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March 21st = First Day of Spring!
YIPEE!
That is right! Spring is in the air with these nice warm daytime
temperatures that keep teasing us, but beware, the official day doesn't
come for a few more weeks and that soil is still COLD! We can still have a
killing frost through and even past St. Patty's Day, too, so keep your
frost cloth handy.
 Plant
your cool season crops this week, if you haven't already, (radishes,
carrots, peas, turnips, etc.,) and if you have, go ahead and put out
another round for a later harvest. If you give them some afternoon shade
when it starts warming up, they'll go a few more weeks producing before
succumbing to insects. Go ahead and 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 seeds 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.
Remember, if you have questions, or don't have the inclination to drag
out the fertilizer spreader yourself this spring, give us a call! We can
help answer your questions or as a new service this year, we can give you
a quote to do the work for you.
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Soil
restoration vs. preparation
Often times we talk about "preparing the soil" before we plant things.
Recently I was thinking about this and it occurred to me that by adding
the amendments we suggest, we are really restoring the soil back to
its original condition - as close to it as we can - and this is especially
true when we veggie garden.
When you grow and harvest vegetables, you are pulling out nutrients in the
final food product, much the same way as when you grow flowers or other
plants, only perhaps more so with veggies. What good does it do to
grow and eat your own "home grown" tomatoes and other goodies, if they are
no more nutritious than the ones you pay top dollar for at the store?
 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. |
