Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

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Author: Jan Perez

Better Results All Season Long with Black Gold®

Black Gold All Purpose with Multicote Potting SoilWith the advent of Black Gold® All Purpose, you are now able to enjoy the benefits of a premium quality potting soil with a fertilizer that will feed your plants for up to six months. Sun Gro sells this same fertilizer product to professional growers. By incorporating Multicote® into your potting soil, your plants will have a consistent supply of nutrients throughout the entire season.

Multicote®, a controlled release fertilizer, has been coated with a polymer that slowly breaks down to release the nutrients over time. Unlike other controlled release fertilizers in the marketplace, Multicote® will not release excessive nutrients in higher temperatures, thus ensuring your plant will thrive no matter what the weather. This baseline of fertilizer allows your plants to grow all season long, not just when you remember to fertilize. Additional fertilizations with a liquid fertilizer, starting a couple weeks after planting, will ensure your plants get all the nutrients they need, particularly if your plants are heavy feeders.

Ideal for all types of plants, Black Gold® All Purpose with Multicote® is a great choice for house plants, patio containers and hanging baskets. Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss with earthworm castings, forest humus, compost and pumice combine to provide your plants with both moisture retention and good drainage. Since this potting soil has a higher amount of peat moss, it is ideal for gardeners looking to reduce their fertilizer and water usage.

Think of all the benefits – you start with a premium potting soil; add a controlled release fertilizer that will lessen the frequency of fertilizing; and you get improved plant performance by using Black Gold® All Purpose Potting Soil with Multicote®.

Earthworm Castings (The Scoop on the Poop)

BG Earthworm Casting frontThe term “worm castings” seems to confuse everyone but the plants. Earthworms have been hard at work for centuries rejuvenating soils and helping to convert various types of organic matter into one of nature’s best soil conditioners. Black Gold® has had worm castings as the cornerstone of its product line long before worm castings became the vogue in gardening. Our Earthworm Castings are OMRI Listed, making them a cut above the rest for both traditional and organic gardening.

Black Gold® Earthworm Castings contain a fertilizer charge. In fact, they are so nutrient-charged that we actually have to register them as a fertilizer in some states. Minerals and nutrients from earthworm castings are in a water-soluble form, making them readily available to plants.

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Enrich Your Garden Soil with Black Gold

Black Gold Natural and Organic Fertilizers - SliderWhen you garden, you are gardening with a desired end result in mind, whether it is a bountiful vegetable garden, a bloom-laden bed of roses, a floriferous flowering bed of spring or summer bulbs or a thick rich lawn. All of these results might not be possible unless you invest into your garden with quality garden soil amendments and fertilizers.

Garden soil amendments are designed to improve the physical properties of your soil. Quality amendments increase water and nutrient holding capabilities and improve aeration and water infiltration of the native soil. The organic matter in an amendment acts similar to a magnet, attracting water and nutrients during times of plenty and releasing them during drier and less nutrient-rich times. Organic matter also loosens and breaks up mineral soil. This increases the air space for plant roots to flourish and allows improved water drainage.

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Fresh Potting Soil is Better

Everything is better fresh, whether you’re talking about donuts, cut flowers for your dinner table, or the potting soil for your patio container. That’s why we sell only fresh potting soils at Black Gold. After potting soils or amendments are manufactured they become a living entity. The fertilizers and wetting agent start to react in their moist organic media environment. As part of our commitment to quality we put a date of manufacture on all Black Gold® potting soils, amendments and peat moss. The products are stamped with production codes.

Why Buy A Premium Potting Soil?

Black Gold Award Winning PackagingWhy buy a premium potting soil? The reasons are many. As each of us begins a gardening project, we all have the end result in mind: a bountiful vegetable garden, an overflowing flower covered basket or perhaps a thick and rich new lawn! At Sun Gro, we believe that the key to these and many other gardening successes is directly related to the quality of product that we, as a manufacturer, put in a bag. We hope the following chart will illustrate the advantages of Black Gold® made by Sun Gro Horticulture, North America’s largest producer of professional growing mixes – over the competition.

 

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Think Green & Recycle

BG-Ferts-2In an effort to continue to be good stewards of the environment, we would like to share some information on how to recycle your Black Gold® packaging.

All of our Black Gold® potting soil and amendment plastic packaging is recyclable. The bags are manufactured using a Low-Density Polyethylene (#4) and can be recycled if the plastic is clean. You can find a local recycler in the United States on the USA LDPE Recycling Directory , or in Canada at the North American Plastic Recycling Network.

Black Gold® Fertilizer boxes are made of cardboard and can be recycled locally where you would recycle other cardboard. Since the contents of these fertilizers are natural and organic, the boxes recycle easily. Simply remove all of the contents of the box thoroughly by opening up one end of the box and shaking it vigorously with the open end pointed towards the open garden soil, then recycle with all of your other cardboard.

Black Gold® Waterhold Cocoblend for Container Gardening

 

A quality water-holding soil will ensure potted foxgloves will get a good supply of needed moisture.

Since its launch in 2003, Black Gold® Waterhold Cocoblend (formerly just Cocoblend) became a popular product with those gardeners seeking a superior water retentive potting soil. To better reflect the product, we have changed the name and bag image to better focus on the benefits of this great OMRI Listed mix ideal for organic container gardening.

Waterhold Cocoblend combines coconut coir with Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss to give your outdoor container plants the best water retention protection against exposure to heat, wind and sun. We at Sun Gro Horticulture use the same high-quality ingredients in this mix that we use in our professional grow mixes. We’ve done all the work for you. And we don’t stop there; we also add earthworm castings and pumice to make this a high-performance potting soil for all container applications.

One of the most popular features of Waterhold Cocoblend is all of the great water-holding traits you would get in traditional water-holding potting soil, but no copolymer crystals (polyacrylamide), sometimes referred to as the “ooze from beneath”. Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend is an organic alternative to what you might typically find. This product is OMRI Listed, which means you don’t have to hope the manufacturer meant well when they made their product. All of Black Gold® Waterhold Cocoblend‘s raw ingredients and manufacturing processes have been reviewed by the Organic Materials Review Institute. The end result is that Black Gold® Waterhold Cocoblend is suitable for producing a certified organic garden. Think of OMRI as the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for organic production. At Black Gold we insist our organic products are OMRI Listed so gardeners can garden with confidence.

You should not think of Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend as a specialty potting soil, but as an all purpose potting soil with an additional feature: increased water retention. As we all know gardening can bring us a lot of enjoyment, but it can also increase your workload. With Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend your “To Do” list can be reduced since you will need to water your outdoor containers and baskets less when you use it. Black Gold Waterhold Cocoblend may have a new name, but it’s the same premium quality potting soil that will help reduce the frequency of watering your outdoor containers and baskets.

 

Overlooked Improvements in Black Gold®

An important component of Sun Gro Horticulture’s mission statement is the concept of continuous improvement. That concept has become a reality with the Black Gold® product line in recent years.

Beginning in spring 2007 all of the Black Gold® packaging has been updated. We worked hard to maintain the familiar bag images, but at the same time making the colors more brilliant, the bag easier to read and the information on the bag more detailed. Additionally the bags have been coated with a protectorant that allows the packaging to hold up better against the weather (both sun and rain) and is now more scuff resistant. The mil thickness of the bags has also been increased, to reduce the chances of a broken bag at the garden center, in the car and at the home.

Black Gold® All Purpose was improved in Spring 2007 to start including Multicote® controlled release fertilizer in the potting soil mix.  This added value component allows the gardener to have a baseline level of fertility for up to six months thus reducing the need to continually fertilize. Multicote® has a uniform nutrient release curve, which means your plants will have a consistent supply of nutrition including micronutrients for up to six months from time of planting. The rate of nutrient release with Multicote® is temperature sensitive, with warmer temperatures increasing the rate of release and lower temperatures reducing the rate of release of nutrients. Think of the addition of Multicote® to Black Gold® All Purpose as one less thing you have to do on your gardening “Things to Do List”.Black Gold Waterhold was improved in Spring 2007 and is now Black Gold® Waterhold Cocoblend. By dropping the old formulation that contained a polymer gel and replacing it with the old formula of Cocoblend that contained coconut fiber you can now naturally enjoy the benefits of increased water retention without the hassle of a gel.For our retailers and garden center customers in California we now have two new production facilities located in California. With a production facility located in both Northern and Southern California we can now offer improved customer service to our customers and ultimately homeowners throughout California.Spring 2008 was also the introductory year for the Black Gold® fertilizer product line. With eight natural and organic formulas and one controlled release fertilizer, Black Gold® fertilizer offers both a broad range of formulations and the high quality you have become used to from Black Gold®.

Not resting on our laurels, in Spring 2009 you will see an additional list of improvements to insure Black Gold is the first choice for retailers and consumers in premium quality potting soils, amendments and fertilizers.

 

Products for Fall Planting and Winterizing Your Garden

BG-Fert-Citrus-Avocado-Vine-OMRI-120608Fall is a wonderful time to garden. You can look over this year’s accomplishments and start developing your plans for next year, but it is also the perfect time for working in your garden.

Planting garden beds, color bowls and hanging baskets with fall annuals is a wonderful way to extend the joy of gardening throughout the remainder of the year. Be sure to add some Black Gold® Garden Compost Blend, Soil Conditioner and garden amendment or planting mix to your soil with either Black Gold® Rose & Flower or All Purpose Fertilizer to ensure a flower-filled display. Color bowls and hanging baskets with Black Gold® All Purpose Potting Soil or Black Gold® Natural and Organic Potting Soil make good choices for fall plantings.

Moving your outdoor herbs inside can be a very worthwhile fall activity. All you need to do is repot them in an indoor container and place them on a window sill that gets about 6 hours of sunlight. Those fresh herbs will be particularly flavorful, and it can be as easy as planting your favorite herbs in a container with Black Gold® Natural & Organic or Black Gold® All Purpose Potting Soil.

Fall is the best time of year to over-seed an existing lawn or start a new lawn from seed because the temperatures are cooler and the rain patterns are more consistent. Black Gold® Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss is a crucial ingredient in the lawn enhancement process. When you spread the peat moss on top of the lawn seed, it will keep the seeds moist and you will have quicker and more uniform grass seed germination.

Tree and shrub planting in the fall is natural for most plants. At this time of year the plants are starting to go dormant while the soil temperatures are still warm in comparison with the air. Both of these factors promote root development. After you start with the appropriate Black Gold® fertilizer, add your choice of Black Gold® Garden Compost, Soil Conditioner and garden amendment or planting mix to amend the soil. Simply follow the instructions on the back of the fertilizer box and amendment bag to add a new tree or shrub to your garden.

Planting spring-blooming bulbs in the fall can be a wonderfully rewarding activity. Black Gold® Garden Compost, Soil Conditioner and Garden Amendment or Planting Mix are great choices to improve the soil structure and enrich the soil with organic matter. Try using Black Gold Bone Meal to fertilize your bulbs so they will develop a good strong root system before they appear next spring.

Summer bulbs need to be dug up and stored in the fall after frost has blackened their foliage. Dry Black Gold® Peat Moss is a great choice for storage of most bulbs. However, a pre-moistened Black Gold® Peat Moss is the right choice for dahlias. Black Gold® Perlite can also be used to store bulbs that need to stay dry.

After raking up your garden’s leaves and plants, why don’t you put them in your compost pile instead of having them hauled away to either a landfill or a commercial composting site? If your compost pile becomes overwhelmed with the leaves, bag or pile them up separately and gradually add them over the winter as you add kitchen waste to your compost pile. Be sure to add Black Gold® Fertilizers to start the composting process.

And last but not least, be sure to add Black Gold® Garden Compost , Soil Conditioner and Garden Amendment or Planting Mix to any open location in the garden in preparation for planting next spring. May your fall gardening be full of joy and satisfaction when you garden with Black Gold® potting soils, amendments and fertilizers.

Perlite and Pumice in Potting Soil

BG Perlite frontHave you ever wondered what those little white things in your potting soil are? In most instances they are perlite and/or pumice. Perlite is a mined siliceous rock that is heated and expanded, or “popped” like popcorn, into a white lightweight material, while pumice is a soft, insert-mined stone that often comes from Oregon. What makes Black Gold® Perlite and Black Gold® Pumice particularly desirable is that both are screened for uniformity, with the finer particles removed.

Both perlite and pumice are porous aggregates, meaning they are added to a potting soil to improve aeration and drainage. The addition of perlite and pumice in a potting soil will also increase the moisture and nutrient retention of the potting soil. Just like peat moss, they act like reservoirs in retaining water and nutrients and release them when they are needed by the plant.

Due to its weight, pumice provides bulk density to a potting soil. This trait is valuable when you are growing outdoor containers and you don’t want them to blow over in the wind. Pumice is often the aggregate choice for specialty potting soils (cactus, bonsai) because it provides great aeration and helps anchor roots.

In addition to being a potting soil mix component, perlite is an excellent neutral medium for starting seeds and rooting cuttings. It can also be used to store bulbs and as an essential hypertufa planter ingredient.