Choosing The Right Type Of Garden That You Will Surely Enjoy

For some people, gardening is more than just a hobby. They have found joy and serenity in this type of craft. But if you have never done gardening before and want to indulge yourself into it, there are some things that you need to consider before you start. You should know what type of garden you want to have, as there are different types to choose from. This article will give you ideas, which you will surely enjoy.

1. Flower Garden. If you only want a garden that is nice to look at, a flower garden will be the best option for you. Perennial flowering plants are best for this type of garden as they stay healthy all-year-round. Search for flowers over the Internet which you can grow in your garden and would fit the climate in your area.

Managing a flower garden will only require heavy work in the beginning, which is the planting stage. After that, with the proper nourishment, you will just wait and watch your flowers to bloom.

2. Vegetable Garden. This is another type of garden, which you might want to create. It is more rewarding and requires lesser work and research than a flower garden. You can always find a vegetable to plant at any time of the year. Managing this type of garden is easy and you can always expand it later by planting additional types of crops. Just knowing the right crops to grow, you will enjoy harvesting almost every day of the year.

3. Fruit Garden. This is the most difficult type of garden to maintain, as you need to watch out for pests that will destroy the fruits. Aside from the fertilizer that you need to apply, you have to choose the right pesticide that would kill the pests. Your plants may need certain type of soil for them to survive.

It is important that you plant fruit trees that are in season to make them grow and produce well. Unlike in vegetable garden, you have to wait for longer time before you could taste the fruits of your labor.

Choosing the right type of garden boils down to what you really want to produce and how much effort you are willing to exert into it. Whichever type you desire, you need to make sure that you give your plants the proper care that they require. Enjoy gardening!

Helpful Tips for Designing Your Own Water Garden

As a homeowner, you should take pride in beautifying your home, both inside and out. One way to add beauty and serenity to your landscape is by installing a water garden. You can choose to have a water garden that only has aquatic plants, one that has fish, or a koi pond. No matter what type of water garden you choose, it will bring you many compliments and much joy.

If you decide that you want to decorate your water garden with aquatic plants, lilies are among the most common. There are two main types of lilies that do well in water gardens, hardy lilies, and tropical lilies. Hardy lilies come in all different colors and sizes. Hardy lilies usually start to bloom sometime in the month of May, and continue to grace your water garden with beautiful color and fragrance until about the end of September. Before purchasing your hardy lilies, it may be a good idea to check with your local garden supply to make certain that your climate can accommodate them nicely.

Like hardy lilies, tropical lilies also come in an array of color and sizes. Tropical lilies only thrive in areas where the average temperature is around seventy degrees, so keep this in consideration when choosing them for your water garden. Some tropical lilies, unlike most flowers, bloom at night instead of early morning, giving them an added interest factor.

Floating plants also make for an appealing water garden. Floating plants seemingly sit on top of the water, their roots hidden well below the water’s surface. Due to the extra shade that floating plants provide, they help to greatly reduce algae in your garden pond in the summer. As with all aquatic plants, take your climate into careful consideration before purchasing.

When it comes to adding fish to your water garden, goldfish seem to be the fish of choice. They come in a wide variety of colors and types. Goldfish are also the most economical fish to add to your water garden, as they are fairly inexpensive, and live for a long time, even in colder climates. You need to decide when planning your water garden whether or not you want to include fish, as they require much deeper water to survive than do aquatic plants. It is also important to consider your climate and normal temperature ranges, so that you can purchase the right fish for your garden pond. Fish sometimes can be very fragile, and don’t adapt well to sudden drops or increases in temperature or changes in their environment.

For any fish to survive in your water pond, you will need to ensure the water remains at the correct ph level, and that there is no contamination from yard debris, or runoff.

When adding your goldfish to your water garden, let them float in the bag you purchased them in on the ponds surface so that they can adjust to the water temperature. This process usually takes about half an hour. After they have had time to adjust to their surroundings, then carefully release the goldfish into the water garden.

If you have aquatic plants in your water garden along with your goldfish, then there is probably no need to give them additional food. They will live off of the plants, algae, and insects that also inhabit the water garden.

Koi ponds are also popular, but keep in mind, that koi are known to eat many types of aquatic plants, so if put koi in your water garden, you may not have anything else. You need to have a larger space to accommodate koi, because they are quite large. Koi tend to make good pets, as you can actually train them to eat straight from your hand, much as you might with a new puppy. Koi bring a taste of the exotic to any water garden. Unlike goldfish, you do need to feed your koi, as they cannot live solely from the environment. You can purchase automated feeders to install in your water garden, which will take care of your koi for you. Koi are not as fairly priced as goldfish, and can become quite expensive, depending on the particular variety you select.

Regardless of what you decide to put in your water garden, whether it is plant life, goldfish, or koi, it will definitely be a source of enjoyment for you and your family for many years to come. Not to mention that the addition of a water garden to your property greatly increases the value of your home.

Vegetable Gardening For Beginners – Know The Basics

If you wish to set up your very own vegetable garden and have absolutely no idea on how to go about it, do not lose sleep over it! It is not at all complicated or hard for a novice to start a vegetable garden. It is far more easy to grow vegetables than flowers.
As a rule, vegetables need plenty of sunshine. Vegetables require a minimum of 6 hours of sunshine daily, so pick a location that gets plenty of sunlight. A few leafy vegetable such as spinach, lettuce, and endive require a little amount of shade in the daytime, but vegetables that grow roots such as beets, peppers, radishes, carrots, tomatoes and squash could do with ample sunshine. A further point to be noted when a beginner starts a vegetable garden, is to avoid low-lying areas where water is prone to stagnate after rainfall.
High-quality loamy soil, which is properly drained, is what you require. If the right soil is not present in your garden spot, you have the option of developing it with fine soil management. A number of books on starting a basic vegetable garden are available and can help you out on this or you can approach a garden outlet to seek guidance.
A garden located on a level ground calls for low maintenance, but in case you grow vegetable on an incline, lay down the rows along the incline, instead of above and below. This tends to check erosion and at the same time give plants the greatest amount of rainwater. Spreading mulch around plants will aid in collecting water and stopping erosion. In case the hill has a precipitous incline, you need to use wood or stones to terrace it.
An additional guideline for basic vegetable gardening is to ensure the garden is located close to a water source, even thought it is only a garden hosepipe. Vegetables contain up to 90% water, and hence soil moisture is very important for the crops to grow. A heavy spread of mulch will aid in keeping the garden soil damp, but nearly 25.4mm of water every week is required by the crops, by way of either irrigation or rainfall.
A final rule regarding basic vegetable gardening is that if you are residing on a huge estate or in the countryside, it is a great idea to locate the garden near the house. There are a number of explanations for this. It is far easier to provide proper care to the garden if it is located close by. Further, you do not have to go a long way to transport the crops to the house. When preparing a meal, you simply have to step outside to pick fresh produce from your garden. Closeness to the house would also deter marauding animals such as rabbits, possums, raccoons, and deer that feast on the vegetables in the garden. It is advisable to fence in the area.

Organic Gardening Gifts Online

Organic gardening gifts online are plentiful and, with a bit of imagination, can be found in highly unlikely places. You can, of course, give organically grown flowers – a bunch of roses or a wildflower bouquet. You can give an organic live plant, nicely displayed in a natural basket. You might even give a gift of organic tea.

Organic gardening gifts online don’t stop there, though. As the popularity of organic gardening grows, the number of gifts for the gardener also grows.

Organic Gardening Tools

Organic gardening calls for tools that chemical gardening does not. Anyone doing organic gardening will enjoy receiving unique tools. For example:

1. Compost Container: Small-scale organic gardening does not require a large compost pile. A compost container, made from recycled plastic, can recycle kitchen waste into organic compost without a compost pit or pile.

2. Worm Factory: This organic gardening gift is another efficient way to compost. Just put worms, their bedding, and some scraps of food in the worm factory’s bottom bin. Stack other bins on top, with more food scraps in each. As the worms finish their meal on the first floor, they move upward to get more food. Their castings in the bottom tray, an excellent organic fertilizer, can be harvested. A handy spigot on the bottom tray drains off compost tea.

3. Compost Crank: If your gardener does use a compost pile or pit, a compost crank makes a good organic gardening gift. He or she will simply have to crank the corkscrew tip into the pile and pull out to aerate the pile.

Earth-Friendly Organic Gardening Tools

Organic gardening gifts online also include some regular tools that are earth-friendly. Think of mowing the lawn with a push mower to reduce pollution. While pushing, wear lawn aerator shoes to keep the lawn aerated so that nutrition and water get down where the roots can use them. Someone who is “into” organic gardening will also appreciate a tree and shrub root irrigator kit. It saves water while being sure organic fruit trees and shrubs receive deep watering.

Ergonomic Organic Gardening Tools

Organic gardening requires more work than chemical gardening. Ergonomic tools will be appreciated by an organic gardener. Sets of ergonomic tools with a convenient canvas bag can be found at many online gardening supply stores.

We found a unique organic gardening gift online – an ergonomic gardening tool called a detachable ergonomic gardening tool set. One handle can be used with every tool in the set.

A wearable gardening stool lets your organic gardening friend rest feet and back while gardening. Even with hands full, the stool is always available.

Organic Gardening Seeds or Seedlings

Organic gardening gifts online include organic seeds or seedlings, too. A home window garden kit set we saw would be a great gift for an organic gardener. Each set has four window garden cans, with everything you need to grow organic seedlings on a window sill. You add water and sunlight, and transplant the plants when they are big enough.

Any organic seeds or seedlings would be a good organic gardening gift. Herbs are always nice – fragrant and useful.

Organic Gardening Books

A book or two on organic gardening is a good idea, especially for the beginner. Find a beautiful and informative book, and your organic gardener will spend happy hours reading.

Organic Vegetables Mail Order

An ongoing gift of organic vegetables by mail order is also good. Find one of the online organic sites that ship via next day in the U.S.

Just for Love

One organic gardening gift we found online would be fun to give, especially to someone you love. The “Amazing Message Plant” comes in its own planter, ready to grow. The recipient pops the lid, waters the plant, and places it in a sunny location. As it grows, the plant reveals the message “I love you” on its leaves.

Can’t Decide What to Buy

It can be hard to choose just the right organic gardening gift. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. If you can’t decide what to buy, check online gardening supply retailers for gift certificates. You can often get them in denominations of $25 or $50. Order one or more, and place them in a nice organic gardener’s greeting card.

Flower Gardening – The All-Time Popular Hobby

Flower gardening has always been a rewarding and economical hobby for all levels of gardening enthusiasts. The experience of picking and planting bulbs, flower plants and seeds is considered extremely enjoyable and relaxing by people of all ages. Nothing beats the satisfaction derived out of planting a few seeds into the ground and sprinkling some water on top of it. Gardeners of all levels of expertise, be it the beginners or the seasoned ones, take equal delight in experiencing the vivid colors and sweet fragrances of the flowers that blossom before their noses and eyes.

Internet has made the task of collecting information and seeds necessary for flower gardening quicker and easier. A wide range of bulbs and seeds suitable for any kind of flower garden can be ordered via mail order or seed catalogs available at online stores. Unless you are well aware about your color preferences and the space constraints, the task of picking up the most appropriate seeds for your flower garden can be quite intimidating. Most online retail stores and traditional seed catalogs offer tried and tested combinations of seeds that if planted together can give the perfect aesthetic touch to your flower garden. Such combinations are made keeping specific terrains and space constraints in mind. They also help the gardeners to get rid of hit and trial methods that can get very expensive and time wasting.

Flower types can be broadly classified into three major types based on their life spans. These three divisions are: perennials, annuals and the biennials.

Annuals are widely popular with the beginning gardeners and also with parents and kids who like to pursue flower gardening as a family effort to help them bond well. The annual flower seeds are generally quite easy to handle despite their relatively large size. Few varieties of annuals are: African Daisies, Dahlias and Sunflowers. The best part about annuals is that they germinate very quickly. Therefore, once you have planted them, they may start flowering in a few weeks time.

The biennials flowers life span starts during the autumn season when they start showing the signs of leaves. Their growth continues during the winter season and culminates into blooming, seeding and eventual death in the spring season. Few popular varieties of biennials are hollyhock, Foxglove and Canterbury bells.

The best feature of the third type of flowers called perennials is that they need not be planted again and again every year. Once planted, from the second year on, they bloom by themselves for a few weeks every year. If one were to approach them with a comprehensive flower gardening plan, they can be found blooming for almost all the time of the year. Few famous varieties of perennials are Columbine, Shasta Daisy, and Black-eyed Susan.

Flower gardening is a very satisfying and enjoyable hobby practiced widely all over the world by young and the young at heart. Not only can one beautify the exteriors of the home with it, one can also practice this natural hobby in the interiors also.

Things To Know About Herb Gardening

There are important things to know about herb gardening that will surely give you the opportunity to succeed in this area. Whether you are planning for container herb gardening; indoor herb-gardening , or the other type, you need to establish an effective herb gardening management so that all you desire will be attainable.

You may not know it, herb-gardening, indoor herb gardening is becoming more and more popular and one of the reasons for that is its practical value. Why? Aside from its uses in kitchen, herb garden also offers a decorative view that flowering plants can do. In other words, herb garden serves for a double purpose.

Another essential part of herb gardening, whether an indoor herb gardening or container herb-gardening is that, you can dry herbs so that they can be used during winter or off-season. To have this done, you may cut,wash, and hang up-as the process of preservation. Then, after a couple of weeks, you can put them in a jar after drying in an oven. Though this can be laborious in your part, proper herb gardening management can make it simpler for this procedure.

One of the most planted in herb-gardening is Basil. This offer a decorative view like ornamental flowers and also can be used in your kitchen. Specifically, this can be added to tomato juice and paste to add flavor

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Another is the herb called Chives that is similar to grass. They are much stronger, more than their appearance and can be grown up to the most dry season- drought. Whether in container herb gardening or not, you can add this as part of your herb garden. Chives are being used in egg-dishes, salads and several types of sauce.

Mint is also one of the most planted and this is very simple to grow. This is commonly used in mint juleps; mint jelly; lemonade and other kind of drinks.

Another is the Lavender and this perhaps the best smelling herb from all. This is used to produce scented candle, as a perfume scent and for improving the linen chests. Herb gardening really have several uses and that is the fact that can not be denied.

There are a lot more of herbs that you can plant in your garden. These will surely make your garden beautiful like ornamental and other decorative plants; these also give you the things that you need to add in your kitchen stuff like salads and other foods that need herbs for additional flavor. You can achieve its full benefits if you learn more knowledge regarding their particular usage.

And one thing is for sure, herb gardening can be an ideal hobby that you can have. So, it is practically essential that you are able to have an herb gardening management strategy to maximize its benefits.

A Garden Which Is Just Right For You

If you are thinking about starting a garden, the first
thing you need to consider is what type of garden do you want?
There are many different choices and often this can make things difficult, but hopefully you can narrow down the choices and by narrowing it down, you will make the gardening experience easier on yourself and the plants.

If all your plants are similar, then it should not be too difficult to care for them all. So here are some of the main garden ideas for you to make your choice from.

If you simply want something to look nice in your own garden then you will want a flower garden. These are usually filled with perennial flowers.

Perennial flowers are flowers which stay healthy all the year round. It has been said that they are
basically weeds because of their hardiness, only nice looking!

Different areas and climates have different flowers which are considered perennials.

If you do a quick internet search for your area, you will probably be able to locate a list of flowers that will bring your flower garden to life. These usually only require work in the planting stage, and after that, the flowers take care of themselves. The only downside to this is that you dont have any produce to show for it.

Another choice for your garden is to have a vegetable garden.
These usually require a little more work and research than a flower garden, but, the upside of this is that it can be much more rewarding. No matter what time of the year it is, you can usually find one vegetable that is still growing well.

With careful forethought and planning your garden can be giving you produce almost every day of the year.

When starting a vegetable garden, you should build it with the thought in mind that you will be adding more types of veggies in later. This will help your expandability.
Once all of your current crops are out of season you will not be stuck with almost nowhere to put the new crops.
A vegetable garden is ideal for someone who wants some produce, but does not want to devote every waking hour to toiling away in their garden.

One of the more difficult types of gardens to manage is a fruit garden.
It is definitely the most high maintenance. When growing fruits, many more pests will be attracted due to the sweetness. You not only have to deal with having just the right soil and fertilizer, you have to deal with choosing a pesticide that wont kill whoever eats the fruits.

Another thing to bear in mind is that your fruit garden will probably not produce fruit all the year round. The soil needs to be just right for the plants to grow, and putting in another crop during its off season could be disastrous to its growth process.

However, if you are willing to put lots of work into maintaining a garden, then a fruit garden could be just the right thing for you.

So now that I have outlined some of the main garden types that people choose, I hope you can make a good decision.

Basically, the garden type comes down to what kind of produce you want, and how much work you want to
put into it. If you are looking for no produce with very little work, go with a flower garden.

If you want lots of delicious produce, and you are
willing to spend hours in your garden each day, then go for a fruit garden.
Just make sure you dont get into something you cant handle!

Choosing Water Garden Filter Systems For Water Both You And Your Fish Will Love

Adding interest to your garden with a garden pond or water garden is a great idea, and one of the first things you should look at is a top-notch water garden filter system that can do the hard work for you.

Highly chlorinated water kills the microorganisms that are found it in the soil. The unfortunate part about the previous statement is that those microorganisms are there for a reason. It is their task to protect the plant and the source where it gets its food.

This is the very reason why home gardeners steer clear of chlorinated water. They prefer a healthier choice – cleaner water. By getting a filter system for their garden water, 85% of the chlorine from hose water is removed.

The water from garden filter systems are also beneficial for bathing dogs. Children can also have fun with the sprinkler. In fact, it can also be used to wash cars.

Water garden filter systems are necessities for gardening. You have nothing to worry about because they are completely non-toxic. Why would we suggest that this be the same water you used to your pets, children and car, if it were?

Now, let us say that you have a man-made pond in your garden. This filter system can also clean the water there. Not only will it do that, it will also protect the soil ecosystem in your pond.

Imagine the beneficial insects you could have killed if you thoroughly cleaned your man-made pond using chlorinated water. At least, with a filter system, the 20,000 to 40,000 gallons of water are 100% clean.

Just like any electronic appliance, water garden filter systems can be recharged. The filters can also be replaced in due time – when it has acquired all dirt from the pond and needs to be changed.

Choose a filter system that comes with the hose protector. In that way, maintaining it will be a whole lot easier. There are systems that already include a pre-filtered hose. This is to control the flow of the water better.

Most home gardeners ask why they should remain chlorine in their garden. Obviously, you would want to keep the beneficial insects in the natural ecosystem. Chlorine kills living organisms like bacteria and fungi but at the same time, it also contaminates the water source. Chlorine is harmful to your plants primarily because they depend on these organisms to stay alive.

Plants survive because they receive the nutrients they need from the soil and water. A healthy soil is composed of molds, fungi and bacteria (which chlorine is designated to kill.) Gardeners and farmers know that in order to protect their plants and the ecosystem from the pesky pests, diseases and insects is by using beneficial bacteria.

By using chlorinated water, the microorganisms that were placed in the soil to protect the plant and the plants food source in the first place will also be killed. Thus, horticulturists and farmers do not use chlorinated water when they irrigate their crops.

Thanks to the water garden filter system, water is dechlorinated. This is a better and healthier option because water garden filter systems clean the garden and save the beneficial bacteria through out the process.

Water garden filter systems turns chlorine into chloride that is completely harmless. This redox procedure is their basic principle on how they can assure their consumers that the water coming out of the system is totally chlorine-free.

So after watering your garden with the chlorine-free filter system, throw in a bath for our dogs. In fact their coats can become softer and finer from the brittle and dryness it had been due to sun and chlorine exposure.

You can also let your children have fun all summer long with the garden hose feature attached to your water garden filter system. They can even swim in a pool that you filled using the filter system. If you are an automobile fiend and the usual wax is not enough to give your “baby” the sparkle and shine it deserves, switch to dechlorinated water that you can obtain from the water garden filter systems.

From the original purpose of providing chlorine-free water to your garden, water from filter systems has escalated to new heights.

Home Vegetable Garden Basics: Convenience

Many people think that the first criteria when picking the “best spot” for a home vegetable garden is good soil; however, although good soil is important, good soil is made, not found. You can rebuild the soil once the spot has been chosen. When you are choosing where you want your home vegetable garden patch to be, you must focus on its convenience and exposure.

Convenience means your home vegetable garden should be “close by” or as close to your house as possible. You may think that a difference of only a few hundred yards cannot be that significant; however, if you have to largely depend upon spare moments for working in and for watching the home vegetable garden, convenience will be much more important than you think.

Don’t wait till you have had to make a dozen time-wasting trips for forgotten seeds or tools or gotten your feet soaking wet by going out through the dew-drenched grass to gather those “vegetables of the day” to realize that “close access to your home vegetable garden” is important.

Another point to remember is that the “home vegetable garden patch” does not have to be set in an ugly spot in your backyard or hidden behind the barn or garage. If you carefully plan, plant, and care for your home vegetable garden, this little patch can end up not only producing very nourishing vegetables for you, but it can also end up being a most beautiful and harmonious part of your landscape. Thus having this home vegetable garden in close proximity to your house can lend a touch of comfortable homeliness that no shrubs, border, or flower beds can ever produce.

The next most important criteria when picking out your home vegetable garden spot which is to give you hours of joy and yield delicious vegetables all summer, or even for many years, is the exposure.

Pick out the “closest” spot or plot you can find where your home vegetable garden will slope a little to the south or east, will catch the sunshine early and hold it late, and will be, as much as possible, out of the direct path of the chilling north and northeast winds.

It’s important to get seedlings growing as soon as possible and to keep them growing; therefore, if a building, or even an old fence, protects your home vegetable garden from the chilling north or northeast winds, your vegetables will be helped along wonderfully.

If this home vegetable garden patch is not already protected, a board fence or a hedge of some low-growing shrubs or young evergreens would be most helpful. The importance of having such a protection or shelter is greatly underestimated by the amateur.

To summarize, when you are choosing that “best spot” for your home vegetable garden, make sure you consider these basics: Find a spot which is convenient and close to your house and make sure your home vegetable garden is positioned so that it gets lots of sun and is somewhat protected from the elements.

Organic Gardening – A Speech For Teachers

Organic gardening has increasingly become an important part of the curriculum in schools around the world. Teachers at every grade level find themselves teaching it to students, and sometimes being called on to give a speech to a group of parents. As a career educator and principal, I know the difficulty of opening up time for speech preparation, and offer this organic gardening speech for your use. Feel free to edit it to fit your needs.

Organic Gardening Speech

How selfish are you? On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, how selfish would you rate yourself? If you are the least bit selfish, you might be interested in organic gardening.

An organic gardening speech might seem more appropriate coming from a Home Economics teacher, but I am just selfish enough that I love organic gardening. I want to share that love with you and with your children.

Imagine

I want you to come with me, in imagination, to a time and place before the Industrial Revolution. The year is 1707. It is late summer. We find ourselves walking the streets of a small town. Houses are spaced well apart for privacy. Land stretches out behind each house. As we look, we notice that much of that land is taken up by gardens. Here and there, we see both adults and children actively engaged in gardening. The plants are beautiful.

You call to one of the adults and ask what they use to make the garden so lush. A broad smile breaks, and through the smile come the words, “Feed the soil, and the soil will feed the plants.”

You shake your head. Poor people. Too bad they don’t know about that miracle combination of chemicals you saw advertised on TV last week. That’s the easy way to grow spectacular plants!

Dinner

The organic gardener invites us to join them for the evening meal, and we accept. At dinner, we join in the prayer of thanks, and then watch in amazement as the children, one after another, begin eating fresh vegetables.

You yourself are not that fond of vegetables, but you politely take a small serving of each. You bite into a leaf of steamed cabbage, and your eyes open wide in amazement. It is sweet – twice as sweet as the cabbage you buy at your local market! You watch a small child fill his mouth with dark green kale, and shudder. There’s a small spoonful of the nasty vegetable on your own plate, and you pick at it, putting a single small leaf in your mouth. Amazing! It, too, is twice as sweet as any kale you ever ate. The same seems true of every vegetable on the table. You decide that if your supermarket vegetables were this good, you would eat a lot more of them.

Our imaginary trip ends at that dinner table, and we return to the present.

Organic Gardening’s Benefits

Organic gardening has many benefits. If you are completely selfish, you will want those benefits for yourself. If you are unselfish, you will want those benefits for your family. Let me give you just three of organic gardening’s benefits.

1. Taste: Organic gardening has been proven to produce tastier fruits and vegetables. A Hong Kong study measured Brix levels, the percentage of sugar in plant juices, using produce from organic gardening and from non-organic gardening. The results showed that organic gardening produced produce that was 2 to 4 times as sweet as that produced by non-organic gardening. Sweeter fruits and vegetables are tastier, and easier to eat, whether you are a young person or an adult. Organic gardening helps us eat better by providing tastier fruits and vegetables.

2. Nutrition: Organic gardening has also been found to provide nutritionally superior produce. Virginia Worthington, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, compared the composition of vegetables grown simultaneously under different farming conditions. Her work included 41 studies with 1,240 comparisons of 35 vitamins and minerals. Worthington found that organic gardening produced vegetables and fruits that were higher in most minerals and vitamins than those from non-organic gardening. Not only that, organic gardening produce was lower in potentially harmful nitrates, which result from nitrogen fertilizers. Dr. Worthington concluded that produce from organic gardening is nutritionally superior. You and your family will enjoy better health with fruits and vegetables from organic gardening. (Effect of Agricultural Methods on Nutritional Quality: A Comparison of Organic with Conventional Crops, Virginia Worthington MS, ScD, CNS, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 1998, Alternative Therapies, Volume 4, 1998, pages 58-69)

3. Exercise: Finally, organic gardening offers you and your children regular daily exercise in the outdoors. Organic gardening helps you build muscles, especially important core muscles. Organic gardening gets you into the sunlight where you can absorb essential vitamin D. Organic gardening is a great stress management tool. Organic gardening gives you an outlet for creativity. It provides satisfaction as you see your work produce useful fruits, herbs, and vegetables.

We could talk about the aesthetic pleasures of organic gardening – how beautiful that garden might become. We could talk about how you can save money with organic gardening – growing your produce instead of purchasing.

Finally, we could talk about how important it is for our children to learn about organic gardening, to embrace it as the way to better health, and to practice it with school, home, and community gardens.

An organic gardening speech could go on for hours, but I’m going to stop here, hoping that I have whetted your appetite enough that you will seek out more information on organic gardening.

Helpful Tip for Speech-givers

A few large bowls of beautiful organic produce can be set on the platform or around the room to help visual learners picture organic gardening.

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