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Apr 28, 2013

My Organic Challenge

 I sometimes think how organically I can grow my vegetables when I plant new seed and sprouts.
I believe I still have many things to be organic since I sometimes use chemical things like fertilizer and pesticide. What will happen if I switch those chemical things into organic ways? I decided I install some organic methods to grow my vegetables more Organically!

1. Installing companion plants

I believe companion plant method is so familiar among many gardeners and I tried to install the method to ward off beetles, aphids and namatodes. I studied that marigolds are effective to ward off them so I and my kids bought 2 potted marigolds and planted then my gardening beds.

My daughter is choosing good ones.
My kids are planting a marigold

The companion plant method is not only for warding off bugs but for help vegetable's healthy growth. Planting sweet basil beside tomato trees is effective to make the tomatoes more delicious so I bought a pack of basil seeds and planted them at the edge of my gardening bed for tomato trees. I can enjoy the great combination for cooking Italian dishes when they will have grown!
                                            


2. Using leftover as fertilizer

My family loves miso-soup with clams and the shells were thrown away into a garbage can.
I studied the shells contain a lot calcium, which is effective to neutralize soil. I hammered them to powder after I washed them to remove salt and dried them.

2 comments:

Mark Willis said...

Do you make your own compost, Takaeko? This is a really good way of using leftovers - and vegetable peelings etc. Home-made compost certainly helps to keep plants healthy.

Kelli said...

I'm always interested in companion planting and I will be using marigolds as well.