Organic Herb Gardening: It's easier than you might think

Enjoying the intoxicating smells of the essential oils within the plants as you prune them for your own use and weed around them throughout the summer and fall.

As for organic herb gardening, well, it has been around for centuries. It's just since we have become so "smart" and learned how to make chemical pesticides and herbicides that we have turned away from doing it the natural way.

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If you're ready to turn back the hands of time and start puttering around your herb garden the natural way you have come to the right place. If you are interested in learning more about organic gardening, you can instantly download a book that I have found that is very helpful.

It's called Organic Gardening Secrets and it's fine for Mac's or PC's.

In this book you'll find information on everything from how to design and maintain your garden organically to how to become a USDA Certified grower.

Add extra income to your pocket and help your family and your community eat healthier. They will thank you for it!

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Beginner Herb Gardening...the organic way

You should also know the basic nature of herbs. For basic information check out our section on herbs. or sign up for our gardening newsletter and get an instant download of our newest e-book Herbs For Your Health: How to Grow and Use Them You'll find handy growing charts, pictures, growing and harvesting information as well as recipes and crafts to use them in.

Good compost puts vital nutrients from decomposed animal and vegetable matter in the form of humus. Without humus your soil is considered sand or clay and is not likely to grow healthy plants. Good humus soil also encourages earthworm activity which is very beneficial to your soil.

Once you have your compost, you can add other organic material to your soil once you determine from your soil sample if more nitrogen, phosphorus, or potassium is needed.

If more nitrogen is needed, you can obtain it from manure and blood meal. Nitrogen helps leaf production so it's good for your leafy vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, and kale.

Phosphorous may be needed and comes from bone meal and phosphate rock. It makes sense to add it to root crops like onions, beets, and carrots.

Potassium comes from hardwood ash and is especially good for flowers and fruit. A few vegetables like tomatoes, squash benefit from potassium too.

Another way to help herbs do well is to use companion planting. Some plants grow well together and some plants can actually kill other plants.

For example, black walnut trees have alllelopathic properties that make plants around them grow poorly. Black walnuts have a compound called juglone. This is the stuff that makes your hands black when you pick up ripe walnut husks.

Rain dissolves juglone from the leaves and washes it down into the root area of the tree. This ends up killing or stunting many kinds of plants.Rhododendrons, blackberries, tomatoes, alfalfa, and apple trees are some of the main plants that are affected according to the Encyclopedia of Herb Gardening.

Some plants such as onions, corn, raspberries, grapes, forsythia and Kentucky bluegrass seem to tolerate juglane.

For an excellent article on organic pest control go to the National Gardening Association

Check out The All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew for great ideas and directions for this type of gardening.