entertaining Garden

If you often have people over for dinner or drinks, there’s nothing like having dinner outside in a sunny evening. Garden patio furniture is available in a wide range of styles, from rustic benches to decorative Italian marble. Those old style cheap plastic seats and tables are thankfully not as popular, and are slowly being replaced with attractive and maintenance-free composites. Wooden garden furniture is also a popular choice, such as teak and cedar. Look for those treated with natural wood preservatives, such as linseed oil.

Your entertaining area will of course need a deck or patio to clearly define your “garden room” and the rest of your backyard. Create a patio big enough for several chairs, a table, an area for the barbeque, and additional space for guests to enjoy. Usually this will all be near the house, both for easy access indoors and to provide some shelter from the wind and the sun.

If your yard is large enough, a beautiful presentation would be an extension of the patio to lead down to a firepit, surrounded along the way by low-maintenance plants, shrubs or even solar-powered garden lights. Check your local fire regulations on where to place your firepit, and have your garden hose handy.

The Peaceful Oasis

If you wish your backyard to be the place to “get away from it all,” you are not alone. Recent studies link overall happiness to being in tune with nature, and in the middle of a city or suburban area, your yard is about the only place close by.

To create your oasis, think of privacy and lots of plants. The privacy is to give you the separation from civilization to personal garden of Eden, and the plants not only create not only give a lush effect, it also buffers against outside city noise.

Add personal touches such as a rustic sundial and sculpture. Add a birdbath and feeder to attract birds, and plant bright flowers to attract butterflies. Let nature come to you, and add a garden bench or chair to sit and enjoy your surroundings.

If you have some time on your hands for extra maintenance, a water garden greatly adds to the effect of your oasis. A babbling stream, lily pads and frogs will heighten the life of your oasis. Place your pond in a shadier area of your garden, to keep the water cool and protect goldfish. For design ideas, one is to take a group of shallow terra cotta containers planted with a collection of saxifrages, and arrange them in a neat pattern to show them off.

Child’s Play

If you have children, your garden will need a wide expanse of lawn for them to run around in. Think of their safety, such as uprooting any bushes that bear poisonous berries, a fence so they don’t stray onto the road, and practice pesticide-free, healthy organic gardening.

Children love to explore, touch and taste. Get them in on the planning. A neat way for them to learn about the outdoors is to designate an area of the garden just for them. Plant some simple, fairly maintenance-free vegetable plants such as carrots and cucumbers, and have them care for and watch them grow. Before you know it you’ll have a little gardener helping you out!

The Formal Garden

You’ve seen those pictures of flourishing, magnificent gardens that wins awards. If you have the time, you can showcase your garden as well.

The key is to start small, and work your way up year after year, adding new plants, new accents and other garden decorations. When designing a flower bed, use ornaments to contrast with other plants. An old garden roller leaning against a tree, an old fashioned wheel barrow full of colorful annuals, or an old chair with the center cut out to sit a pot of flowers in are some great ideas. You’re looking for a focal point in your yard to draw the eye to. Position it so it looks like it’s always been there.

For a more classical garden, a statue on an imposing pedestal not only adds height to a traditional setting, but also looks great against a dark green background. Set it out at the end of a pathway for an interesting look.

A pair of matching trimmed topiary trees on either side of a doorway looks stunning in a formal setting. Try a collection of large pots filled with spring flowers to bring early color to your garden.

Remember to have a quiet area of your garden where you can sit and admire your surroundings. Adding a simple seat such as a stone bench or wicker chair not only gives you an area for relaxation, it matches well with your garden.

You are only limited by your own imagination as to how to make your garden stand out. The main thing is to have it work for you.