Organic matters

TIMES and attitudes in gardening have certainly changed.

Claiming to be eco-friendly or an organic gardener used to earn you the label of crank.

Today recycling your household waste, using natural products and growing chemical-free, healthy food and flowers has never been easier and is an accepted and modern way to live.

The starting point to becoming an organic gardener is to treat the soil as your best friend.

It’s your most valuable resource; so stop ploughing in the destructive chemical fertilizers and harmful pesticides.

Maintaining a healthy fertile soil is more about muck than magic.

So keep it in good heart with regular applications of homemade garden com- post and manure. An impoverished soil not only grows poor plants, it also fails to feed beneficial creatures, such as earthworms, that not only nourish the soil but are helpful in improving soil drainage.

It’s important to get to know how to look after it and which plants will thrive.

Blood

Light sandy soils, for example, can be thirsty and hungry, as essential nutrients are easily leached in the drainage water.

Fast-growing, hungry plants – such as lawns, roses, fruit, vegetables and summer bedding – grown intensely in this type of soil and patio containers may decline if their nutrient levels Dormant tubers can be revived now. Force them into growth by potting them up – leaving the tops of the tuber exposed, and growing them in pots of moist compost in a warm, welllit spot.

Any shoots that are produced can be used for cuttings. Trim them just below aren’t topped up throughout the growing season. Fertilizers are the obvious solution but they need to be of plant, animal or mineral origin if they’re going to earn their organic badge. Among the acceptable fertilizers are dried blood providing essential leaf-making nitrogen; bone meals giving phosphates that help in root development; and wood ash that adds the essential flower and fruit producing potash. Seaweed-based tonics are also useful as they provide trace elements essential for growth. There are a number of ways to get around the worry of weeds, pests and diseases without getting trigger happy with the chemical spray. For starters, You’ll need to find dahlias a sunny spot, in well-nourished soil with good drainage. Taller varieties will need to be staked and plants fed and watered. Spent flowers must be regularly removed completely with the stem to keep them productive. All dahlias are delicious meals for slugs, so you’ll need to set traps to protect the plants. crop rotation on a vegetable plot will prevent a build-up of soil problems.

Do this to the rest of the garden and you’ll also avoid problems associated with soil sickness.

This condition can be noticeable on roses, which decline when planted on ground that has previously grown roses. The solution is simple, choose another spot for your new rose bed.

Maintaining good hygiene will also minimize the risk of pests and diseases.

You can also out manoeuvre pests by installing barriers and traps and select varieties that are resistant to problems.

Covering bare soil with weedsuppressing fabrics, decorative mulches and ground-hugging plants will also help keep plants healthy and happy.