True Organic Fertilizer: Manure and Muck By Bill Urell

I visited a store last week, out in the country, where people might be expected to know better, and discovered that one of their products was 'organic fertilizer.' That's right; they were bagging cow dung and selling it, at six dollars a pound, no less. And this in a remote farming area surrounded by cow pastures!

"Organic fertilizer" sounds lovely, but truth be told, for a little work, you can get it free from any nearby farmer. Or you can usually pay someone to deliver it for you. It doesn't come in plastic bags, but I guarantee, it will be less than six dollars a pound.

What kinds of manure work best as organic fertilizer? Well, the store had one thing right; cow dung is best. Because cows digest so little of their food, cow manure won't burn plants the way nitrogen-rich chicken manure will. Nor does it need to be composted before putting it on the garden. (Actually, elephant dung is slightly better than cow dung. But this article assumes that you'll have a slightly easier time finding cow dung than elephant dung.)

Horse manure is another good one. It's not quite as nutrient-rich as cow dung, but again, it won't burn plants and it can be applied directly to the soil.

Chicken manure is the best as far as sheer nutrients go. It's rich in nitrogen; an application of chicken manure will grow some of the best corn you can imagine. However, chicken manure is what's know as a 'hot' manure; it will burn plants, and cannot be applied directly to the soil. In order to use it, let it compost for at least three months (six months to a year is better) in an out-of-the-way corner of the garden, then apply it sparingly to your unplanted beds and wait at least two weeks and one good rain before planting in it. Or, mix it with dry matter, such as leaf mold or sawdust, to cut down on the heat. (Unfortunately, this also dilutes the nutrients. But chicken manure diluted this way makes an excellent organic fertilizer because it can be applied directly to the beds, left two weeks and one good rain, and then planted.)

Ultimately, organic fertilizer should be free or--at the very least--cheap as...well...dirt. Because that's exactly what it is.
Why wait to learn the truth about healthy lifestyles? There is a gallery of powerful information for the taking. Decide now to improve the quality of your life. Click here: Pet Safe Fertilizer

Article Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Bill_Urell

I visited a store last week, out in the country, where people might be expected to know better, and discovered that one of their products was 'organic fertilizer.' That's right; they were bagging cow dung and selling it, at six dollars a pound, no less. And this in a remote farming area surrounded by cow pastures!

"Organic fertilizer" sounds lovely, but truth be told, for a little work, you can get it free from any nearby farmer. Or you can usually pay someone to deliver it for you. It doesn't come in plastic bags, but I guarantee, it will be less than six dollars a pound.

What kinds of manure work best as organic fertilizer? Well, the store had one thing right; cow dung is best. Because cows digest so little of their food, cow manure won't burn plants the way nitrogen-rich chicken manure will. Nor does it need to be composted before putting it on the garden. (Actually, elephant dung is slightly better than cow dung. But this article assumes that you'll have a slightly easier time finding cow dung than elephant dung.)

Horse manure is another good one. It's not quite as nutrient-rich as cow dung, but again, it won't burn plants and it can be applied directly to the soil.

Chicken manure is the best as far as sheer nutrients go. It's rich in nitrogen; an application of chicken manure will grow some of the best corn you can imagine. However, chicken manure is what's know as a 'hot' manure; it will burn plants, and cannot be applied directly to the soil. In order to use it, let it compost for at least three months (six months to a year is better) in an out-of-the-way corner of the garden, then apply it sparingly to your unplanted beds and wait at least two weeks and one good rain before planting in it. Or, mix it with dry matter, such as leaf mold or sawdust, to cut down on the heat. (Unfortunately, this also dilutes the nutrients. But chicken manure diluted this way makes an excellent organic fertilizer because it can be applied directly to the beds, left two weeks and one good rain, and then planted.)

Ultimately, organic fertilizer should be free or--at the very least--cheap as...well...dirt. Because that's exactly what it is.

Why wait to learn the truth about healthy lifestyles? There is a gallery of powerful information for the taking. Decide now to improve the quality of your life. Click here: [http://www.fertilizer.best-info-only.com/]Pet Safe Fertilizer

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?True-Organic-Fertilizer:-Manure-and-Muck&id=247229] True Organic Fertilizer: Manure and Muck

Make your own seed planters with old newspapers

Homemade pesticide

Organic Fertilizer - Salt, Coffee Grounds, and Day Old Coffee Pump Up the Peppers By Laura Maness Brown

I love gardening. I'll plant vegetables anywhere. I also love using organic fertilizer and gardening products whenever possible. This past summer, we had more than our share of rain. My pepper plants did not seem to be doing well during the excessively rainy summer. Peppers like it hot, and they love sun. I had a wide variety of peppers, too, including bells, Tabasco, volcano, pimiento, jalapeno, sweet banana, and a few other varieties.

I tried using Miracle-Gro which was working fine on some of my other garden plants. I normally alternate among fertilizers, using organic fertilizer as often as possible. The peppers remained dull and listless, as if completely stuck. I switched over to fish emulsion, that really awful smelling yet highly effective fertilizer. Things improved slightly, but not enough to suit me.

I started doing some research and discovered two fertilizers that I had not yet tried. Amazingly enough, both products were ready available in my own home. The first "fertilizer" product I discovered was Epsom salts, more commonly known as magnesium sulfate.

I took a small handful of the Epsom salts and put them around the base of each pepper plant, and then I watered the salt into the soil. I repeated this process once weekly. The results were amazing.

At the same time, I also began to take our used coffee grounds and spread those around the plants as well. After a few days, I decided if the pepper plants liked coffee grounds, surely they would not have a problem with the excess coffee left in the pot, so I made sort of a "coffee tea" by diluting the left over coffee with a little water and applied that to the plants as well.

My husband and I could not believe the results. The plants bushed up and out, transforming into some of the most gorgeous, luscious pepper plants I've ever seen. We had to stake the plants to support the heavy pepper load. I have never, in all my years of gardening, had pepper plants produce that many peppers.

One thing that commonly happens when fertilizing vegetables is that you might get a lot of green leaf and plant growth without much vegetable production. That was not the case. These plants became abundantly loaded with peppers. I had to spend half days washing and slicing them so I could preserve them in the freezer.

One thing I noticed when using the Epsom salts on other garden plants, such as squash. Do not "throw" the fertilizer onto the vegetable plant leaves. Take the time to place it around the plant base, and then water it in. I made the mistake on a really hot day of trying to do a quick scatter. Some of the salts got on the squash leaves and the sun literally burned the leaves up.

I am still not sure if that was what caused the problem with the squash, but without more experimentation I personally recommend a plant base application and lightly watering in.

It could primarily be the Epsom salt, or it could primarily be the coffee grounds and "coffee tea" producing these outstanding results. Then again, it might be the combination of the two. Of course, the fertilizer is just a part of the gardening process. You can't expect miracles. Vegetables still require good soil, adequate sunlight, and sufficient water.

It is now late September, and the pepper plants are still lusciously green and loaded with peppers. I live in the Deep South so our growing season is a little longer than in some other locations. As long as we keep harvesting, those plants keep producing. We'll keep harvesting peppers until frost comes, I suppose! From now on, my pepper plants will drink coffee and get salted on a regular basis! Happy gardening!

REPRINT RIGHTS statement: This article is free for republishing by visitors provided the Author Bio box is retained as usual so that all links are Active/Linkable with no syntax changes.
Laura Brown is an experienced ghostwriter and freelance writer. She also enjoys gardening and cooking. You can find some delicious recipes on her website, The Rancher's Daughter, along with a lot of useful and informative information on gardening, cooking, flowers, and living in the country. Learn more about Organic Fertilizer

Living Closer To Nature With Window Boxes

If you live in a city apartment or a flat where space is scarce but still want to have some green around you, window boxes planters are a very good solution. That's the main advantage of them, they allow you to have plants around with out demanding space. Imagine opening the window of your room in the morning to see beautiful plants and blooming flowers with their nice fragrance's soothing and cheering you! Dreamy, isn't it?

Even if you do have a garden, window plant boxes are still very handy. They can make your house and the garden blend nicely together, filling up the gap between the house and the garden. Then your house and the garden will look more like one beautiful scenery.

There are a few factors for you to consider when choosing a window box. First decide on your budget, measure the dimensions of the window, think about how much time and effort you can put in to setting up and maintaining, what types of plants to have, whether you need to customize it, and, not the least important, whether you want to go organic. Window boxes differ greatly in material, size and shape, style and color, as well as type, each of these aspects relate to those “to be considered before choosing” factors at different levels. Some materials are cheep,some durable, some easy to maintain, some easy to customize, and some more environmentally friendly.Obviously the shape, color and size must be compatible with the window. If you are a busy person with not enough time to care for your plants, there are self watering window box planters too.

So you have a general idea about how window boxes planters can be of great use to you, so why not give it a try?

Pruning Techniques For Common Vegetables By Crisologo Ramasasa

Pruning or simple trimming is the latest technology applied to horticultural crops to increase the quality of fruits and and vine crops. Reducing the number of branches and vines provides the maximum utilization of nutrient elements by the plant which supports the production of quality and vigorous fruits. The excess branches and vines are only an addition to the plants' burden, since they utilized more nutrients and not giving advantage in terms of fruit quality.

To produce more quality fruits, those excess branches and vines should be removed. They're just simply excess plant parts and have no economic value to gardeners.

Benefits Derived in Pruning

1) Minimize sunlight competition, nutrients, and water - These three factors when limited to the plants growth reduces its productivity. Pruning helps them to be available to the plants because some unnecessary plant parts have been removed.

2) Minimizes insect pests and diseases occurrence - When you prune your plants, they are exposed to total sunlight, therefore, reduces pests and diseases attack. Pests and diseases don't stay long in hot condition as compared to shady place.

3) Minimize spraying - When you don't spray, you minimize your production cost and at the same time helps for a chemical - free environment.

4) Improve quality of fruits - Pruned plants have bigger fruit size and have a better price in the market.

Pruning Techniques of Common Vegetables

• Upo, Patola and Ampalaya

1) 14 - 15 Days after transplanting, remove lateral vines including flowers and fruits from the 1st - 12th node (at least one meter from the plant base.
2) Allow to fruits on the 13th node up (this is the fruiting zone).
3) Do follow-up pruning and remove those curly leaves.

• Watermelon

1) Cut the terminal bud after the 4th node allowing 4 late5ral vines to develop.
2) Remove secondary lateral vines including flowers and fruits up to the 9th node.
3) Allow to develop fruits on the 10th node up
4) Remove lateral vines not the leaves that may crop up below the 9th node.
5) Allow 1 fruit each lateral vine to develop a total of 4 fruits for the 4 lateral vines.

• Honeydew and Muskmelon (without trellis)

1) Cut the terminal buds the same as in watermelon.
2) Remove sec0ondary lateral vines including flowers and fruits up to the 5th node.
3) Allow to develop fruits on the 6th node up.
4) Maintain 3 - 4 fruits per plant.

• Honeydew and Muskmelon (with trellis)

1) Remove lateral vines including flowers and fruits from the 1st node - 9th node.
2) Allow to develop fruits between the 10th up to the 20th node (fruiting zone).
3) Maintain two fruits per plant.

• Squash

1) Remove all the lateral vines including fruits and flowers from the 1st up to the 5th node.
2) Allow to develop fruits on the 6th node up
3) Remove leaves below the 6th node once the lateral vines are fully develop.
4) Don't allow any lateral vines to develop below the 6th node. Follow-up pruning should be observed always.

• Cucumber

1) Remove lateral vines including flowers and fruits up to the 5th node.
2) Allow to develop fruits on the 6th node up.
3) In every secondary vines allow twp fruits to develop then cut the tip after the 3rd node.

• Eggplant, Pepper and Tomato

1) Remove all the auxiliary buds up to the pork.
2) Above the pork allow to develop 4 branches and remove the leaves below the pork.
3) After fruiting stage remove the leaves below the pork.
4) Don't allow branches to develop below the pork area.

Always prune your vegetables to get a better quality you desired.

Cris Ramasasa, Freelance writer, writes about home gardening and Internet marketing tips. You can get a copy of his latest ebook "Discover How to get started in Flower Gardening" and "Vegetable Gardening Made Easy", also get lots of tips, Free articles, and bonuses at: http://www.crisramasasa.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Crisologo_Ramasasa