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A to Z Natural & Organic Rose Care

The new rose Take it Easy™ is highly disease resistant, and a great choice for organic rose growing. (Photo Courtesy of © Weeks Roses)

Roses have a bad rap when it comes to pests and diseases—causing ecologically minded gardeners to avoid growing these seemingly needy, unsustainable garden beauties. But this need not be so. With the dawn of more resilient rose varieties and better rose-care products, it is easier than ever to successfully grow roses naturally.

There are four rules of thumb for sustainable rose cultivation: 1. Choose resistant roses; 2. Follow good rose cultivation techniques; 3. Establish an IPM regime (monitor your roses); 4. use OMRI Listed products to manage pests and diseases.

Choose Resistant Roses

The golden blooms of Julia Child® shine through summer. (Photo Courtesy of © Weeks Roses)

Newer roses are bred to withstand all the most common rose problems in addition to having good fragrance and old-fashioned appeal. Sometimes older varieties are also surprisingly tough and resistant. Here are top selections for resistance, habit, and good looks:

  1. A new introduction for 2015, Take it Easy™ is a beautiful floribunda rose that bears many clusters of velvety dark red flowers throughout the season. Hybridized by Christian Bédard, Research Director at Weeks Roses, this tough rose is described as having a “naturally self-maintained habit.” Its shiny dark green leaves are said to remain attractive and unhindered by foliar disease.
  2. Old-fashioned looks and good disease resistance make the Romantica® Roses by Star Roses great selections for gardeners seeking classic garden roses for modern gardens. Many, such as the palest pink, fully double Colette™, also boast exceptional fragrance as well as highly disease-resistant foliage.
  3. An AARS-award-winning floribunda rose with old-fashioned looks, Julia Child® is another Weeks introduction that bears fragrant double roses of palest amber. Its ultra-glossy leaves have excellent disease resistance, and the vigorous plants keep blooming all season long.
  4. The compact heirloom polyantha rose ‘Gabrielle Privat’ (1931) is a top performer in my garden. It becomes covered with fairy-pink clusters of small double roses that bloom most vigorously in early summer.
  5. Named for the famed English garden designer, Gertrude Jekyll® is a rich double pink David Austin rose with outstanding fragrance and disease resistance. The classic English shrub will add effortless heirloom charm to any garden.
  6. A great hybrid tea is Hypnotized!®, the Jackson & Perkins 2013 Rose of the Year®. Its highly fragrant flowers are bright shades of pink with streaks of white and stand above very disease-resistant glossy foliage.

Follow Good Cultivation Techniques

A plant with Rose Rosette Disease (RRD), an incurable viral disease that requires plants to be removed to stop the spread.

Good site selection and pruning are at the heart of smart rose care. Choose a planting location with full sun and soil with good drainage and ample organic matter. Roses grow best in slightly acid to neutral soil (6.5 to 7.0), so check your pH before planting. Amend with Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss at planting time as well as a fertilizer formulated for rose growing. I suggest alfalfa meal.

There is an art to rose pruning. First, time it right. Prune in spring right before branches have begun to leaf out. Forty-five-degree angle branch cuts should be made with clean, sharp bypass pruners. Cut stems around ¼ to ½ inch above outward-facing buds to encourage strong outward branching. Keep a bucket of water with 10% bleach on hand to clean pruners between plants, to protect against potential cross-contamination of diseased plants. Also, be sure to invest in a good pair or rose gloves to keep thorns from your hands and arms.

Start by removing any dead or unhealthy looking branch material. Next, cut back any crossing or large, ungainly branches that negatively impact the overall shape of the plant. Finally, promote airflow by pruning out any small, densely arranged branches. Good foliar airflow will helps keep foliage dry, which helps protect plants from certain foliar diseases. Read more about good rose pruning techniques by clicking here.

Establish an IPM Regime

Gertrude Jekyll® is a double pink David Austin rose with outstanding fragrance and disease resistance. (Photo courtesy of David Austin Roses)

Catching early signs of pest and disease damage can help you tackle small problems before they become big problems. Powdery mildew (white spots on leaf tops), downy mildew (purple, red, or brown spots on leaves), black spot (black spots on leaf tops and bottoms), rust (orange bumps on leaf bottoms and tops), and anthracnose (red or brown spots that turn gray or white in the center) are the most common foliar diseases cause by fungi. The best practice is to remove disease foliage immediately, in addition to removing foliage that may have fallen to the ground. Keeping plants physically clean will do wonders. The application of safe, OMRI Listed rose fungicides is also recommended (see below).

Viral diseases are a different matter. Leaf and branch distortions, leaf line streaks, unexplained leaf curl, and mosaic patterns are the surest signs that your roses carry a virus. Unfortunately, viral diseases cannot be cured, so the best action is to remove infected plants entirely. This is most imperative with rose rosette disease, which spreads and kills roses fast. It is also smart to choose “virus-free” plants at planting time.

Most insect pests love roses as much as we do. Some of the most common and destructive pests include Japanese beetles (skeletonize foliage), rose aphids (suck leaf juices from new growth and flowers), spider mites (suck leaf juices from mature leaf undersides), and thrips (attack flowers in bud causing bloom distortion). Several organic solutions are available for their management (see below). Native leafcutter bees are also known to cut rounded notches from rose leaves, but these friendly pollinators don’t do serious damage and don’t require management.

Nutrient deficiencies are common in roses but easily remedied with recommended doses of a good, OMRI Listed rose fertilizer.

Learn more about common rose diseases here, common rose pests here, and Japanese beetles here.

Choose the Right Products

The hybrid tea is Hypnotized!® was Jackson & Perkins 2013 Rose of the Year®. (Photo courtesy of Jackson & Perkins)

There are lots of effective, environmentally friendly rose-care products to choose from. For fungal foliar fungal diseases, there are lots of OMRI Listed options (see the full list here). I recommend GreenCure® for powdery mildew and Garden Safe Brand Fungicide 3® for all other foliar fungal diseases. Both are reliable and safe.

Early applications of insecticidal soap, dormant horticultural oil, or neem oil will help tackle problems with aphids, spider mites, and even thrips. As a protective measure, it is always wise to treat roses with dormant horticultural oil early in the season before plants leaf out. Neem oil and insecticidal soap can be applied through the season as needed. Larger pests, like Japanese beetles, are best picked off by hand and squashed or thrown in a bucket of water. In years when populations are high, smaller roses can be protected with summer-weight insect row cloth.

Follow these rose care guidelines, and you will have a beautiful rose garden. Your roses may still have thorns, but they will look and smell sweet through the season.

Hip, Sustainable Rugosa Roses

rosa-rugosaweb
Wild rugosa roses typically have showy, single, pink flowers that stand bright against disease resistant, rugose foliage.

If you’re yearning for sustainable, self-sufficient or fast ways to get slow food, add a hip-producing rose or two to your landscape. Don’t choose modern, easy-care types that are too highly bred to be useful. Instead start with the Asian Rosa rugosa, which is more cold hardy and drought resistant than most others along with being a great fruit producer. It’s also nearly pest and disease free, making it the perfect first fruit-producing rose of choice.

Edible Hips

I have always cultivated rugosas for their enormous fruits, called “hips”, that follow the pollinated flower. The tart rugosa fruits are some of the largest of all roses and mature to dark red in the fall. If left on the upright canes, their color pops after early snowfall.

rose rugosa hip
The large round hips of Rosa rugosa are tart, flavorful and packed with nutrients.

Rugosa hips range in diameter from the size of a nickel to as large as a quarter. The soft, astringent flesh inside is chock full of vitamins. When dried, they make an amazing medicinal tea for cold and flu. Their medicinal value was discovered by the British during World War II when citrus importation was limited. Finding a local source of vitamin C was essential to staving off scurvy in the children, and rose hips from English gardens saved the day. Since then, rose hips became coveted for jams and jellies, concentrated syrups or as vitamin rich additives to medicinal teas. Adding fresh rose hips to a quick bread or cookies also lends unique flavor and adds nutritional value.

Rugosa Growth

Rugosa roses have a more brambly growth habit in that they spread via underground rhizomes and can eventually form thickets–particularly if planted in sandy, friable soils. The roots send up canes all along the way to eventually create a large dense plant. This has made rugosas the most popular rose for creating carefree hedges that don’t need to be pampered or sprayed. Rather than planting a hedge of boxwood or some other strictly ornamental shrub, use rugosas instead. There are many cultivated varieties of this rose that bloom red, white or the common pink, you get food and flowers.

Rugosa hips continue to look pretty into winter until they are consumed by wildlife.
Unused hips continue to look pretty into winter until they are consumed by wildlife. (photo by Jessie Keith)

Plant non-grafted rugosas bareroot in spring or from container plants any time from spring to fall. It’s advisable to start with well-rooted 1- or 5-gallon plants spaced apart at between 3 to 5 feet; good spacing allows plenty of room for each to spread out to fill the gaps quickly.

This rose is native to the coastal hillsides, sandy sea shores of China, but it has become established in many temperate, sandy locations worldwide, it grows best in sandy soils. Still it is adaptable and will grow well in all but poorly drained soils.

Planting Rugosa Roses

The easiest planting method for rugosas is to dig a trench, and amend the soil to encourage more adventurous rooting. (Trenching discourages root travel beyond the strict edges of the trench for a more precise linear hedge.) Amend the excavated soil with Black Gold Garden Compost Blend to lighten clay or increase water holding capacity of sandy soils. Enrich it further with alfalfa meal, a favorite natural fertilizer of rose aficionados everywhere. The fertility of poor soils can also be boosted with alfalfa meal for even more nutrition at planting time.

These wild rugosa roses have formed brambly thickets along a sandy beach.
These wild rugosa roses have formed brambly thickets along a sandy beach. (photo by Jessie Keith)

Planting just one rugosa rose in your yard is the genesis for a more extensive fruit and flower harvest in the future. Simply allow plants to become established, then either create new ones by layering the stems, or dig out more adventurous rhizomes, sever and replant elsewhere.

No other rose is as well suited to the sustainable garden, urban agriculture and the hobby farm due to its ease of cultivation, pest and disease resistance and many uses in the kitchen. So plant easy care rugosa roses for hedges and as a fruit crop that bears heartily during the hard times, and ‘tween times, when there’s little else going in your garden.

Planting Bare Root Fruit Trees

Well-planted and maintained bare-root fruit trees will produce good fruit on a couple of years.

Out West, where the bare root season arrives early, February is time for planting fruit trees, and January is the time to prepare. New gardeners often miss this crucial planting time because it falls so early here. Bare root season is the best time to buy fruit trees at their lowest price of the year. Trees grown from bare root stock produce more adventurous roots because they’ve never been hampered by the nursery pot. Instead they’re grown in a field, dug while dormant, then the soil is washed off and shipping ensues.

 

Buying Bare Root Fruit Trees

 

Cherries require more winter chilling that other fruit tree types, which are better suited to warmer regions.

There are three ways to buy bare root fruit trees. The first is through mail order. Because bare root trees are so lightweight, they’re perfect for purchasing through catalogs, like Raintree Nursery which offers the widest range of bare root fruit tree varieties available.

Next comes your local independent garden center. These folks will order in bare root stock for varieties that they know are well adapted to the local climate. For example, late-blooming varieties may be chosen in areas where early frosts may damage early blooming trees and diminish fruit set. This kind of regional selection makes choosing garden center fruit trees a no-brainer.

Our garden compost blend will help bare root fruit trees become better established.

National chain home improvement stores tend to stock more standard varieties sold from coast to coast. These may not be ideal for your landscape, so research varieties before you buy. For example, a store may sell bare root cherry trees in a climate that lacks the winter chill necessary to make them produce fruit. You won’t realize this until years later when the tree fails to fruit at all. It’s a risk you can’t afford.

Bare root trees save you big money because they haven’t been potted, so you’re not paying more for pots, or increased shipping costs. And if you get your bare roots fresh and early, you might even be getting a better product. Those bare root trees left over after the season are usually potted up at the nursery and put on sale at higher prices. These may be the poorest trees of the lot, passed over by savvy buyers.

Planting Bare Root Fruit Trees

 

Once you have your bare root trees selected and have brought them home, be sure not to let the roots dry out. Many even recommend soaking the bare roots for several hours in a bucket of tepid water before planting.

amendments
Improve your planting hole soil by mixing in generous quantities of Black Gold amendments, such as compost and garden soil.

The next step is to plant them in enriched landscape soil. Because bare roots do not come with a rootball, they lack feeder roots and have a diminished root zone. Enriching the soil well will give them a better start. Begin by digging a hole that’s twice the width of the root spread and to a depth that will just reach the root flair at the base of the trunk. Next, enrich the extracted soil by blending it with Black Gold Garden Compost Blend or Black Gold Garden Soil. It’s also important to add a starter & transplant fertilizer to help build strong roots and reduce transplant shock.

graft union
There’s a line on the bare root tree, below the graft union and just above the root flair, which shows where the soil level should be for planting.

Planting trees correctly is essential for their long term happiness. When planting the tree, tease the roots out, making sure no major roots overlap, and then cover them firmly and completely, making sure the root flair is just covered at the point where it meets the trunk. You also need to be aware of the tree graft near the base of the trunk. The graft is not too hard to spot; just look for a line or mark at the base of the tree where the straight rootstock was grafted with the varietal wood (or “scion”). It’s wise to cover the graft union with protective wrap to protect against summer sunburn or winter sun scald.

Be sure to create a watering basin in the soil around the newly planted tree, and fill it to the top with water to help settle the new soil around the roots. Staking newly planted bare root trees is also wise as they won’t be sure-footed until they set strong, new roots. Continue to give it good care, and watch the bare stick come to life with flowers, leaves and fruits that get bigger and better each year.

Growing Limes for Perfect Tequila Tasting

Limes
Nothing tastes quite like fresh limes straight from the tree, and they’re easy to grow!

The Cuervo Gold tequila we all swore off of so many times in high school has some big competition these days. There are now over 600 tequila brands on the market and high quality imports elevate this drink from spring break slammers to uptown tasting parties. With tequila coming up in the world at well over $50 a bottle, you’ll want to know a bit more about growing the bartender’s lime to match. Growing limes is easy!

Mexican Lime

Centuries ago, Arab traders brought limes from Asia to the Middle East where Crusaders carried them home to Spain, and later into Mexico. The species Citrus aurantifolia has since split into varietal groups to include larger Key limes and the smaller Mexican “bartender’s” lime. The latter produces the best lime for tequila aficionados.Mexican limes have the thinnest rind of all citrus. This allows the fruit to dehydrate so quickly its cold storage life is severely limited. Store bought limes rarely retain that fresh-picked in flavor, but if you grow your own Mexican limes in a large pot, you’ll enjoy the freshest fruit possible with every tequila tasting.

Beautifully contained lime trees in England.
Beautifully contained lime trees in England.

The Mexican lime variety available from premier citrus growers is Citrus aurantifolia ‘Mexican Thornless.’ This lime tree blooms over spring and summer with small white blossoms that release a heady citrus fragrance. It is very frost tender and best grown in a large pot you can move under cover or indoors for the winter. The container should have not just one, but numerous drain holes in the bottom to ensure there is no over-saturation occurring deeper down.

Growing Mexican Lime

Because all citrus are picky about drainage, use Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil where summers are humid. In the depths of the Southwest, where summers can be very hot and dry, Black Gold Cocoblend Potting Soil will help retain more moisture in the dry heat. For established container-grown limes or other citrus, use Black Gold Citrus, Avocado & Vine fertilizer each year to ensure a plentiful harvest.

Mexican limes are frost-damaged by temperatures below 30 degrees F. Key limes may be slightly more hardy. Either way, plant them in a protected spot or use a large planter with wheels to ensure you can move yours to protection on cold nights or for the entire winter. For those willing to do so, draping a protective blanket or bed sheet over a smaller tree on cold nights is a temporary, yet effective, strategy for overcoming periodic frost.

The biggest challenge is protecting tender citrus tree bark, which is highly vulnerable to sunburn. This is why they are painted white in the orchard; the paint provides the same benefits that zinc oxide provides human sunscreens. You can do the same with watered-down white interior latex on your homegrown citrus too. If not painted, sunburn can result and cause blistering or long cracks in the bark, which cause moisture loss and increase pest and disease vulnerability.

To keep a potted tree to a limited size, thin out interior branches at any time. Time your pruning well by waiting until after fruit harvest to avoid interfering with the flowering process. If you’re growing ‘Mexican Thornless’, any suckers from below the graft union should be promptly removed as they bear large painful barbs.

If memories of tequila shots on the Mexican Riviera seem far more flavorful than those of tequila parties further north, it’s not your imagination. Freshness is everything when you bite into a lime wedge. Why not bring a little bit of Mexico to your own backyard, so whenever life gives you too many lemons, you can always break out the tequila and limes.

Colorful Foliage Plants for Elegant Autumn Designs

 

Coleus Low - Maureen Gilmer
Coleus: Use annual coleus for incredible color and variegation in fall compositions.
Shield Low - Maureen Gilmer
Shield: My favorite, the Persian shield is the best purple foliage pant for fall and winter color.

Now that the humidity has passed and it’s okay to go outside, why not spice up your patio or entry with some cutting edge color. This time forget the flowers and try colorful foliage plants that bear beautiful leaves with vivid designs. These are bright and brilliant without waiting for blooms, and when the cold of winter sets in they are easy to bring indoors to brighten rooms during the dark days to come.

So dump out those worn out summer pots and lay in some bags of Black Gold Natural and Organic Potting Soil Plus Fertilizer and start turning your patio or front entry into an elegant autumn design statement. The controlled-release fertilizer in this soil will keep your fall-planted compositions carefree and well-fed for the next few months.

Persian Shield

I’ve fallen in love with Persian shield (Strobilanthes dyerianus), my favorite new plant with its rich purple leaves and dramatic venation. These are truly fabulous in low light or bright sun and can develop into large plants in a short time. While not particularly frost tolerant, they make a superior interior accent too, so I’m inclined to spend more for a strong houseplant later one. You can plant this one alone or combine it with succulent sanseveria, the old mother-in-law’s tongue. The two together are decidedly modern in sleek containers or look exotic and tropical in a bamboo basket cachepot.

Coleus

Persian shield can also be grouped into a large color bowl with coleus. This is one annual that has exploded from a few colors to a whole rainbow in just a few years. When you choose an exotic pink to match that purple shield leaf, you’ve got an outstanding focal point for the patio. Later on it comes in to winter over in that sunny corner by the window.

Heuchera Low - Maureen Gilmer
Heuchera: Buy brightly colored heucheras today, then plant them into the spring garden later.

Heuchera

Whenever you can buy a perennial that performs as well as an annual, you get top value for your dollar. Heucheras are another plant that’s exploded as a foliage accent. These small mounts of brightly colored leaves in a rainbow of hues are equally fabulous in pots as they are in the border. They are renowned for retaining their leaves throughout mild winters, so in pots they give you a long span of performance. Plant vivid heuchera varieties into your fall foliage compositions and you’ll have much larger specimens by spring to transplant into the garden.

Dwarf Fountain Grass

A final option that adds fine texture and animation to larger autumn pots is dwarf purple fountain grass varieties. These smaller hybrids with their maroon foliage will be in bloom by early fall, and their arching stems that bear fuzzy lavender-tone blooms sway and nod in the autumn breezes. Use one as the center piece of a rusty, iron pedestal urn with the dark beauty of heuchera, coleus and Persian shield for an upscale, eye popping display to welcome visitors over holidays and special occasions. Plant a pair of them to flank your front door, sheltered under the porch or at your entry steps to create dynamic symmetry.

No matter how you mix and match, these colorful bedding plants provide fabulous foliage and are always a winner. They’re all pest and disease resistant so they don’t need coddling. There are no flowers to snip off so just enjoy the foliage until nights become too cold. Then bring these mature creations into your home to keep those vivid leaves happy and healthy all winter long.

Grass Low - Maureen Gilmer
Grass Low: Dwarf purple fountain grass makes an outstanding center point for pedestal urns.

The Scoop on Good Dirt: OMRI

You buy certified organic seed. You search for organically-grown vegetable seedlings to transplant into your containers. But, have you read the fine print on the bag of your potting medium to see if it is free of manufactured chemicals? If you are uncertain whether you need to protect yourself by wearing gloves when handling a certain potting medium, or should even consider growing edibles in a particular soil mix, check the bag first for an OMRI Certification. What is an OMRI Certification? This explanation is courtesy of their website, “Founded in 1997, the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) provides organic certifiers, growers, manufacturers, and suppliers an independent review of products intended for use in certified organic production, handling, and processing.” Continue reading “The Scoop on Good Dirt: OMRI”

Swanky Succulent Container Gardens

 

Succulents - Maureen Gilmer - Feature Image
Succulents: Elegant pedestal urns feature rounded mounds of succulent plants topped with a crown of spiky leaves.

Nestled into opulent coastal southern California is a nursery where I go to find out what’s hot in the world of container gardening. Decades ago Rogers Gardens was founded on flower-filled hanging color baskets so fabulous they draw tour buses daily. I worked there in the early 80s and today I return to see how they display every hot trend in container gardening. Most of what I see can be recreated using Black Gold specialty potting soils to make your home garden just as exciting this year.

Mesclun - Maureen Gilmer
Mesclun: Integrating colorful lettuce into pots and gardens makes more opportunity to snip for dinner.

GREENS

Edible greens are proving to be one of the most interesting plants for both ornamental and food gardens. At Rogers they are displayed in glorious color from purple kale to pastel mesclun mixes of curious gourmet lettuce and greens. Potting them into decorative containers is easy when you use Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil. Blend these with edible flowers and culinary herbs for beauty you can snip and pinch into salads, soups and as decorative garish.

Flax - Maureen Gilmer
Flax: Latest looks include dark burgundy Aeonium and bright red striped Phormium combine in terra cotta.

SUCCULENTS

Growing succulents in containers demands fast draining Black Gold Cactus Mix. Such porosity allows you to cram dozens of colorful rosettes into the same pot without concern for rot setting in. The latest look is combining vivid autumn colored foliage plants such as New Zealand flax hybrids with gobs of succulents for perfect compatibility.

Mediterranean - Maureen Gilmer
Mediterranean: Woody rosemary topiary sits atop high-contrast succulents.

MEDITERRANEANS

Demand for drought resistant plants and popularity of Spanish inspired architecture puts Mediterranean species front and center. The creation of topiaries from rosemary and fruitless olive provides excellent form and fragrance with other less European selections. Fruitless olive and its dwarf cousin ‘Little Ollie’ are hot right now to accent Mediterranean inspired architecture. Blend them with succulents or low profile herbs in traditional terra cotta pots for focal points on patio and terrace. Use Waterhold Cocoa Blend Potting Soil to retain moisture and reduce the need to water often, making these creations even more water conservative than Mother Nature planned.

Herb Box - Maureen Gilmer
Herb Box: Old boxes repurposed at Rogers for a small space herb garden or a super gift idea.

HERBS

Every foodie needs an herb garden filled with the best culinary species. At Rogers this year they’ve used old wood crates to create rustic herb gardens perfect for an apartment balcony, a condo courtyard or even a small roof garden. It’s truly amazing how useful they are when ganged together like this, offering lots to pinch and pluck. Since so many herbs come from arid climates that lack summer rainfall, try Hy Porosity Natural and Organic Potting Soil which helps them stay high and dry during rainy summers.

During my years at Rogers I learned that one potting soil doesn’t fit all plants. That’s why Black Gold offers so many options. Use the right ones so you can be just as successful with your succulents, Mediterraneans, edibles and herbs no matter where you live.

Give Roots Incentive to Grow Downward

Give Roots An Incentive to Grow Downward - Maureen Gilmer
Planting fruit trees, grape vines or blueberry shrubs? To make sure yours are really productive, give them an incentive. Sprinkle a measuring cup of organic fertilizer into the bottom of your planting hole, then cover it with a few inches of soil before you set the root ball on top. Then deep water often to send moisture down there to activate this fertilizer so its ready for roots when they arrive. Such incentives drive roots downward into the soil where they are far better able to find moisture under hot dry conditions later this summer.

Start Vegetable Seeds Indoors Early

Inner-city kids from Head Start programs perform at much higher levels of literacy and language than kids of the same socioeconomic groups who did not attend the program. Likewise, starting vegetable seeds indoors while it’s still cold helps gardeners get a head start in the spring and summer garden. Many vegetables perform much better when they are nurtured indoors before outdoor planting.

Timing Planting

Start different vegetables at varying times before outdoor planting. For example, the rule of thumb for tomatoes and peppers is to sow them six to eight weeks before the estimated planting date, which is usually a couple of weeks after the last frost of spring. To accomplish this, start them in late February or early March. At planting time, tomato and pepper starts should be six inches tall or more.

Seedling Web
Seedling: You can protect tiny seedlings much easier indoors, then transplant into the garden after the last frost.

Where summers are short, starting early means harvesting early. (Planting early-to-produce vegetables also ensures an earlier harvest.) Warm outdoor soil and strong root systems will make them vigorous growers after transplanting.

Home Seed Starting Advantages

The advantages of starting seedlings at home are that they cost less, seed catalogs offer more choice than nurseries, and, if you are an organic gardener, you can be confident that your plants have been grown organically. (OMRI Listed Black Gold Seedling Mix is approved for organic gardening.) Seed catalogs carry wonderful specialty vegetables and heirlooms that are often tastier and a lot more fun to cook with.

The Seed Starting Environment

Growing seeds indoors requires a sunny windowsill, sun porch, greenhouse, or cold frame. Choose a south-facing window that provides at least 6-hours of sunlight. If that’s not available, consider investing in full-spectrum grow lights to start seeds.

Head Start
Head Start: It’s easy to start a garden in new or recycled containers.

Before you begin sowing seed, it’s important to gather all the materials you’ll need ahead of time. A quality growing mix is essential. Black Gold’s Seedling Mix is light and airy for reliable germination and root growth.

Other Materials Required:

  • Black Gold’s Seedling Mix
  • Seed
  • Plastic pots or cell packs with water-holding flats and clear plastic cover
  • Mister and small watering can
  • Four-inch pots to upgrade seedlings
  • Black Gold Natural & Organic Potting Soil
  • Waer-soluble fertilizer