Lawn & Garden / organic gardening

What is a cover crop and how do you use them in your garden? Cover crops are essentially sacrificial crops that are planted, allowed to grow, then mowed over and tilled under to allow the organic matter to decompose.

Companion planting is a timeless practice deeply rooted in the history of agriculture. From the earliest crop cultivators to modern-day gardeners, the concept of strategically planting complementary crops together has been embraced across cultures and continents.

The word Bokashi is Japanese in origin and generally translates to the term, “fermented organic matter.” To write this article I listened to one of our recent podcast episodes hosted by Jos and Jim Zamzow with their special guest,Craig Alger. You can listen to the podcast here. Through some additional research, there seems to be some confusion around the origin and direct translation of the word “Bokashi,” the process and benefits are very clear.

During the heat of summer, our gardens put on a lot of growth. Unfortunately, the weeds can begin to take off as well. Adding a summer mulch can help with your weeding, conserve water and cool the soil.

Raised beds are very versatile and easy to use. A raised bed allows you to easily control your soil mixture so that you can always have the proper soil for your plants. As you customize the soil mixtures in your raised beds, you can improve soil drainage and soil compaction, this being the most important advantage. This is very important, especially with the high alkaline, clay soil that we deal with here in our area.

Weeding is the thing most despised in a garden. It is also the biggest reason people stop gardening. For new gardens especially. Here are some tips and to help manage weeds in your garden bed.

Diatomaceous Earth is made from the finely ground fossils of prehistoric fresh water diatoms. Diatomaceous Earth (D.E.) kills common household and garden pests like roaches, ants, fleas, beetles and many others. It can provide a long lasting insect control. It sprinkles easily into cracks and crevices where bugs hide and wipes them out!

Have you ever wondered how people grew fruits and vegetables before commercial fertilizers were available? Before World War II there were almost no commercial fertilizers.

The secret to healthy plants is a healthy soil. Everything a plant needs to be healthy and produce comes from the soil. If it isn’t in the soil it never gets to the fruit thus it never gets to us.

For years, the message of fertilization has been a loud and narrow one. When we look deeper and begin to understand what we are buying we begin to ask the question “Is this something I really want to use?” What if there was a fertilizer that was so natural you couldn’t distinguish it from a pile of healthy dirt? Well, you really need to check this out.

Zamzows Nutri-Rich is a 100% certified organic all-purpose fertilizer. The majority of organic fertilizers are unbalanced and very high in nitrogen. Our formula is 4-3-3. This balanced nutrient rich blend provides long-lasting natural plant food; it also contains 7% calcium.

If you’re growing Cole crops such as cabbage, broccoli, kale or Brussel sprouts, your garden is probably a habitat for the cabbage butterfly and its offspring, the infamous cabbage worm. To eradicate cabbage worms in your garden you must understand them.