Choosing flowers for the organic garden

Organic gardening is steadily gaining popularity, and the good news is that virtually every kind of plant and flower can be grown organically. It is important, however, to choose the plants and flowers that are best suited to your own environment. Choosing plants that are suited to the environment in which they grow is one of the best ways to reduce the use of fungicides, pesticides and other chemicals in the garden. For example, it may be difficult to use organic gardening methods to grow tropical variety of plants and flowers in a cold climate, just as it would be difficult to grow cold climate plants in the tropics. That is why it is best to use the flowers and plants that are best suited for your own environment. One great way to choose the right plants for an organic garden is to choose native varieties of plants. Choosing native species is a great way to know that the plants you choose will do best where you plant them, without the need to use chemicals. Using native species of plants does not mean a dull or boring garden. Native species of flowers and plants are available in just about every color of the rainbow, and in a variety of sizes, shapes and textures as well. A beautiful mixture of native plants can produce an organic garden you will be proud to show the world. After you have chosen the perfect varieties of flowers and plants for your garden, it is important to choose only the healthiest specimens for your garden. That is because choosing unhealthy plants, or those that are infected with disease or infested by insects, could unwittingly introduce these problems into your garden, and make gardening organically that much more difficult. Choosing the healthiest plants and flowers, on the other hand, will get your organic garden off to the best start, since healthy plants are better able to fight off pests, and to resist bacterial, viral and fungal infections. The healthy plants in your garden will be able to fight off these common ailments without the need for chemicals. After the plants have been chosen and brought home, they should be transplanted as quickly as possible. It is a good idea to have a good supply of finished compost available when starting an organic garden. Starting a compost bin is a great idea for any organic gardener, since high quality compost often contains nutrients that even the best commercial fertilizers do not. In addition, creating your own compost means less waste going to landfills, and this can produce a healthier environment as well as a healthy garden. When working a compost mixture in the soil, it is not necessary to go deep. Most plants root only to a depth of about six inches, so working the compost mixture into the first six to eight inches of the soil in the organic flower bed should be sufficient. When transplanting seedlings from plastic nursery containers, it is important to carefully remove the plant from the container. You should carefully tear away those roots that have grown past the container. Before planting the transplants, be sure that the soil has been adequately prepared with good organic material. Having organic material in the soil not only will provide a great source of nutrition for the young plants, but it will so encourage the growth of beneficial organisms like earthworms. Earthworms can work the soil better than any garden instrument, and they are an integral part of a successful organic garden.