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Have you ever tried to grow your own vegetables in a backyard garden? With the growing trend to become self-sustaining and lead a &greener& lifestyle, many people have found ways to provide their own vegetables, fruit and eggs, right from their own backyard efforts. Living off the land is not as difficult as you think, it just takes a little bit of knowledge, some space and a couple of seed packets to get started.



When designing your garden, choose high-yield crops, such as tomatoes and herbs. These items will allow you to maximize the space you have available in your garden. The more produce you can grow at home, the more money you can save in your grocery bill each month, so it pays to know what will produce the most for your efforts.



Cover fences and walls with climbing plants. Climbing plants are known to be very versatile, and can help hide any ugly wall or fence, and this often only takes one growing season. You can direct them over certain branches or boards, or you can send them through plants you already have. Some varieties will climb and attach using their tendrils or branches, but some will need to be trained or supported with ties. Honeysuckle and jasmine are very beautiful varieties of such climbers.



Start a compost bin, and enjoy nutrient-rich fertilizer that you can use for your vegetable plants, herbs, flowers and more. Food scraps and peels, coffee grounds, eggshells, newspaper, paperboard, yard waste and other organic matter are perfect additions to your compost bin. Keep a small bucket or bag in your freezer as an odor-free way to collect kitchen waste, and empty the container into the outdoor bin when it is full.



Check your store bought soil for pests. If you buy from big home improvement stores, your soil may have pests such as aphids. To kill the insects and their larvae, put the soil in a metal baking pan and place it covered in a 400 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes. Let cool before using.



To store your garden-fresh onions for use throughout the winter and avoid having them rot or mold, store them in pantyhose! Yes, pantyhose! Simply place the onions into the legs of pantyhose, and, to avoid letting them touch one another (which is what helps create mold and rot), place a twist tie between each onion and the next. To store, hang the pantyhose by the gusset in a cool dry place and cut off or pop a hole in the pantyhose to grab an onion when you need it.



You can plant wheat grass or cat grass near the plants that the cat eats. You may also place something offensively smelly atop the soil, like citrus peel or mothballs.



If you can't get mulch for your soil, use wet newspapers. Damp newspapers around the base of your plants will help hold moisture in the ground and protect your plants' root systems from heat and sunlight. Newspaper is biodegradable, so it will eventually degrade and actually add more nutrients to your soil.



When gardening, it is important that you protect your ears. If you can not hear someone around you while you are working with machinery, than the sound can be damaging to your ears. An easy way to help alleviate this problem is to wear ear plugs when using loud machinery.




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A great first step to having a successful organic garden is to test the acidity of the soil in your garden. The ideal number is 6.5, if your soil is on the low end, it's too acidic and if it's on the high end it's too alkaline. Neither of those situations lends itself to a successful garden. So by purchasing a soil testing kit before planting, you will assure yourself a beautiful organic garden in the summer.



To make nutrient fertilizer from stuff you have around the house, look at what you have for breakfast. Both old coffee grounds and tea bags make http://treeys.com/tree-trimming-why-it-is-essential/ , especially when it comes to plants that love acid. Eggshells add alkaline to your soil, and bananas are the best source of the potassium that roses thrive on.



Be sure that you have earthworms in your soil. Earthworms are vital to good organic gardening, because they aerate the soil. Also, the by-products of earthworm digestion are actually great plant food. Earthworms encourage soil bacteria that provide needed nutrients to your plants while competing with harmful insect pests, reducing the need for chemical pesticides and fertilizers.



Attract positive bugs to your garden. Bugs like lady-bugs actually hunt natural predators to your plants; aphids and caterpillars are just some of the nasty critters that can go through a garden and eat the leaves of the plants. Lady bugs are the natural predators to such pests and help the growth of a good healthy garden by consuming pests.



Not as bad as you thought, correct? Like any other subject, the green world of organic gardening is vast and has a wealth of information available on it. Sometimes you just need a hint as to where to start with it so that you can &jump right in.& Now you have http://finance.yahoo.com/news/local-tree-pros-launches-website-160000974.html/ needed to feel confident to start your organic garden.