Spring

Spring - is it here or not?

 Hard to say here in north Texas some times.  Our last AVERAGE frost date is St. Patty's Day, but we generally get some cooler weather, even a snap freeze, right around Easter.   Go ahead and get your starts or start your seedlings inside for tomatoes, cukes, squash, basil and other warm weather herbs and veggies for an early start as soon as the soil and evening temps warm up - and stay that way. All of our vegetable plant starts, veggie seeds and most of our herbs are 100% certified organic and in stock at the shop. Seed starting is a great project for kids. And you'd be surprised how much more willing to eat their veggies they are if they grew and picked them!

But I Want it NOW!  Same planting rule goes for color. Don't put out summer bedding color too early or you'll have problems more likely than not. Remember to concentrate on natives and drought tolerant plantings. There are many annuals that will fall into this category, too. For spring, Eden's suggests snapdragons, geraniums, pansies, dianthus and alyssum, just to name a few. If you prepare your soil and mulch properly, you will be amazed at how long you can go between watering - deep, thorough watering. 

Green, Green Grass of Home...

Hopefully you got your corn gluten meal out last month.  It will go a long way to help control unwanted seeds from germinating this year. Eden's recommends you follow up in a few weeks (4-6) with a balanced all natural organic fertilizer like Bradfields or Texas Tea and your lawn and garden will be teeming with life and ready to grow lush, green and healthy! Your choice, $24.99. Each 40lb bag covers at least 2000 sq. ft.

HOW TO CLASS!

Looking for a bit of information in person?  Watch for info on classes coming soon.

By adding compost and turning in the broken down mulch from last year, we are returning to the soil the contents nature would have added all along - had we not interfered by harvesting from the soil. When we harvest plants, be it veggies or flowers, we rob the soil of the opportunity to replenish itself with what would become decayed plant materials had we not been so tidy - or hungry.  Furthermore, when we use synthetic salt based fertilizers, we are stripping the soil and leaving deposits that take a long time to break down. This is compounded when natural organic matter to attract the very organisms that do the breaking down is lacking in the soil.

When nature goes about its business uninterrupted, there are plenty of things dropping or dying on the surface of the soil that break down naturally and add necessary nutrients and other elements key for healthy soil to exist. Even if you are only growing native plants, they too use nutrients from the soil that need to be replenished. When we grow vegetables, many are heavy feeders and require a wide array of trace nutrients to really be the best they can be for you and your family.

Start with compost and the usual amendments, (lava sand, green sand, worm castings, molasses, expanded shale, corn meal, etc.), and add a blend of rock powders, such as Rabbit Hill Farm's Minerals Plus, to restore these often non-existent trace nutrients to your garden soil each planting. Even your perennials and other plants will appreciate this boost once in awhile. 

So, before you planting, make it a point to restore the soil and you'll find a much happier, healthy and productive plant grows there!
 

Still confused?  Come to our next class.