Make your green thumb even greener this fall with these organic gardening tips.

Have you heard that placing rusty nails around your plants helps them grow? Or that any type of plant will grow well if it’s planted by a pregnant woman? People, stop the insanity. There’s no need to handle rusty nails or get pregnant to harvest a backyard bumper crop. There’s a better way.

In fact, you may want to set your sights on organic gardening. Local experts say that cultivating a “greener” green thumb can help the environment while nurturing tastier, healthier, less expensive produce right in your own backyard. Here’s how.

Dig Up Dirt
First, it’s time to dish a little dirt on how to prepare your soil. “The soil is really where most of the organic side of gardening is going to take place,” says Jay Harper, co-owner of Harper’s Nurseries and Landscape Company in Mesa and Scottsdale.

In fact, soil preparation in our brutal desert conditions is essential. “Here, there’s not a lot of decayed plant and animal life in the ground. We lack high-organic matter in our soil because it’s a desert,” Harper says. Therefore, adding compost, mulches, manures – or a combination of those – will determine how well your garden grows.

Jeffrey Schiller, who teaches organic gardening courses as an adjunct professor at Glendale and Scottsdale community colleges, uses a method that he has refined over 30 years of trial and error of gardening in the Valley. First he digs down to a 2- or 3-foot depth. Then, in a 100-square-foot garden, for example, he adds 20 pounds of gypsum and 5 pounds of soft rock phosphate, along with about 20 pounds of composted manure from horses and cows on a natural diet – all followed with as much organic matter as possible, such as banana peels, coffee grounds, egg shells and other kitchen scraps. He tops that with moist soil and organic composted mulch, then he continues to add organic matter and soil until he fills up the hole. “All of this living matter will balance your soil’s pH naturally,” he says.

In fact, Schiller recommends buying a $10 soil testing kit – available at hardware stores and nurseries – to test your soil’s pH balance. “When the soil is too alkaline, it blocks all the nutrients,” he says.

Desert gardens require soil preparation.

Garden Kits
Maybe all this digging, composting and manure is too labor-intensive, or maybe you live in a condo with a small patio. Rob Johns, owner of A&P Nursery, recommends easy-to-assemble, raised-box garden kits. His four East Valley nursery locations sell “square-foot gardens,” which slip together with interlocking pieces and range in price from $30 to $90, depending on size.

“It’s a great way to garden in a small area and have success,” he says, noting that each square-foot section can be filled with 100 percent organic dirt, which is chock full of chicken manure, bat guano and mushroom mulch. “It’s something really simple, and it’s catching on,” Johns says.

Pre-mixed organic soils ($13) also take the guesswork and elbow grease out of soil preparation. “You’d be surprised at how many parents come in each spring bringing 2.3 children and a dog. They want to start a garden. But the soil is nasty and hard and they quit gardening. That’s what we don’t want. Square-foot gardens make gardening easy,” Johns says.

Pest and Weed Control
So, you’ve amended or purchased your soil. You’ve chosen what you’re going to plant. (For fall, Schiller recommends purchasing organic seeds for leafy greens and root vegetables, such as beets, carrots, onions, garlic, and radishes. Winter squash, melons and tomatoes also are good options.)

After planting, Harper encourages regular checks for pests. “It’s a matter of regular inspection,” he says. “Is something on your vegetables? Is something in them? Are there weeds coming up?”

For weeds, there are a number of organic weed killers, but you can get even more organic than that. “The ultimate organic weeder is a hoe and elbow grease,” Harper says. “Even organic weed killers will kill the desirable plants. Sometimes it’s easier to reach in and pull the weed out.”

As for pests, aphids are public enemy No. 1, but white flies and caterpillars are also big offenders. Here’s how to rid your prized veggies of these pesky pests. “With organic, the whole focus is not on killing. It’s working with nature. It’s getting everything healthy so your plants can withstand pests,” Schiller says, likening plants to the human body.

Photo courtesy A&P Nursery Square-foot gardens require less labor.

Here are some options if your garden currently has a pest problem:

• Identify the culprit. “If you’ve got pest XYZ, try to take samples of foliage or capture the pest and take it to your nursery,” Harper says.

• Purchase beneficial insects for your garden. Ladybugs help control aphids, while green lacewings munch white flies.

• Pick them off. If caterpillars are demolishing your tomatoes, Schiller says the best way to get rid of them is to pick them off.

• Spray your plants. Some prefer to use soapy water; however, Harper prefers a good power nozzle. “A lot of the pests we have travel on dust particles,” he says. “Spraying will help keep the bugs down to a dull roar.”

Today, more people are finding a non-toxic fix. In fact, Schiller says, people are finding a broader love for growing their own food. “It seems that over the last three years, more people are starting to garden,” Schiller says. “No. 1, the price of food is going up. No. 2 they want more nutritious and better-tasting food. Organic is very, very big.”

RESOURCES
A&P Nursery
480-839-5362 • apnursery.com
Gilbert, Mesa, Queen Creek

Harper’s Nurseries
and Landscape Co.
480-946-3481 • harpersnursery.com
Scottsdale, Mesa