According to a recent survey 44 percent of Americans plan to grow a vegetable garden this year. That is a 12 percent increase compared with last year. Many of the new vegetable gardeners will be located in urban and suburban settings where garden soils need to be created or highly amended for top productivity. Here is an overview of how to prepare your vegetable garden soils with Black Gold products.
Starting Your Vegetable Garden
The most important part of gardening is perfectly preparing your soil for bountiful crops. It is often said that 90 percent of what happens to a plant happens below the soil surface, and this is not far from the truth. Well-prepared garden soil will quickly pay itself in produce with just a little time, labor and materials. Before preparing garden soil, be sure the soil is at the right consistency; it must be moist enough to dig with a shovel but not too wet or dry. If you are digging a new bed, begin by defining the bed line. This can be done with stakes and string-lines, or bed lines can be sprayed out with specialty landscape chalk marking spray. Once you have defined your garden bed line, remove all the surface weeds (purposefully pulling the whole weed, including the roots), rocks and debris.
Soil Preparation
Now it is time to add rich organic matter to your vegetable garden. Lots of our products will do the trick nicely. The most popular product for most gardeners is Black Gold Garden Compost Blend, which contains Canadian sphagnum peat moss and aged compost, aged or composted bark. Black Gold Garden Soil is another great product that will naturally boost your soil’s organic content. We also recommend adding our secret ingredient: Black Gold Earthworm Castings; a 16 qt bag will cover 15-20 square feet of garden soil. Each of these garden amendments have slightly different benefits and can be used in combination for superior results. The amount of amendment you need can be determined using our amendment calculator. When incorporating organic matter into your garden, it is not the time to be frugal. The more the better. All Black Gold garden amendments can be spread out on the surface of the garden soil and then dug into the native soil to a shovel depth of 6″
Fertilize!
Vegetables also require quality fertilizer for best results. We suggest gardeners wait to fertilize until planting time. This is because different types of vegetables may require different fertilizer types, and some fertilizers contain both quick- and slow-release nutrients. If you fertilize and wait for a week or so to plant your garden, you will loose the complete benefits of the quick-release nutrients. Always try to choose a tomato and vegetable fertilizer that’s approved for organic gardening.
We wish you bountiful harvests in your new vegetable garden, and encourage readers to send us posts of their Black Gold garden successes!
