Organic Gardening – Getting Started

Organic Gardening

Gardening is not all about trees, shrubs and flowers. If you are going to spend time in the garden, now is the time to get the herb garden happening. Why? Because most commercially prepared food is dead and in order for your body to get it’s nutrition, naturally, it needs herbs and spices.

Yes you can get nutrition from fruits and vegies but you get more of the important ones from the fresh herbs and the dried spices. Synthetic flavours have no nutritional value what so ever and because the supplements industry is not regulated, you can’t be sure of what you are getting in those pills.

On the other hand, if you grow your own herbs and add them to your meals, you know exactly what you are eating. And when you become a high ticket affiliate marketer you will own a water treatment system that will add to the wellness of your plants too…

Why Would You!?

I will assume you are aware of what’s happening to our commercial foods. I’m not going into the politics, but if you care about yours and your families wellness, you will keep reading.

When I was a kid, several decades ago, every kitchen had a kitchen garden where we grew the herbs and spices. We’d prepare dinner, and go and pick the seasonal herbs that offer flavour and nutrition. It was unheard of to buy herbs from a shop. I mean – who would do that?

Our generations have become fragmented and now family is made up of a close knit group of friends, and I trust you will have a few oldies in yours. Our gardening knowledge is being lost as we lose our elders. Be sure you find someone who can help you with yours. Try a local community garden or start one. And come back here and read these articles…

Where to start

If you don’t have a garden or don’t have room for one, at the very least you need two pots, one for Rosemary and one for Oregano. The nutrient and wellness benefits from these two plants alone make for a great start.

Strait from google: “Studies have shown that the carnosic and rosmarinic acids in rosemary have powerful antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. Consuming rosemary regularly can potentially help lower the risk of infection and help the immune system fight any infections that do occur.”

and Oregano

“Oregano contains chemicals that might help reduce cough. Oregano also might help with digestion and with fighting against some bacteria and viruses. People use oregano for wound healing, parasite infections, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.”

Notice how the quotes includes the word ‘might’ and concludes ‘there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses’. That’s the influence of big pharma trying to reduce the substantial impact that natural fresh herbs have on the body. There are huge volumes of information on the benefits of specific herbs, their essential oils, and the various parts of each plant, but there are those who make more profit from the sale of pills than herbs.

Think of Mother Earth providing her own medicine chest in the garden. You don’t need to know the facts, just add some herbal greens to every meal and reap the wellness rewards.

Rosemary grows into a bush, while oregano is a ground cover. Oregano grows well as a hanging plant and you harvest the hanging branches. There are many varieties so make sure you are buying the one that grows locally, or go get a cutting and get adventurous – learn how to grow from a living plant.

Without making it too much of a challenge, buy a ready growing Rosemary plant about 10 cm or 6 inches tall with a single trunk, and an oregano plant not as big. Find a ceramic (not plastic) pot for the rosemary, bigger than the one it comes in, with a plate to go under it and catch the drainage. Buy a hanging basket for the oregano or you can plant it under the Rosemary in the same pot but you will need an even bigger pot.

Pick up a bag of rich potting mix and either a packet of Thrive or a bottle of Seasol. Plants need to be feed too, at least every 2 to 3 weeks. You’ll note this on your calendar to remind yourself when the next feed is due. Just read the labels.

Planting the herbs

Place some blue metal of creek gravel or small rocks in the bottom of the pot, cover with a piece of weed matting or fly screen mesh to keep the dirt above the rocks. This helps with drainage – essential because neither plant like wet feet!

Water the plants and let them drain.

Add in some potting mix up to the depth of the oregano pot. Remove the plant from its original pot and ruffle the dirt around the roots, breaking them up a bit. If there are no visible roots don’t go looking for them. Place the plant in the center and fill more potting mixture around it, pushing the dirt in very hard around the plant pot dirt.

If you are planting the oregano into this same pot, do it while filling the last layer of potting mix around the rosemary plant.

Water again and allow to drain.

Location Location Location

If you have ever taken notice of plants outside, some grow wonderfully in full sun while other can’t handle the sun at all. Both these plants enjoy a small amount of sun each day, so place the pots where they can have some morning sun. You may need to move them around until you find the spot that make them happiest. And this may be a different place in the middle of winter.

The Rosemary will stay alive during winter but may not grow, and the oregano may appear to die back in winter but as long as you have kept the water up to it during winter, it will put out new shoots in spring. It is not necessary to replant a new plant every year, as the nurseries and commercial gardening shows would have you do.

How much water

Dig out a small handful of dirt from below the surface of the rosemary, and make a patty by squeezing it tight. If it holds together it is wet enough. If it crumbles and wont hold together, it needs water.

A watering hack is to acquire a length of poly pipe, not quite the depth of the pot and drill holes down the length of it. Insert the pipe down into the dirt and pour the water into the pipe. This helps disperse the water into the root zone.

WARNING: in summer, if your soil is sandy and it dries out, the soil may change – it can become like hair that responds to static in the air but it pushed water away, it doesn’t hold water. You may be watering on the surface but it’s not penetrating into the soil where the roots need it. The plant will tell you when it looks sad, go digging to find the problem.

If this occurs, keep watering and force the water into the dirt, throughout the day and the following days until the soil condition goes away, then resume watering more often.

Or you could water with Kangan Water.

Weeding

Weed seeds are in most soils, just pull them out before they flower and go to seed, and throw the weeds into your rubbish bin. A single pot does not need a chemical to control weeds, it needs your love and care.

Some may call weeds ‘herbs’, in fact many herbs are considered weeds. What is the difference? If the plant offers not nutritional benefit to the human body, and it takes away from or offers no benefit to the garden, it is a weed.

Be sure to get to know your local weeds because most plants offer something, if not to you, but to the soil.

The science: weed seeds live in the soil, dormant, until the perfect conditions appear for it to germinate and grow. When a particular weed appears, it is due to the soil composition and in simple terms, Mother Earth grows this weed to replenish something that is missing in the soil.

So when you get to growing more plants, you will keep your weeds and I will teach you how to kill the weed seed and return the weed compost to the soil, where it is needed.

Final Words

Getting started with a pot or two gets you into a new habit. Every morning, when you pour your first coffee or tea, or water, check in on your herbs and see if they need a drink. This is the best way to start gardening because as you grow more and more plants, they will need to be attended to daily, just like a small child, and you will need to read their messages, and respond to their needs or watch your hard work go to pieces.

When the garden shines, it will reflect your frequency, your attentiveness to it’s needs. In time, when you start to read the garden at a glance and you gain joy out of your time in the garden, you will understand why some of us thrive in a garden and not in front of the television… consider investing time in the garden over some other time wasting activity reap the many rewards.