Growing your own organic fruits and vegetables is a great way to know what your food contains and where it comes from. While gardening without the use of pesticides and herbicides can seem like it might be hard to to do, if you have the right information, it can actually be very easy and rewarding. This article will show you how it can be done.

Plan your gardening accordingly to the weather. If you live in an area where the ground freezes during the winter, do not plant anything before frost is expected. If you live in a warmer area, take a break during the warmest months of summer to avoid wasting too much water.

When growing potatoes, make sure you choose a variety with a starch content that corresponds with the way you’ll be cooking them. The more starch there is in a potato, the drier and flakier it will be when cooked. Potatoes that are good for mashing have approximately 7% starch. These potatoes cook quickly and retain a high moisture content, so they’re easy to mash. Baking potatoes have a starch content between 15% and 18%, and frying potatoes have the highest level at 22%.

Brighten up your winter garden with trees that have interesting bark. A winter garden can tend to look bare and drab, especially if you live in a very cold climate. Three good choices are a paperbark maple, silver birch or scarlet willow. This will make a quite noticeable difference to the look of your garden.

If you’re going to grow peas, start them indoors before putting them in the ground outside. If you plant them inside, they might germinate more effectively. The baby plants will also be stronger and will resist pests and disease better. When these pea plants are sturdy, you can place them outside in your garden.

Mini roses are very popular and are low maintenance. They come in many bright colors and offer a variety of interesting flower shapes. However, if you want to add a rose to your garden for the fragrance, then a mini-rose may not be a good choice because they produce little to no fragrance. If fragrance is your preference, try a larger, hybrid rose for the most intense fragrance.

Be sure that you have earthworms in your soil. Earthworms are vital to good organic gardening, because they aerate the soil. Also, the by-products of earthworm digestion are actually great plant food. Earthworms encourage soil bacteria that provide needed nutrients to your plants while competing with harmful insect pests, reducing the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Add aspirin to your plants to help them fight sickness. To add the aspirin to the plant, dissolve about one tablet and a half into approximately two gallons of fresh water. You can just spray this on them to fight disease. Be sure to repeat this process every two or three weeks.

It is important to wear a mask when gardening, if you are an asthmatic. Breathing can already be difficult for you and the pollen that is in the air could make it worse. Wearing a mask is a great and inexpensive way to lessen your chances of having an asthma attack.

To keep air flowing through your compost pile, stand a large PVC pipe with punched holes in the center of your pile so the air flows up and down the pipe, and then through the holes directly into the pile. The air movement helps your soil decomposers create the heat needed to jumpstart the decay process.

Use soap on your plants. Not much is worse than a bad aphid infestation. Your plants will look terrible, and eventually die, if the bugs continue to work on your plants. To get rid of them now, fill a spray bottle with dish soap and water. Spray thoroughly, and repeat as needed.

If you are new to organic gardening and are interested in growing vegetables, you should be aware that certain plants are much easier to start with than others. For example, broccoli, onions, and peppers are amongst the easiest. You should also be aware that different plants have different growing timetables. These timetables are available online. After selecting which plants you want to grow, look up their timetables so you know when to plant them.

To make your organic gardening venture as environmentally friendly as it is healthy, consider making your own mulch. To make your own mulch, all you need is a soil sample combined with your leftover food products. You can buy a mulcher or manually mulch your waste simply by turning it over every few days.

Pests can be a challenge when you are starting organic gardening. You need to keep the soil that you are using healthy. Healthy soil brings forth healthy plants and they can withstand some damage from pests. Your plants will not only be healthy but they will be beautiful as well.

Stagger you vegetable planting so you will have a new harvest every month or so. The reason is, this will prevent your entire harvest from coming in all at once. If you only have one harvest and something goes wrong, this prevents all your tomatoes from getting ruined.

If your garden includes plants that prefer acidic soil, such as begonias, roses, and strawberries, you should mulch with a generous layer (two to three inches) of discarded pine needles at the beginning of the autumnal season. As the pine needles slowly decompose, they will release trace amounts of acid into the soil.

Plant a variety of foliage native to your region for the best garden. When you have a bigger variety of plants, you also attract different wildlife as well. Plant various plant types to create a natural environment. A diverse garden is incredibly attractive. It’s also very rewarding and relaxing.

As you can see, growing your own garden, free from the chemicals that other foods contain, is not only easy to do, but you will have a wonderful, healthy crop of food that you can eat yourself, or share with family and friends. Make sure you tell them what they are eating.