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Soil, Seed and Supplies: Planning Your Garden

The Three S’s of Garden Planning boils down to: soil, seed and supplies.

One of the best things about backyard food gardening is that it demands we live by the seasons. Spring is for planning your garden. Summer demands maintenance. Autumn is the harvest. Most important of all is winter – the time for planning. Just as a landscape architect creates a garden on paper before it’s bid or built, it saves a lot of money and time to use January to plan your own food garden with research, notes and sketches. Do it right and you control your costs. You’ll save time to when plants and supplies will be on hand when you need them.

SOIL

Planning Your 2012 Garden - Soil

Soil improvement is the most important part of organic gardening. For existing gardens, plan to add amendments and fertilizers to your soil every year to compensate for what last year’s garden drew out. Amendments should be thoroughly tilled in to feed microbes so their numbers do not decline. Some of the best choices are: Garden Compost Blend, Earthworm Castings, and Just Coir for more water retentive soils in dry climates.

SEED

Research vegetables for your garden via online or print catalogs. Measure the garden and sketch out a basic boundary to help you remember what you grew last year and where you’ll grow each new plant. This allows you to rotate your crops so that each square foot grows an entirely different kind of plant each year. It is well known that diseases build up to big problems when plants inhabit the same place year after year.

Planning Your 2012 Garden - Seed Catalogues

Gather sticky tabs, a yellow highlighter and a note pad before starting in on your seed catalogs. Your ability to mark interesting varieties and take notes is a big help since there are so many kinds of lettuce, peppers and squash to choose from. Ordering online is a lot easier because you won’t have to write out all those seed names on a form. Click and buy makes growing from seed fast and easy.

SUPPLIES

Order supplies you’ll need for growing from seed so they’re on hand when it’s time to start. Black Gold Seedling Mix offers the perfect sterile medium to germinate seed successfully in a flat topped with clear plastic cover to retain warmth and heat. When the seedlings put on their second leaves you’ll need to move them into individual small pots with more fertile Black Gold Natural and Organic Potting Soil to mature further until they are large enough to move outside. When it’s time to plant them into the garden you’ll need starter & transplant fertilizer to help them quickly adapt to their new summer home.

Bulbs Accent Off Season Food Gardens

Bulbs Accent Garden
We rarely blend bulbs with food plants, but they make a great pick-me-up for off season gardens. I found this lovely garden in Germany, where they’d laid out a traditional four square design, but when not planted, this geometry doesn’t show. These smart gardeners elected to plant small bulbs in line to emphasize the design with foliage and flowers before it warms enough to plant the early spring crops. Don’t forget to plant them with Black Gold Bone Meal for a phosphorus-enriched root zone. (Please note that Black Gold Bone Meal has been discontinued.)

 

Build Organic Garden Soil with Black Gold

Building organic garden soil is the same as working the soil for any other kind of garden except for one thing: you must feed the soil with OMRI Listed products for organic gardening. The ground below your feet is not just dirt but a whole living breathing universe unto itself. Within those soil mineral particles are populations of microscopic bacteria, fungi, yeasts, protozoa and algae. They are collectively known as microbes, which feed on the remnants of dead plants, also known as organic matter. Organic gardens depend on high microbe populations to make plants grow strong naturally, resist pests and diseases, and produce a bumper crop of food or flowers.

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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®.

The Best Seedling Mix for Germination and Cuttings

BG Seeding Mix frontBlack Gold® Seedling Mix is the best seedling mix for germinating seeds and propagating cuttings. The mix is designed to promote better root development in young plants.

We start with a careful blend of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (which has been double-screened to remove larger particles and sticks); fine perlite and vermiculite to give seedlings and cuttings the aeration and moisture retention they need to develop a good root system. A wetting agent ensures rapid water penetration, and the fine texture encourages high germination and rooting. Transplanting your seedlings and cuttings will be a breeze when plants develop strong root systems as they are grown in Black Gold® Seedling Mix.

When it comes to germinating seeds, it’s simple – all you need is water, light and Black Gold® Seedling Mix. Making sure the growing media stays moist and seeds or cuttings have plenty of water in the early stages of germination or rooting is critical. Our seedling mix is designed with both peat moss and vermiculite, critical ingredients when you want to retain just the right amounts of moisture in your soil. Whether you are starting your seeds in a pot or a tray, they should be kept at temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees and placed in bright but not direct light – a southern exposure is ideal. Some seeds need darkness to germinate, so be sure to check your seed packet for details.

Black Gold® Seedling Mix is made with the same ingredients we use to make our seedling/propagation mixes for commercial greenhouse growers. Seeds typically need to be covered with Black Gold® Seedling Mix at a depth three times the diameter of the seed you are germinating. Larger seeds and seeds planted during warmer times of the year typically need to be planted deeper. Germinating your own seeds or rooting your own cuttings is a rewarding experience and one of the great delights of gardening. So when you are faced with the question, “Why buy a premium seedling mix potting soil?” the answer is clear. When you use Black Gold® Seedling Mix your seedlings and cuttings will have a great place to grow up.

The Best House Plant Potting Soil

BG African Violet front-2Do your houseplants need to be re-potted? If so, Black Gold® offers a wide variety of product choices. We have four specialty mixes to choose from in addition to three standard all-purpose mixes. They are the perfect house plant potting soils.

Black Gold® African Violet Mix – Finicky African violets thrive in this blend of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, compost, pumice, earthworm castings and screened forest humus. The pH has been balanced to create the optimal rich and porous medium for growing foliage and flowers. African Violets must be pot-bound to bloom, so it is important to choose the correct size of pot. You should choose a pot that is 1/3 larger in diameter then the plant, and keep in mind African Violets need to be repotted every six months. The new potting soil will give the plant new organic matter and nutrients, and will reduce the build-up of salts.

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All About Black Gold® Garden Compost

Black Gold Garden Compost Blend is a wonderful amendment and mulch for strawberry beds.
Black Gold Garden Compost Blend is a wonderful amendment and mulch for strawberry beds.

One of the secret ingredients used by successful gardeners is Black Gold® Garden Compost Blend. What exactly is garden compost? Compost happens when microbes break down or decompose organic or living matter. The next time you are on a walk in a forest, look down at the forest floor and you will find compost being made naturally. The final product is a dark, rich, earthy smelling material, which gardeners commonly call “black gold”. Today at Black Gold® we use garden compost in several of our products, which makes our slogan “All the Riches of the Earth™” so true.

Black Gold’s® ready-to-use garden compost is OMRI Listed. This means that our garden compost is so naturally rich and pure that it can be used to produce certified organic garden products. If you purchase compost that is not OMRI Listed, you may get a product that contains ingredients you may not want in your garden. Using Black Gold® Garden Compost Blend in your garden soil encourages earthworms and other beneficial organisms to multiply and improve soil structure, break down organic matter for plants and increase soil fertility. Healthy soil will help your garden grow plants that are strong, healthy, productive and more naturally resistant to pests and diseases. Garden compost provides organic matter and natural nutrients for your garden soil and also improves soil texture and structure. In sandy soils, garden compost helps the soil hold more moisture, while in wet, heavy clay soils, compost improves soil drainage.

Black Gold® Garden Compost can either be mixed into the soil before planting as a garden amendment, or applied to the surface of the soil as mulch. It is true that you can never have enough garden compost. That’s why we also encourage you to make your own compost, even while you are experiencing a bountiful garden using Black Gold® Garden Compost Blend. Information on composting can be found on the Internet by doing a simple search for “composting”. Plus, in addition to having a flourishing garden, when you compost you keep the material from filling up overburdened landfills.

All About Black Gold® All Purpose with Controlled Release Fertilizer

BG All Purpose Potting Soil With the advent of Black Gold® All Purpose with controlled release fertilizer, 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 controlled release fertilizer into your potting soil, your plants will have a consistent supply of nutrients throughout the entire season. Our 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, it 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 fertilization 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 controlled release fertilizer 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.