Growing Organic Vegetables - Generating Your Fertilisers
Introducing organic fertilisers to your garden soil makes certain that the soil get the essential nutrients it needs. A large number of gardeners growing organic vegetables will tell you that if you do this 2-3 times each year it will vastly improve the actual soil in your vegetable garden.
Keep in mind that doing this the organic way makes sure that there are no man made chemicals being put back into your soil.
Varieties of fertiliser:
These can be broken down into two basic types.
Organic animal based and organic plant focused fertiliser.
Organic Animal Fertiliser:
Organic animal fertiliser is more usually known as manure.
Most commonly you will find that it originates from cows, horses and chickens. You may also include bats and rabbits in our list of animals.
This manure will ideally have time to decompose and age before mixing it in thoroughly with your soil. If you are doing this yourself it is essential that the manure has fully decomposed to ensure the extraction of damaging bacteria.
Once your fertiliser is fully decomposed you can now incorporate this in with your soil. It will depend on whatever form your fertiliser is in as to just how you will do this.
But in basic terms, if it is in either liquid or solid form you will need to ensure that it is blended in well with your soil. It is also a good idea to plan your planting for at least 3-4 weeks after you apply your fertiliser. Not only will this enable the fertiliser to work it's magic throughout the the soil but it will take away any bad smells from the manure that would otherwise make your planting an unattractive undertaking.
Organic Plant Fertiliser:
Referred to in most gardening circles as "Green Manure" Plant based fertiliser comes from several sources.
Most common originate from seaweed and kelp. This type of fertiliser is superb for growing organic vegetables as seaweed has been found to comprise of nutrients such as manganese, copper and zinc. All of which are closely associated with superior growth of your produce and feed the soil with the invaluable nutrients an organic gardener looks for.
Lots of organic gardeners currently make use of worm casings to fertilise their soil. You can actually buy this in your nearby gardening outlet, but many people now manufacture their own.
To achieve this you need to ensure you have the correct worms that you can get once again from the garden outlet. A covered container and moist vegetable matter or old newspaper. This is a great and consistent way to get free fertiliser for your garden all the year round and costs practically nothing.
There is yet another "Green Manure" fertiliser you can use if you can find the right plants. Generally this is a crop such as soya that is grown and then harvested and blended with the soil so that the plant actually decomposes in the soil. This works very well as the decomposing plant matter produces nutrients as it breaks down directly into your soil.
Making sure that you keep the soil of your organic garden well fertilised at least twice a year will make sure your crop is gaining it's maximum growing potential. It is comparatively economical to do and the tiny costs involved will make sure your eating a good crop of organic vegetables though-out the year.
Why not give growing organic vegetables a go, you really will love the taste of your own naturally cultivated vegetables and herbs
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