Organic farming is becoming increasingly popular, blessing consumers with naturally developed fruits, vegetables, meats and whatnot. It is one of the best methods of farming, as they help in producing high-quality crops, without investing too much.
While organic farming is now becoming everyone’s favorite, it is not that simple to carry out. There are many articles online that may be helpful, but those are usually written by a community of non-farmers.
In order to give you some real help, we have compiled a couple of tips professional organic farmers provide. Study and implement them, and you will come up with a successful organic farm.
So, without further ado, here are six tips from organic farmers that will help a great deal:
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Prepare the soil
It is always one step at a time. Therefore, we should begin with the task of preparing the soil.
Preparation of the soil is one of the most important tasks of organic gardening. The idea is simple: if your soil is not suitable, there is no point in investing.
In order to make your soil healthy and prepared, undertake composting religiously. Organic farmers recommend adding of compost every year, but caution against overdoing it.
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Sterilization of homemade compost
Compost is key to the task of making your soil healthy, but there are a number of considerations to be taken into account while composting—oneis sterilization.
If you are preparing a homemade compost, you will need to ensure that it is properly broken down and devoid of weed seeds. It is, therefore, advisable to wear gloves and rummage through the compost properly.
To prevent the introduction of fungi or other diseases, sterilize it with the help of plastic sheeting. Cover the compost with the sheet, take it down and let it be there for about a week.
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Make gardening a priority
If you truly desire to succeed in organic farming, then you will also have to mend your approach. What we mean to say is that, for the time being, make your garden a top priority.
Organic farming is effective but consumes a lot of time. Tasks such as watering the garden will take hours, and therefore, you must prioritize organic gardening until your garden is able to considerably maintain itself.
A tip for those who want to reduce their watering time: implement a drip irrigation system.
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It is impossible to protect every plant in the garden
We know how awful it feels when a nasty pest attacks and destroys plants in the garden. But, this gives a reality-check that you will anyway end up losing some crops to pests. Do not maintain a supermarket expectation.
Now the more important aspect: how to protect whatever that is left in your garden?
There are many chemical options, but organic farmers disdain the idea of employing these options. Instead, you can go for certain non-chemical options such as bacillusthuringiensis which works amazingly against squash worms and tomato worms; neemoil which is good against aphids and mites.
In case you are troubled by big pests such as deer, you will have to put in more physical effort by erecting afence around, or you may get a dog.
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Chemical fertilizers and pesticides should be avoided
As noted earlier, organic farmers hate using chemical pesticides and fertilizers in their gardens, and there is no gainsaying why they hate them so much.
It is in common parlance that chemical fertilizers and pesticides do greater harm than good. They increase the growth rate of the plants but weaken their foundations. These chemical options leech out strength from the plants, making them vulnerable to even slight changes in soil.
Organic fertilizers and pesticides such as fish emulsion and seaweed are among the favorites of organic farmers. You can even go for compost tea, which is as good as the ones mentioned above.
In order to make use of compost tea, you need to follow a few simple steps. Take compost, soak it nicely in water for some time, and use the resultant liquid for fertilizing the plants. It is as simple as it sounds so no worry!
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Purchase organic seeds
In order to do complete justice to organic gardening, you cannot compromise with organic seeds.
Organic seeds come from those crops that are best suited for organic farming. When you go to market for purchasing seeds, you may come across seeds which are still adapting to organic production. Get these seeds, as they can be easily adjusted and maintained, as against those who are well-adapted.
