Getting Started in Organic Veg Growing

The soil is the most precious part of any garden. When it is in good heart, healthy plants will look after themselves and resist many of the garden’s pests and diseases.

Look after the topsoil

Find out what kind of soil you have.

Test how alkaline it is, remembering that most vegetables [except potatoes] like soil that has a pH reading of 6.5 – 7. If the pH is below this, you will need to alter the pH level by adding lime.

Find out about the soil structure.

• Soil particles and air should be 50:50.
• If the soil is thin and gritty, add compost, well rotted manure and/ or leafmould to improve structure.
• If the soil is largely clay, you should also add compost and/or well rotted manure to break up the solid clay.
• If the soil is lovely and crumbly, add compost to keep it that way. We add home made compost to the soil, either well rotted and dug in during the spring, or rougher and used as a top dressing.

By following these guidelines the structure of your soil will steadily improve as the billions of micro organisms work to your advantage.

A natural balance of pests and predators

A well established organic garden will have a good balance of what we call ‚”pests” and ‚”predators”. All these living creatures, including those too small for us to see, will find a balance. Every pest provides a delicious dinner for one or more predators, and no self respecting predator will empty its larder at one sitting. In other words, we must tolerate some pests, but they’ll rarely be in large enough numbers to cause problems. A large number of techniques are used: providing shelters of various kinds for wildlife; starting a pond; and growing a range of plants to attract lots of wildlife to the garden.

Prevent pest problems

Pests and diseases will still occur, especially while an organic garden is being established -it can’t be created overnight. Even in well established gardens, we need to use a range of techniques to foil pests. The secret is to know the ‚”enemy” and to take steps to disrupt its lifestyle. Several methods are used here: creating barriers to keep pests, like cabbage root fly, away; using biological controls, against slugs or vine weevil; growing disease resistant varieties; and being vigilant, looking out for problems before they become too serious. It is very important to stress that healthy plants are less likely to invite problems. This is achieved by providing good growing conditions and whatever nutrients a plant needs, but it is vital that plants should not be overfed as this will result in sappy growth which in itself is sure to attract pests.

Crop rotation

We use a 4 year crop rotation system in the vegetable garden. Each crop takes different nutrients from the soil, and the soil is treated differently for these crops. Each vegetable has different pests and diseases, so by moving the vegetable to a different piece of ground every year, diseases don’t build up in the ground.

Over a 4 year cycle, plant like this:

Year Plot 1 Plot 2 Plot 3 Plot 4

1. potatoes, the rest brassicas legumes
2. legumes potatoes the rest brassicas
3. brassicas legumess potatoes the rest
4. the rest brassicas legumes potatoes

For more information, visit Sowing Vegetable Seeds and Pricking out Vegetable Seedlings and Spring Planting in the Vegetable Garden