I am thinking of going organic and need advice

My tomatoes, peppers hot and mild and scented geraniums will be getting nothing but organic in sprays and food if I can pull it off with your help..

I already use plain soap sprays and egg shells and compost everything I can so my soil is good. Just have bugs some times and need to know the best way to feed my above plants without miracle gro or schultz being in my garden shed again. Help me please
Beverly

Well, I am far from an expert at organic gardening, but I've always tried to stay away from synthetic fertlizers and I've never used pesticides. It sounds like your'e definitley on the right track, with the soap spray, eggshells, and compost.

I like to make a bug spray with cayenne pepper, garlic, a bit of dish soap, and a tiny bit of cooking oil (to help it stick) to kill the bugs - just spray directly on the baddies. I also use sticky yellow traps for whiteflies - I make my own out of yellow cardstock smeared with vaseline, with a leftover chopstick taped to it to use as a stake.

For fertilizer I've had great results with Neptune's Harvest - it's a fish emulsion. Although I have to admit I kind of slacked last year, and only did one application, plus of course lots of compost and manure. My garden thrived!

I grow scented gereniums as well, and these I have to say I never fertilize, just sometimes give them a top dressing of compost. Right now they're over-wintering in my kitchen, and couldn't be happier - I think they thrive on neglect! LOL!

Good luck on your organic gardening!

I use horse manure that is aged at least a year.......compost anything I can get my hands on......and I use a lot of kelp
(soil and folliar) - takes about three years to bring a plot back using compost.

It would help to know what kind of pests you normally see or what kind of problems you usually have .......

Congratulations on your choice to lessen chemicals in your life and the earth!

One thing that goes hand in hand with organic is companion planting. You need certain plants to either serve as a trap crop for pests, or as a deterrent, or as a shelter for predatory bugs.

Check out a few threads here on DG. There are countless studies and books on the subject, including from Cornell Univ. You could do a search at http://www.alibris.com.

There is a wonderful book, I'm not sure when it was published (1999,2000) called The Complete Natural Gardener. I saw copies of it on Amazon for as little as $2.00US. This must mean it is out of print. I highly reccommend this book for anyone starting out with organic gardening in that there are no secret handshakes or anything too technical. The author (Trotter I think) does a conversational thing that is very user friendly. We have been organic gardeners and farmers for years and this book was a real breath of fresh air as opposed to many of the rather elitist tomes on the subject.

Beverlyplants~
I found some great online info today. I posted the link in another thread, called the O'MAMA report. Hope that helps.
DrDon~That book sounds great, I will check it out. Love Amazon and B&N and alibris.