What tips do you have for organic gardening?

I try to garden without any chemicals added. What tips do you have? Especially in regards to pest control?

I love the book Secrets of Companion planting. I've never used any chemicals, but thats probably why I spend at least a hour a day in my gardens pulling weeds. Composting is another great thing (and I have horses!)

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I'd like to install a raised bed for vegetable gardening this year. I think this will allow me more control over the soil quality. What's the cheapest and easiest way to go about it? Should I buy one of the ready-made beds available online?
In case I wasn't clear, the soil is not my concern, it's the actual bed itself. Should I try to build one, or buy one that snaps together?

If you are handy at building then you should build one yourself. When you buy prefabricated kits you are then locked into size and design. Building one yourself will give you much more flexibility.
Not sure if this post will help but I thought I would give you the option of reading. Good luck and the neat thing is you will be gardening no mater which way you decide to go.
http://naturehills.com/gardening/blogs/common_questions_answered/archive/2008/02/13/raised-bed-gardening.aspx

I'd like to garden some Outdoors.
Indoors, I've killed an orchid, violets, some green plant my mother said was impossible to kill, among others.

I have no clue what I am doing.

Please tell me what to do down to the last detail as if I was mentally impaired.

Daylilies. Start with daylilies. They come in a gazillion colors, bloom for weeks, come back year after year. Buy a one gallon size for impact, dig a hole, plop it in, fill in the hole, push the dirt down and water it. No muss no fuss no bother.

Coreopsis. Great workhorse plant. Pot or in the ground, same scenario. They'll literally bloom til the tops freeze.

Iris. Unless you water them to death they're pretty bulletproof. Buy them potted, this time of year. Do not put dirt past the level they're planted in the pot. Bearded iris are my favorites, but there are other varieties…ask at your nursery.

Peonies. Another bulletproof selection. Again, buy them potted this time of year.

Sedum. Gotta love a good succulent.

All these like full sun. The daylily will grow and bloom in part sun, but not as well as they do in open ground. Also, all of these will grow just about anywhere in the country. Halfway decent soil that's not real wet will give you results.

For shade, try bleeding hearts, columbine, dead nettle, sweet woodruff, hosta, ferns, cordyline, monkshood, and lily-of-the-valley. Same basics, dig a hole and drop it in. If you can grow fairly impressive weeds, your soil should support these.

Get yourself a Western Garden Book if you're really serious. It'll answer most of your questions. Good luck!

I have just bought a tractor and going to gardening next spring.

Lettuce - onions - carrots - radishes - broccoli

I am asking this question again because I believe that when I asked it was a very inconvenient time, (very late at night) though I did get many wonderful answers I would still like to know from people who have not answered
soil…. getting the soil the best it can be is key to a great garden…. whatever you have to do to get good soil is well worth the work in the end… a soil test tells you where to start…. most soils need and do really well if given LOTS of compost…. it's wonderful stuff!!..

tools… have what you need…. digging is so much easier if you have the right tools…. my hubby's helping son with a bed at son's new house… they had a terrible time digging in the rocky soil of a new build…. but once they got their hands on my maddock/pick, the work went so much faster!!…. and that goes for any of the garden tools…. from wagons to pruners… get the best you can and take good care of them!!….

water…. after our drought, lots of us know that there's water to be had in many places that we didn't think about before…. I will save and store water often now… from rain barrels to soda bottles… water is a big deal…. more soaker hoses and drip irrigation systems are on the list for this year…

mulches…. this is one of the best things you can do for your garden, be it for flowers or for foods….. mulch inhibits weeds, cools the soil in the hot sun and keeps soil temperatures more even during spring's early warm days…. it saves on watering, keeps the soil moist with what water it has already…. choose your mulch according to what you need it to do…. be pretty?… keep the weeds off the tomatoes?… hold up the strawberries?…. keep the weeds out of the flowers?…. each mulch we typically use has a distinct reason….. newspaper stops weeds …. landscape fabric lets air and water thru…. pine needles lets air thru…. pine bark is slow to decompose and keeps cats out pretty good…. hardwood looks special…. colored mulches have their place I guess, but they're too much for this old gal… and rubber mulch?.. mmm… is your garden bed a playground for kiddies???…. straw over paper is great in the veggies…. shredded paper is, too…

research EVERYTHING…. get the names of your plants and look them up… this computer will tell you LOADS of stuff about plants…. don't ever BUY a plant you don't get a tag and a name with….. (unless you recognise it already)…. when you buy, pull that plant OUT of the pot and check the roots… are they white and healthy looking or black and soggy rot?…. do they spread out or go around the pot again and again?…. do they look big enuff to support the top of the plant?… then put it back in the pot!!…. don't buy a sickly looking plant unless you're prepared to isolate it from everything else till it's 'better'……

buy your plants from a neighbor hood nursery or grower…. someone in your area…. online shipping is nice but not all plants grown in PA can live thru summer in NC…. see?….

start small and expand as your knowledge base expands…. otherwise you get overwhelmed and give up too soon…. plan your garden with expansion in mind for later…. I started with one corner of the back fence…. now the only spot that's NOT a part of the garden is the septic field!!….

whatever else I'd tell you isn't enuff unless you love gardening… while it's fun, it's wonderful… but when it's no longer fun, but a job, then you have too much and should cut back…. age and health sometimes decide when you have to do that…..

happy gardening!!

She always shows up in my yard while I am gardening. She wears loose tops and bends over in front of me so that I can see her breasts. She never is wearing a bra either.

It is having an effect on me now, how do I handle?
We are both married and I know flirting. She is flirting with me, she fancies me. My wife even picked up on this. My problem is she is very attractive and my temptation is growing. An attractive woman really knows how to work it and make perfectly good husband have nasty thoughts.

First of all, I respect that you want to respect her, and respect yourself by not oogling her.
I would very sternly ask her to stop coming over. Or make it clear that if she would like to visit you that she needs to dress more modestly. That you are not wanting or desiring a "show". This will probably embarrass her enough to make her stop.
If you have a reason (i.e. faith, marriage, recovering sex addict) than be honest with her. Let her know that she is making herself into an emotional problem in your life by her dress and behaviour.
I'm sure she will try to be more helpful if you are honest.

i want to be creative in my garden, i want it to look beautiful but on my hands on creation, can you help me?

talk to someone at your local nusary, most are more than willing to share knowledge. my best tips would be to use the highest quality soil and slow release plant food.

My other half is setting up a gardening services company and we're currently looking at what his company logo should look like. It'll be on advertising leaflets, business cards , a website and possibly on his pick up truck. We've done a dragonfly design so far but was wondering if anyone had any good ideas. We want to portray that he's reliable ,efficient, knowledgeable in plants and horiculture and can take on work pople just don't have time for.

Bob-a-job?

Its the old Boy Scout fundraising motto, and as such, older people may recognise it a representing hard work, initiative and traditional reliability.

When I moved into my new home 6 years ago, I got rid of all lawns and conventional "beds". I now have a fantastic garden, very low maintenance, it consists of decking, patios, and lots of bark laid on a membrane that discourages weeds, in it are planted lots of unusual perennials and shrubs and as I live near the sea, my garden reflects this with stones, pebbles and driftwood, and the odd maritime bits and pieces, a ships wheel, buoys and lots of seashells.
So, little weeding for me, I just sit on the deck with Mrs GB and drink Gin and tonic! Bliss!

How do you roll back the water hose,used for gardening ?

Good question. I've been having to deal with that pesky hose a lot lately, and there never seems to be a good way. I bought a nice big ceramic pot to coil my hose nicely into, but haven't been using it lately. Sometimes I drape it over the gate. A lot of the time it just ends up in a big messy heap. Maybe the easiest thing to do is to just leave it in a long line along side the house. A sprinkler system or site specific hose connectors with quick connects would be ideal.