#1 Organic Garden Tip Guarantees Gardening Success

What is my secret tip that will give you the best garden on the block? Add Organic Matter! While that's the short answer, the approach will vary significantly depending on the soil, climate, and environment. There are three ways for the organic gardener to enhance the soil so the cycle of growth and decay described in the above can be established in your garden. You probably will want to use a combination of compost, mulches, and cover crops.

Composting, which is the process of making a pile of organic matter such as leaves, grass clippings, weeds, kitchen scraps, manure, and almost anything else organic and allowing it to rot. You are promoting the same process we found in the forest, except it is in your own garden. It is important to have a pile at least 3 feet on a side so there is enough mass to get the temperature up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This heat will kill all seeds and sterilize your compost. You also want to have a proper ratio of carbon to nitrogen. Green materials such as grass clippings, fresh weeds, kitchen waste, and manure are all rich in nitrogen. Brown material such as dried leaves, hay, straw and paper towels & bags are rich in carbon.

Mix half green and half brown in layers, or mix with a pitchfork to get your pile ready and then let it rot until the following spring. I also always add a bucket full of the prior years compost so the pile has a lot of organisms to get the process started. Don't let the pile get too much water since it will leach out the nutrients. You can cover it if you get a lot of rain. You also want to make sure it is damp, especially in hot weather. Now it becomes apparent why horse and steer manure make some of the best compost. It is premixed!

The first year you start your garden, you will not have the off season to make compost so you can start with commercially composted horse or steer manure.  Add about 2 - 3 inches of manure and work it into the top 4-6 inches of soil.

I used to rely on mulch primarily as a way to keep my weeding to a minimum. Now, with some adjustments, I find it a really easy way to build organic matter in our garden. The best way to mulch is start in the fall so your vegetable garden or flower garden is full of organic matter and ready for you to plant seed in the spring. Water well the day before you mulch. First cut down all vegetation including weeds and leave it in place. Now add any soil amendments if needed. Also it helps to poke your spade fork in the earth to aerate the soil, but don't turn it over. Now add a thin layer of a nitrogen producer like grass clippings, manure, or blood meal. Next comes a layer of newspaper or cardboard which is going to kill the weeds. Wet it thoroughly and then add another layer of nitrogen rich product. The top layer should be a carbon rich material such as straw, leaves, bark, or wood chips. This will provide a reserve of compost as it gradually decomposes.

Cover crops are crops such as alfalfa, legumes, clovers, and many others are planted to build the soil and smother weeds. I won't provide detailed information in this article since they are more important for large areas and farms. They enrich the soil when they die by composting in place. For example, a mixture of legumes which are nitrogen rich with ryegrass which is carbon rich will get your field already to go the following year.

I hope now you understand why creating good organic soil is the number one organic gardening tip, and is essential  to good organic food and flower gardening. You can now have the health of your garden under control.