Green Gardening
If you are growing your own fruits and vegetables, you should consider yourself very lucky. After all, very few people have the opportunity to harvest their own fruits and vegetables. They are not only fresher and more nutritious than those available at the supermarkets but it is a unique pleasure to eat fruits and vegetables you have grown on your own. On the other hand, gardening requires a lot of work and plant care in order to be able to produce lots of delicious fruits and vegetables.
Unfortunately, garden plants are often attacked by various pests and diseases which pose the greatest challenge to every gardener. And at this point many gardeners cause more harm than good because they often use chemical pesticides which cause an irreparable damage to the environment as they do not destroy only the harmful pests but beneficial micro-organisms too. In addition, these chemicals pose serious health risks to humans as well. I mean just think about it. It is OK to use the pesticide on your garden and plants you will later eat but it is not OK to throw the empty bottle or package in an ordinary container. On the contrary, the empty pesticide package should be treated as hazardous waste. Do you see the problem? But how can you protect your plants against the harmful pests and diseases without the use of these highly toxic chemicals? The answer is green gardening which rejects the use of all non-organic products and guess what, it works. But if you want your garden to thrive without the use of chemical pesticides and artificial fertilizers which are, by the way, the number one water pollutant, you need to understand the basics of plant care and plant requirements.
First of all, your garden plants should be provided optimal conditions for growth starting with soil preparation and choice of proper location. For a start, replace artificial fertilizer with an organic one. You can find it in most stores selling gardening supplies but you can also create your own organic fertilizer by composting. Organic fertilizer will provide your plants all the necessary nutrients without causing any harm to the environment. The next step is to provide your plants proper amount of sunlight. How much direct sunlight your plants should receive depends on the type of plants you grow but a garden should obtain at least 8 hours of direct sunlight a day. And by those two simple steps, you will significantly reduce the risk of plant diseases and pest infestations because healthy plants that have optimal conditions for growth will not get so easily affected by diseases and will fight the pests on their own a lot easier.
It is not always possible to prevent plant diseases and pest infestations. For that reason it is necessary to inspect your plants for signs of problems frequently in order to be able to help your plants on time. How? By using organic pesticides. These are most often made of plant material and are not toxic neither to the environment nor humans. And the best thing about them is the fact that they are just as effective as those hazardous chemicals.