Anise Hyssop has wonderful clear blue flowers
Originally uploaded by hardworkinghippy

Anyone who has ever grown cabbage or one of its relatives — lettuce, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, rabe, kale, etc. — has most likely had to deal with the unwanted attention of the cabbage butterfly. This plain white (if rather delicate) flutterer may look pretty as it flies around your garden, but it leaves behind eggs that hatch into caterpillars that will happily eat your plants. To avoid this, try planting the mint-like herb hyssop among your cabbage family plants. It’ll draw the attention of most, if not all, of the local cabbage butterflies, so that you won’t have to deal with handpicking many of the caterpillars off your broccoli.

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Here’s a good way to get big, beautiful organic vegetables without too much fuss: punch some holes in the bottom of a plastic milk carton and bury it about halfway next to your vegetable plants. Then fill it with diluted organic liquid fertilizer; compost tea works well, if you can get it. The fertilizer will gradually filter through the holes and into the ground, bathing the root systems of your plants. When the fertilizer runs out, it’s easy enough to fill up the milk carton again. While the plastic will eventually begin to degrade due to exposure to the elements, it ought to last long enough to support your plant through the growing season, and it’ll be easy to pull up and throw away when you’re done. This method works especially well for tomato plants.

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If you’re into growing roses, you can use the purely organic “companion plant principle” to maximize their health, beauty, and bloom production. It’s well known that some flowers work very well together, mostly because one of the pair protects both from disease and insects. For example, roses grow very well in combination with garlic, onions, and other members of the onion family (that’s over 500 species), and hey, with most of them you get tasty veggies as a side benefit. If you’re looking for decoration instead, try marigolds or mignonettes. Marigolds are also somewhat good at deterring weeds. The herb thyme also makes a nice, harvestable companion plant that your roses will love.

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Just because you’re working toward a chemical-free organic garden, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use modern technology to help you along. Consider, for example, landscape fabric. This fibrous material can be laid on a prepared bed and covered over with soil or mulch to keep weeds from coming up into your flowerbed or garden.

You can also use landscaping fabric to smother existing weeds. It’s permeable to water, and while most varieties are extremely durable, you can usually pierce it as necessary in order to provide your own plants spaces to grow through. Even if you do have weeds come up in your garden, from seeds that were already present in the top layer of soil or mulch, they won’t be able to develop good root systems and will be easy to pull up.

The Integrated Pest Management Information Service has a complete website about using landscape fabric.

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If you’d like to have an ornamental pond in your yard but you’re worried about mosquito larvae, here’s a natural solution: drop in a few carnivorous fish (such as sunfish or perch from a local lake), or encourage toads to lay their eggs in the water by providing them with nice homes (such as overturned planting pots) nearby. You’ll end up with ready-made patrollers eager to eat any mosquito wiggler that hatches. For organic algae control, put in some goldfish, or invest in an algae-eating catfish like the ones you see in many aquaria. They’ll help keep your pond clean without resorting to chemicals. Even if you end up having to feed them, they’ll add character and beauty to your ponds.

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One effective and organic way to speed up the composting process is to use a vermicomposter, also known as a worm composter. As the name suggests, this variant of the composter uses earthworms to help break down the compost. The worms burrow through and eat the composting material, leaving behind rich black organic material that’s perfect for your garden. Most worm composters are designed so that the worms work in the upper part of the bin, breaking down organic waste and kitchen scraps, while the liquid material (compost tea) filters down into the bottom of the bin. You can also collect the worms castings, which are a rich, odor-free source of nutrients for your garden.

You’ll need special red composting worms (a thousand or so) to get started.

Worm composting allows you to compost all year round, even if you live in a very cold part of the country. Simply move your worm bin into your garage or heated storage shed, and your worms will be happy all year long. Use the liquid on your house plants, and store your worm castings for use in the spring!

Read our complete worm composting guide here.

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You can make your lawn duties a little easier by “rockscaping” your yard, especially if you live in an arid area where water is dear. Rockscaping uses natural stone to beautify and add interest to a landscape. You don’t need to replace your entire lawn with rocks; a few boulders here and there, or a small rock garden, can add character and charm to your property. In so doing, it cuts down on the amount of vegetation you have to take care of, which saves you time, money, and effort, and helps you ration water without letting your lawn go to wrack and ruin.

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You’ll have a higher success rate with your organic gardening if you start some or all of your seeds indoors, just before the planting season gets underway. This is especially important if you’re dealing with organic seed you collected from your previous harvest. Most vegetable seedlings grow well indoors, assuming they get plenty of light and you don’t over-water them. Once they’ve grown two true leaves, begin transplanting the seedlings from their initial containers into larger containers, spaced 2-3 inches apart. When your garden’s ready, carefully transplant them into your prepared beds. This method can be especially effective if you don’t have enough seed to waste on the standard method of over-planting and subsequent thinning.

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If you’re itching to grow a truly organic vegetable garden, you’d do best to go with so-called “heirloom” vegetables. These are the types of plants grown by traditional farmers in the old days, when everyone was an organic farmer, so you know they’ve been optimized for organic growing. In these days of hybrid and genetically modified plants, however, it might be difficult to find the types of “old-fashioned” seeds you’re looking for in a local garden store or home center. Fortunately, the Internet offers plenty of sites where you can order heirloom seeds for your garden. They may cost a little more than other brands, but they’re ideal for your needs.

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The best way to avoid a plague of mosquitoes in your back yard is to get rid of any standing water. This includes old buckets, empty planting pots, unused bird baths, and even items as innocuous as overturned garbage-can lids; mosquitoes will lay their eggs wherever there’s enough water for their little wigglers to survive in. One place most people don’t think of looking is in their home’s guttering, where clogs can create pools deep enough for mosquito larvae to thrive. Therefore, it’s a good idea to clear out your gutters regularly, in order to cut down on mosquito habitat.

If you have areas of standing water that can’t be removed, such as rain barrels or ornamental fountains, you can throw in non-toxic mosquito-control dunks that use bacteria harmless to people to kill mosquito larvae before they mature.

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