Organic Gardening

This is my Garden on Day 1. I did a lot of things differently this year thanks to the class that I am taking. Last year my garden was kind of scattered and this year I'm much more organized. I started my seeds in trays about 6 weeks ago and they were big, healthy and ready to be planted. So that's what I did yesterday. Before I did that though I had raked the dirt into raised rows inside the raised beds. I think that will help with drainage, keeping down weeds and help keep me organized. It also allows me to walk in the beds without stepping all over the good soil. This is what I planted this year:
Heirloom Brandywine tomatoes
Amish Paste Tomatoes
Cherry Tomatoes
Butternut Squash
Sugar Pumpkins
Summer Squash
Black Beauty Zucchini
Broccoli
Walla Walla Onion
Cucumbers
Heirloom Lettuce
Romaine
Basil
Parsley
Thyme
Sweet Bell Pepper
Jalapeno
Cilantro
Beans



I will also be planting some Swiss Chard,Garlic, and Spinach next month. I put some worm castings down on the rows before I planted yesterday so I hope that helps. I also had a soil sample taken to make sure that my soil had all it needed and luckily it is perfect and I didn't have to add any amendments. I decided not to grow strawberries this year because the place that I bought them from last year was not selling them. I guess there was a virus that attacked the entire crop this year and no plants were allowed to leave California. So maybe next year. I am really excited to grow this year because I'm gonna try canning some things. I want to make my own tomato sauce, tomato paste, salsa, and plain canned tomatoes to save a little money. Organic canned tomatoes are pretty expensive so every little bit helps. I also have a family recipe for pickles that I want to try as well. Then we are going to freeze a lot with my food saver. We use a lot of vegetable purees so those are easy to freeze for a later time. I will be posting a picture of my garden every week so that you can see the progress. I also hope to give some tips on organic gardening that I am learning in my class. My first tip will be a potting mix that you can use to start your seeds in or you can use in a pot for container gardening. This mix is wonderful and has a lot of nutrients in it to get good growth from your seeds. I will say though that you need to start with Organic seeds and preferably heirloom if you can find them. Non organic seeds have been treated with chemicals and irradiated to prevent disease.


Here is the potting mix:
1-2 cubic feet of peat moss ( make sure it does not have a fertilizer added)
1 bucket of sand
1 bucket vermiculite or pearlite( make sure not to breathe in when adding this or wear mask)
6 c of a balanced organic granular fertilizer
2 bucket of top soil ( if using bagged, again make sure there are no chemical fertilizers added)
2 buckets of compost , worm castings,or composted cow manure



This is the mix that our teacher gave us. I didn't have everything so this is what I used:
1 bag of peat moss
1 bag of compost
1 bag of Black Cow compost
1 bag of vermiculite
sand from my yard



It worked really good. The goal here is to get good soil that is light enough for roots to grow in and can retain some water for the roots. The peat moss lightens up the soil , acidifies the ph of the soil, also retains a little water. The vermiculite also retains water.