The essentials for an organic garden in the way of equipment and other items include the following:

ROTOTILLER

Unless you have a small space that you can turn by hand, this is a back saving piece of equipment that you will appreciate every spring.

HULA HOE®

Works great to remove weeds by slicing them off under the soil line.  When careful, you can get pretty close to a plant without harming it.

WEED FLAMER

I discovered this great gadget which burns weeds and weed seeds with a propane torch.  You do not need to set the weeds on fire, just running the flame over small weeds bursts plant cells and kills them. Really cuts down on hand labor and is perfect around sidewalks and driveways.  Just don’t get it too close to netting or polyethylene irrigation line as you will melt them.

GARDEN SPRAYER

An absolute must.  The self-pressuring kind are really nice so you don’t have to hand pump constantly.  You will need one designated ONLY for biological pesticides.  Never use herbicide or chemical pesticides in the one for your garden.

FLOATING ROW COVERS

These come in 2 weights.  Lightweight is great for getting seeds off to a good start in the early spring as it warms up the soil and keeps birds from getting the seeds as they first sprout.  The heavyweight version protects from freezing and can be used as the cover on a cold frame (see Article 11 Building Your Own Coldframe).

6 MIL CLEAR PLASTIC

This is helpful should you ever be required to solarize your soil to kill pathogens.  See Article 4, Growing Tomatoes.

BIRD NETTING

I use 14’ wide for rows.  I have seen this sold 7’ wide, but it is not wide enough to cover a tomato plant in cage with room to secure the bottom.

Visit my webpage on Examiner.com for more articles on gardening, landscape plants, and much more.

 GO ORGANIC!