What is Companion Planting?

Some plants give off scents or chemicals that repel insects, insects like worms and beetles that can destroy your garden. Other plants help prevent disease or attract insects, which are beneficial to plants. And some plants are exceptional at breaking down the soil and helping other plants absorb vital nutrients. Essentially companion planting is used to help your core plants thrive without chemicals.

Examples of Companion Planting and How it Works

Marigolds are widely known to have a very strong fragrance. Many people consider it unpleasant despite the gorgeous flowers. However, many insects also find marigolds quite distasteful including nematodes (roundworms), whiteflies, beetles, and aphids. To use marigolds as a companion plant, plant them at the perimeter of your garden. If your garden is large you may want to plant them throughout. Take care to not plant them too closely to your vegetables because they do attract spider mites and slugs.

Alfalfa actually helps the soil absorb nitrogen, iron, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium which makes the soil ideal for growing vegetables. Because alfalfa has very long and sturdy roots, it breaks up hard clay soil. It’s a great plant to help keep your soil rich in nutrients.

Geranium another flower with a strong aroma repels cabbage worms and Japanese beetles, and leafhoppers. Gardening experts recommend planting them around grapes, corn, tomatoes, peppers and cabbage.

Deciding What to Plant and Where

Before you begin planting your organic garden, do a bit of research to find the best placements for your chosen vegetables. For example, tomatoes do well with a number of other vegetables including garlic, chives, cucumber and mint however not all veggies get along with tomatoes. Tomatoes can stunt the growth of carrots and dill and kohlrabi slow tomato growth.

Make a quick map of your garden before planting and chart where you want to plant each vegetable. A quick trip to an organic gardening or companion gardening site will help you make sure each vegetable’s neighbor is a helpful one.

Companion planting is a very sustainable way to affect the health of your garden. Not only do you help your garden stay pest and disease free, you receive the added benefit of a diverse and healthy garden.

What is Composting?

Composting is essentially decomposing. The leaves that collect in the corner of your yard decompose. If you facilitate the process, then it’s called composting. Composting involves mixing your yard and household organic waste, like food scraps, in a container and providing conditions that encourage or facilitate decomposition.

Why Compost?

Composting is a very environmentally friendly practice. It reduces the amount of garbage we toss into landfills by 20-30% and as we get closer and closer to running out of space, composting becomes more and more important.

In addition to making space in the landfills, composting provides you with a source of chemical free fertilizer, which you can use for gardening and soil conditioner.

Materials to Get Started

To begin composting you’ll need a few things to get started. You can find many of these items at your local hardware or gardening store. You can also buy home composting kits only. These kits come with everything you need and provide a relatively stink free composting experience.

You’ll need a compost bin. The materials will be decomposing here so if you’re keeping the compost in your home, you’ll want a lid as well.

You’ll also need a pitchfork to turn and mix the compost daily.

Finally, you’ll need to find the right place to put your compost. You can create a pile outside in a well-drained area or you can place it in a warm, dark location inside your home.

But what about the actual compost? Can you toss anything in there? Are there right and wrong ingredients? The answer is yes, the ideal compost recipe includes:

* 1 Part Greens – include grass clippings, kitchen scraps including eggshells and coffee grounds. (Avoid using any meat, fat, grease, oils, dairy products, bones, or animal droppings in your compost.)
* 25 Parts Browns – include dried leaves, straw, wood chips, paper bags and drier lint.
* Water – Keep the pile moist but not soaking
* Air
* And time

Turn the ingredients every day for about two weeks. In two weeks time you should have a powerful pile of compost to place in your garden, household plants or flowerbeds. Happy composting!

Here’s how to attract wildlife into the garden:

#1 – Feed the birds – Use apples, peanuts, seeds, and fat balls and watch the number of wild birds in your garden increase. Feeding the wild birds is even more important in the winter when food supplies are scarce. And don’t forget fresh water as birds do have a need to drink as well.

#2 – Make a habitat – Make or put up habitats for your nature friends. This includes birdhouses and shelters for birds as well as hedgehogs, butterflies, bees and other insects. You can find plenty of choices at the garden center or simply make your own with a little wood and a few other materials.

#3 – Plant wild flowers – Meadow or wild flowers look lovely and natural in the garden but also serve to attract a large number of friendly insects from butterflies to ladybugs to bees and birds, wildflowers will really help the abundance of wildlife in your garden.

You can order simple seed packets online or purchase them at your garden center. These are very easy to grow as they are used to growing under the most natural conditions. This also means that you won’t have to worry about watering a certain patch of your garden, which in turn helps the environment.

#4 – Build a wildlife pond – This doesn’t have to be fancy or a big task. A simple standard size plant pot will do. Choose one without a hole in the bottom. Make a hole in the ground roughly the size of the pot and insert the pot into the ground so only one inch or so of the pot is sticking out of the ground. Insert a few large rocks in the bottom of the pot (this will help frogs and other water animals have a place to support themselves on). Fill with water.

Then plant several water plants in the pot – Mentha cervina and Nasturtium aquaticum are good choices but your local garden center staff can easily help you choose appropriate ones too. Sit back and observe the aquatic wildlife flourish. Remember to always use precautions if young children will be using the garden.

# 5 – Don’t be a manicurist – The best way to attract and keep wildlife into your garden is to leave it a bit “natural.” Let certain corners of the garden become a little woodsy or overgrown – wildlife thrives in these conditions. When your trees lose their leaves don’t pick them all up. Piles of leaves are great habitats for hedgehogs and other nature creatures.

Your garden can easily become an enchanting place for wildlife. If in doubt of where to begin, simply take a leaf out of nature and let your garden reflect that as much as possible.

Here’s how to do it:

#1 – Prepare the area/container – you can go out and buy a fancy compost bin (there are many to choose from at garden centers) or you can simply make a “heap” which is far more economical and will work just as well.

To make a heap you simply need 4 sides and a covering. You can use 4 similar sized pieces of wood, nailed together or you can use breeze blocks to make an enclosure for your waste. You’ll need to leave a detachable area in the front so that you can easily scoop out the compost.

If using bricks simply leave a small gap. If using wood, you can do the same or leave the whole front side loose so that you can easily remove the whole plank of wood to access your compost once ready.

Tip: Wood tends to be the ideal material as it is completely eco-friendly, economical and far easier to put together than a brick-sided heap.

#2 – Add your drainage material – Once you have your “container” ready then line the bottom with biodegradable material that will help absorb the compost faster. You can use straw, twigs or newspaper.

#3 – Heat things up – In order for your waste to turn into compost, you need heat. You can do this by adding a thin layer of already mature soil (which you buy at the garden center or from another area of the garden) on top of the first layers of waste. This will help trap the heat in and your waste will compost faster.

#4 – Cover and Turn – Another way to keep the temperature high in your heap is by covering it up. You can use old potato sacks, a sheet of plastic, or a thick blanket. Your compost will take approximately 3 or so months to degrade. You can help things along by turning the heap once or twice a month. Simply uncover and using a large, thick stick or shovel simply “turn” the compost to distribute the heat.

#5 – Things you can compost – Shredded newspaper, uncooked vegetables and peelings, grass/lawn, old plants, hedge clippings, animal waste (chickens, dogs, cats), weeds, rotten fruit or fruit remains.

Here’s how:

#1 – Build a barrier – If your vegetables and fruit are planted in raised beds this is quite easy. Simply attach a barrier that the slugs won’t cross and get into the border. The best material to use is a strip of copper all around the sides of your borders. Slugs don’t like copper and so it will be difficult for them to enter.

#2 – Make it bumpy – Slugs don’t like bumpy or rough texture as it is difficult for them to crawl on it. Add crushed egg shells or spiky pieces of pebbles around your vegetables to make this task difficult. Grit used for feeding chickens is also a great alternative. Mulch is not good as slugs are attracted to rotten decomposing material. But cocoa shells are a good alternative which slugs don’t seem to like. Be aware, however, that cocoa shells are toxic to dogs.

#3 – Build a trap – You can purchase pre-made traps at the garden center or cheaply and simply make your own. Place small plastic tubs (a bottom of a cut plastic cup will do) in your vegetable patch. Fill these traps with beer. As the slugs crawl up the traps they will fall in the beer and drown.

#4 – Use your hands – This is by far the most time consuming way of removing slugs but if all else fails it’s good to catch them at dusk (this is when they tend to be out) and remove them one by one from your plants.

#5 – Keep It natural – Another great way to get rid of slugs is by increasing the wildlife in your garden. Wild birds love to eat slugs. Put up birdfeeders and food around the garden to attract wild birds which will in turn keep the slug population low.

Feeding them is the number one way to increase their numbers in your garden. Here’s how to do it:

#1 – The best natural bird feeder is simply being as natural as possible in our food choices. Using natural twine, string up peanuts (in their shells) and hang from trees. You can also string up apples, rosehips, berries seed head and kitchen scraps.

Decorate your creations by tying fir cones to the bottom. For example you can attach a fir cone to the bottom of the string and place a few apples or fat balls on top. The fir cones will help the birds balance.

You can tie these edible bird feeders from old tree branches all around the garden – the more the merrier.

#2 – Construct your own feeder – This is far easier than it sounds. As long as the birds are fed you really don’t need anything fancy. An old piece of wood and something to attach it to will do – you can use the top of an old shed or a sturdy tree branch. Simply nail your platform in place and add nuts or seeds to attract the birds.

You can also use old twigs shaped and tied together to form a nest shape which you can then attach to the trees.

A pre-made bird house can be given a special touch with a little non-toxic paint and a few edible decorations such as hanging berries and peanuts.

# 3 – Don’t forget the water – Birds need hydration just like humans. If you don’t have an actual bird batch then simply add a few old pots of water throughout the garden. The birds will find their way to them and use the water to drink as well as cool down.

Making a natural bird feeder isn’t difficult. Simply use your imagination and remember the task at hand – keeping the birds fed and happy – it really doesn’t require a whole lot but you will get a lot of pleasure from enjoying these lovely creatures all year in the garden.