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It is not only important to get rid of pests from your garden, but it is also important to prevent them from destroying your garden. You can use chemicals in the form of pesticides to do this, but it may be as harmful to you as it is to the pests. It is also not good for the plants that grow in your garden. Using these chemicals has also been shown to be related to the cause of a number of diseases like Lymphoma, cancer, birth defects etc. These chemicals are also expensive. Hence using organic garden pest control strategies are beneficial for you and the plants.

One of the first steps you can take is using organic soil. Organic soil aids in the proper growth of plants and thus makes it better equipped to ward off the threats by your pests. You must use compost bins and compost pails, which is an integral part in organic garden pest control, which can be used to produce compost at home. There are several repellents that are good organic recipes for pest control like orange guard and organic insect killer repellent that can be used to kill or repel insects and bugs. These are non toxic in nature and provide effective results in killing or repelling the pests.

The most effective form of pest control is prevention. If you can grow your garden in such a way that the probability of pest attack is minimized, then use of repellents that generally come under the organic pest control category can be kept as a last resort.

You can start the whole process when you are deciding the kind of plants you want in your garden. By studying the types of plants and the various bugs that affect them, you can set up the defences as you know what type of bugs will affect your garden. Certain plants attract certain insects that are known to eat pests that affect other plants. By planting these plants together, you are essentially empowering the garden with its own natural defence system to get rid of the pests. There are certain kinds of plants that have their own natural defence system against pests. These plants can be useful additions in your garden as they provide organic garden pest control measures.

As part of organic garden pest control, you should take care of the soil in the garden and make sure it stays fertile and healthy throughout the year. You can do this by working on your garden throughout the year by adding compost and rearranging your plants. You should make sure that all the planting is done when conditions are not conducive for the growth of pests. Another useful strategy is to allow the growth of bugs that eat pests in your garden. This is where the use of chemicals can be disadvantageous as the bugs that are useful can also get killed.

In any case, you must be ready to get your hands dirty to combat the menace of these pests using organic garden pest control. You should carefully study each and every kind of pests that can likely affect your garden and study the different ways to get rid of them by checking upon sources like insect encyclopaedia. Due diligence and hard work in your garden are sure shot of ways of keeping the pests at bay.

Visit our website if you are interested in more information on insect pest control and pests and disease in the Organic Garden

Imagine eating luscious red strawberries fresh from your garden still warm from the sun. What a treat and that treat can be yours. Here are easy tips for growing strawberries.

Strawberries need at least six hours of sun a day to flower and set fruit. Keep that in mind when selecting a site for your berries. Strawberry pots, those big pots with little holes in the sides are not ideal for strawberries because they dry out too fast.

Strawberries prefer rich soil. Dig down about six inches with a sturdy shovel and turn the dirt over. Remove rocks and twigs and sprinkle in a slow release fertilizer per package directions. Add a bag of compost or well rotted manure for every 8 square feet of your strawberry patch. For example if your patch is 12 feet by 12 feet you would need 4 bags. Spread the compost evenly and then turn over the soil again to mix the fertilizer and compost into the soil.

Plant strawberry plants about 12 inches apart. Strawberries grow quickly into a bush about a foot around.

Water well. Every month use a liquid fertilizer that feeds the foliage (leaves) as well as soaking into the ground. Strawberries have small white flowers between the size of a dime and quarter with yellow centers. Each plant can have from 3 or 4 berries to a dozen. Depending on the variety of the berry you buy, you can have all the berries setting and ripening at once to berries that ripen continuously over the summer.

Don’t over water your plants especially after the berries have set. Mud around the fruit can cause the fruit to rot. Test the soil to see if it needs water by inserting your finger into the dirt. If the soil is still moist up to within an inch of the surface you can wait to water. If it’s dry then water. It’s best to water deeply less often. That encourages the roots of the plant to reach down into the soil.

When the berries are showing a blush of pink think about how you’re going to discourage birds from eating the berries. This can be accomplished with netting held over the berries by tying the net to posts about one foot off the ground. Or you can try using tinsel, yes the kind you buy for Christmas decorations or specially made foil that grape vineyard use.

If slugs or snails are a problem in your area , Set out jar lids filled with beer in the evening. The slugs and snails love beer, will fall in and drown.

Don’t spray the flowers with insecticides. You risk killing the bees which pollinate the flowers turning them from flowers into berries. Use a strong spray from your garden hose to knock any bugs off the plants.

Berries don’t ripen any more after being picked so wait until your berries are a bright crimson red before picking.

Follow these easy tips from Easy Garden Care and you’ll have lush sweet strawberries fresh from your garden.

Find more tips from Dee Power on growing strawberries at http://www.easygardencare.com.

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The Loire Valley is a wonderful delight for garden enthusiasts. Not only can you admire the spectacular castles and enjoy fine French cuisine and great Loire valley wine, tourists can also marvel at some amazing gardens. The whole valley is now listed b UNESCO as a world heritage site

Chateau Villandry is a gem and a must see for any one with a vegetable garden in need of some inspiration. Chateau Chaumont on the banks of the Loire River holds a spectacular international garden festival every summer. Peony and rose lovers should visit the botanical gardens at Orchaise west of Blois.

Chateau Villandry owes its fame to the exceptional terraced gardens which sit on three levels and include an ornamental garden, a water garden Eight gardeners work full time in the gardens of Villandry, and plant about 60,000 vegetables and 45,000 plants in its gardens each year. Villandry is a dynamic place, the site of many activities such as the summer festival, 3special exhibits, the “Vegetable Garden Days” in September and workshops with the gardeners from the chateau.

The gardens at Chateau Villandry are an imaginative twentieth century re-creation of a 16th century renaissance castle garden. The moated Chateau dates from 1536 and had a formal garden in the eighteenth century. The existing garden dates from the years after 1906 when it was bought by a Spaniard, Dr Joachim Carvallo.

He bought the property and poured an enormous amount of time, money and devotion into repairing the castle. Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, he wished the garden to have a sixteenth century character. He created what many gardeners consider to be the most beautiful gardens anywhere in the world.

The gardens are split into several parts: a water garden with a pond, an ornamental flower garden near the castle, a children’s garden with a play area, a maze made from 1,200 beech trees, a kitchen garden with aromatic herbs and vegetables and a greenhouse garden.

An arbour of grape vines leads to a great parterre, conceived as a Garden of Music. The Garden of Love is o nthe other side of the canal. Symbolising the moods of love, it is actually trapezoid but looks rectangular from the chateau. The love garden has its heart-shaped box hedges laid out with square beds illustrating “Tragic Love”, “Fickle love”, “Tender Love” and “Insane Love” and its colourful flowers. There is also the beautiful water garden with its lawns and pool of water.

But the real treasure at Chateau Villandry is the ultimate vegetable garden. It is laid out in nine squares, bordered by espaliered apple trees, drooping pear bushes and standard roses which symbolise the monks who once tended the first medieval vegetable gardens, Villandry is a vegetal feast, with blocks of autumn pumpkins, zigzags of crazy-growing leeks, big purple cabbages, beds of yellow and green peppers and mounds of celery all replanted twice a year with a brilliant eye for the colours of the changing seasons.

In 1934, Chateau de Villandry was designated a monument historique. It is still owned by the Carvallo family, and open to the public. It is one of the most visited castles in France. In July the gardens are lit by over 2000 candles after dark and this beautiful vision of the gardens is accompanied by baroque music played by musicians wandering throughout the gardens.

An international garden festival takes places every day during the entire summer, on the grounds of the Chateau de Chaumont. Gardeners from all over the world produce outstanding gardens around a central theme, using nature and art together to create the desired effect.

Lasting six months from late April to mid-October, some 25 gardens at Chateau de Chaumont take a different theme each year - from water, weeds and vegetables to more conceptual poetry. The Garden Festival at Chaumont drawing international teams of artists, architects and stage directors as well as landscape designers and gardeners.

The theme for the festival for 2007 is mobility. Last year it was play and most of the exhibits were highly interactive and a delight to the young and to the young at heart.

The botanic park at Orchaise boasts over 2,000 plant varieties from around the world ranging from blooming cherries to water lilies. It is especially well known for its beautiful array of roses and penies.

The Loire Valley can not help to inspire gardeners. Even Mick Jagger gyrating lead singer of the Rolling Stones, is now garden enthusiast at his preferred second residence near Amboise. He got Alvilde Lees-Milne to lay out a marvelous formal walled garden at his 15th century chateau and he has now become completely part of the garden, knowing every single thing about all the plants, the flowers, and the way the fruit trees are espaliered.

Inspirational Gardens

Corina Clemence operates Chateau du Guerinet a luxury french castle in the Loire Valley near Blois, for up to fifteen people perfect for a fantastic french holiday with family and friends and for unwinding and visiting historic castles and vineyards. The castle is perfect for a fairytale french wedding, party or any event. You can rent the whole castle or rent a luxury suite. www.loirechateau.com Come and explore the gardens in this delightful region.

In the summer, you’ll be more likely to be in your water garden in the evenings, enjoying your pond, watching the fish swimming lazily through the water. The heat of summer, however provides some challenges in maintaining your pond, and keeping the fish healthy. These tips will help you to keep the fish and the pond healthy.

Oxygen

Oxygen levels in your pond are essential if you have gold fish. When the water temperatures reach 90 degrees F., level of oxygen should be at least 7.0 ppm. You will start noticing signs of stress in the fish when the oxygen level drops to 4.0 ppm, and they will start dying at 3.0 ppm. The oxygen levels in the water will drop as the temperatures rise, so during the hottest part of the day, you should provide shade for the pond and the fish to keep the water temperatures down. Fountains, air stones, or other aerators will help to add oxygen to the water to keep the fish healthy.

Parasites

Parasites such as anchor worms, fish lice, flukes, and other parasites will increase in warm weather. Some of the symptoms will include thick mucous on the fish, rubbing against objects in the pond, jumping, and flashing. Visible parasites, like anchor worms, fish lice, and others can be treated with Dylox, Dipterex, and Masoten. For other parasite infections, you should consult a pond specialist for treatment. Be sure to tell them how the fish are behaving, and what the symptoms are. Follow the instructions on the label carefully to avoid killing off the fish as well as the parasites.

Feeding

As the weather, and the water temperature warms up, so will the metabolism of your fish, so you will need to feed them at different intervals than in cooler weather. Estimate the total body weight of the fish in the pond, then feed them 1%-1.5% of the total body weight in food, 5-8 times a day. Koi will digest their food faster in warmer weather than in cooler weather. When the weather gets warm, you should feed them about 5-8 times a day as opposed to 1-3 times a day in cooler weather.

Shade

If your pond gets direct sunlight during the day, especially during the hottest part of the day, you should provide shady areas for the fish to keep out of the sunlight, especially in shallow ponds. Water lilies, rocks, and other plants will provide shade for the fish. If you have to, you can also shade the pond with a beach umbrella. Just make sure that the fish have shelter from the direct sunlight to prevent them from getting sunburn. Shade will also help to prevent algae.

Evaporation

In warm weather, more water evaporates from the pond, especially with a large surface area. Monitor the level of the water daily, and add water to your pond as needed. Remember not to use water with chlorine if you have fish. You can buy water treatments that will remove chlorine from the water, or fill a few buckets, and let them sit overnight before adding it to your pond.

A pond does require quite a bit of attention in the summer. But by following these simple tips, you can keep the pond and its inhabitants healthy. And you’ll get more enjoyment out of a healthy pond.

Check out http://www.water-gardens-fountains.com for more pond care tips and resources.
Seasonal Gardening

It’s easy,very inexpensive and they taste better too so lets get started!

STEP 1: Which tomatoes should I grow? If you have a long growing season then you would want to go with an indeterminate variety which grows all summer long. If your growing season is short then you would go with a determinate variety which produces its fruit quickly (in as little as 85 days or less) and ripens all at once.

Step 2: Now that I have bought my seeds what do I do with them? Six to eight weeks for the end of winter I line up little paper cups filled with peat moss and put one seed in each cup. I then place them in a sunny window sill and water almost daily as peat tends to dry out quickly. Make sure not to over water or let the seed/roots sit in excessive water as this will kill them.

As your seedlings grow transplant them into larger and larger containers, each time burying them up to the first set of leaves. The plant will send out roots from the buried stem and will develop a stronger root system by the time they are ready to be planted outdoors. Once your seedlings have taken off and the threat of frosts are over move your plants outdoors for a few hours each afternoon to get them acclimated, or hardened off, before actually planting them in the garden.

Will any soil work? Tomatoes need a rich, well-drained soil ideally full of organic matter, so get started on that compost pile early.

How much sun do they need? Tomatoes require full sun which translates into no less than 6 to 8 hours a day. Plants will be weak and unhealthy with anything less.

STEP 3: Okay it’s time to transplant. Transplanting is an important step and if you do it carefully, you can look forward to an abundant crop of healthy mouth watering tomatoes.

Once your tomato plants have been hardened, or acclimated to outdoor conditions, and night-time temperatures continually exceed 50 degrees, it’s time to set your plants out into your garden or patio containers.

After planting your tomato plants its a good idea to place organic mulch around them. mulch helps keep the soil most and helps keep fruit off the ground, preventing rotting. The advantages to Mulching is that the soil retains moisture requiring less waterings. Also, the mulch acts as a slow release fertilizer and helps keep the weeds down.

STEP 4: It’s a good idea to prune your plants by pinching off the small leaves which appear in the crotch above a larger stem. Don’t pinch off too many large leaves or the sun will burn developing fruit. Pinching back the top of the plant after it reaches the top of your stake or cage encourages more flowering and fruit.

How often should I water them? Your plants should be deep watered 2 to 3 times a week or more depending of your soil type. If the plant is seen wilting in the middle of the day, ignore it. They will perk right back up by late afternoon. If the plants look droopy in the morning, they need water.

All that hard work gardening is getting ready to pay off and depending on what type of tomato plants you chose more than likely you will have an over abundance of ripe tomatoes.

When the fruits have ripened, pick them by bending back the fruit at the notch on the stem. They can be eaten straight from the plant, or can be stored for up to a week in the fridge.

Tomatoes store well in a cool, dry location. Do not put them in the refrigerator. While they last longer in the refrigerator, they will lose their flavor and texture. To slow down ripening keep them out of direct sunlight.

Good luck and happy gardening!

Penny owns and operates http://PennysTomatoes.com where she sells tomato seeds and offers advice on how to turn those seeds into tons of mouth watering tomatoes. She has written articles for South Carolina Womans Magazine and was a guest on Southern Style, a local show in Myrtle Beach.

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