Tag Archive for: healthy soil

VIDEO: HEATHS & HEATHERS: Underrated Plants for 4-Season Color! ???❄️ with Flock Finger Lakes

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Join Summer Rayne Oakes of Flock Finger Lakes as she delves into the beauty and versatility of the often-overlooked plants: Heaths and Heathers. Discover planting techniques, vibrant bloom periods, and diverse color schemes as Summer shares her expert plant care insights. Understand the optimal soil compositions, watering routines, and lighting conditions to ensure your Heaths and Heathers flourish year-round.

Additionally, Summer uses the Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier to lower the soil pH, fostering more conducive growing conditions for her Heaths and Heathers.

 

 

Learn more about Flock Finger Lakes here:

Website: flockfingerlakes.com

Instagram – @flockfingerlakes

YouTube –Flock Finger Lakes

Twitter – @flockny

Facebook –Flock Finger Lakes

 

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VIDEO: Summer Rayne Oakes’ Acid-Loving Groundcover Garden!

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Add a little pH pep to your step—your acid-loving plants will really thrive with our Espoma Organic Soil Acidifier. Take it from Summer Rayne Oakes at Flock Finger Lakes as she walks you through her acidic, edible groundcover garden!

Learn more about Summer Rayne Oakes here:

Website: homesteadbrooklyn.com

Instagram – @homesteadbrooklyn

YouTube – Summer Rayne Oakes

Twitter – @sroakes

Facebook – Summer Rayne Oakes

 

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Spring Cleaning for Your Garden

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Spring has arrived! Nothing beats walking outdoors to the sunshine and a beautiful landscape. Now is the time to give your lawn and landscape the TLC it needs. After winter, plants might be in rough shape. Don’t worry, your garden will be back up and running in no time!

From weeding to fertilizing, there’s always something to do when spring rolls around.

When updating your landscape, there may be a few things you need to pick up. Head to your local garden center to find everything you need.

5 Ways to Spruce Up Your Spring Landscape:

Prune

Trim back trees or shrubs that need a little push. It’s best to do this early, before new shoots start to come in. Be sure to carefully remove branches and flowers that have been damaged by the winter storms. You don’t want the branch doing more damage later on.

Soil

Prepare your soil for new growth and new plantings. Sometimes that means getting all new soil like Espoma’s Organic Garden Soil or it could mean freshening up the soil you have by adding Espoma’s Organic Bio-Tone Starter Plus.

Plan

Evaluate your garden. Take the mature size of your plants into account. What holes do you have? If any of your plants need to be caged or staked, planning now will allow you to plant around it without disturbing your growing seedlings later on. Plus it will set top-heavy plants up for success, especially tomatoes, which bend easily.

Fix Uneven Ground

Rain, wind, and snow can wreak havoc on your landscape. When the ground is wet and people walk through it can even cause compaction, which makes for poor growing conditions. But with a little love, it will be ready to host your gorgeous garden once again.

Mulch

After planting, provide beds with a fresh layer of mulch. Mulching is the perfect way to get your garden off to a great start. Not only does it help settle in the roots, but it will provide warmth, hold in moisture, suppress weeds, encourage growth, and make your beds look all around beautiful.

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Check out the video below from Wyse Guide for some great gardening inspiration!

 

 

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May Gardening Checklist: 5 Essential To-Dos for a Thriving Garden

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May is one of the busiest and most exciting months in the garden. Flowers are blooming, veggies are sprouting, and summer crops are ready to go in. But to keep your garden thriving naturally, it’s important to use the right organic products to nurture your soil, plants, and harvest.

Here’s your Espoma-approved May checklist to prep your garden for a healthy, productive summer season.

Garden Clean up

1: Tidy Up Your Garden Space

Start fresh by clearing out weeds, dead plants, and old debris — this keeps pests and diseases in check and opens up space for new growth. As you tidy up, top off your beds with Espoma Organic Land & Sea Gourmet Compost to enrich the soil with nutrients and improve texture.

Once your garden is clean, you can apply a layer of mulch to help conserve moisture and regulate soil temperature. This simple prep sets the stage for everything that comes next.

spring crops

2: Harvest Early Spring Crops

Your cool-weather crops like lettuce, spinach, radishes, and peas are likely ready to harvest. After picking, don’t leave that soil depleted! Replenish it by working in Espoma Organic Garden-tone or Plant-tone to restore nutrients before planting your summer vegetables.

For container gardens, refresh the mix with Espoma Organic Raised Bed Mix or Potting Mix so your new plants have a rich, organic base to grow in. Healthy soil = healthy crops.

People planning a project

3: Plan Your Garden Layout Thoughtfully

Before you rush to plant, take a little time to sketch out your garden plan. Group plants with similar needs together, and research what varieties perform best in your area. If you’re unsure, visit a local garden center and look for recommendations — and while you’re there, pick up organic fertilizers suited for what you’re planting (like Espoma Organic Tomato-tone for tomatoes, Berry-tone for berries, or Rose-tone for roses).

Planning ahead ensures you can match the right organic products to the right plants, maximizing growth and minimizing problems down the line.

planting with organic fertilizer

4: Get Planting — and Feed Organically

Once your area is frost-free, it’s time to plant! Whether you’re planting veggies, flowers, or herbs, give them the best start by enriching the planting hole with Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus. This starter fertilizer contains mycorrhizae, which help plants establish strong root systems and reduce transplant shock.

As the season goes on, continue feeding regularly with Espoma Organic Tone Fertilizers, depending on what you’re growing. These slow-release, organic fertilizers keep plants nourished naturally, without the risk of burning or chemical buildup.

planting

5: Transfer Indoor Seedlings Outdoors Carefully

If you started seeds indoors, harden them off gradually before moving them outside. Once ready, plant them in your garden or containers and mix Espoma Organic Bio-tone Starter Plus into the soil. This ensures young plants have access to the nutrients and beneficial microbes they need to get established and grow strong healthy roots.

For containers, fill pots with Espoma Organic Potting Mix, which provides excellent drainage and moisture retention while feeding plants with organic ingredients. Don’t forget to water thoroughly after transplanting to help roots settle in.

family in vegetable garden

🌸 Bonus Tip: Keep Feeding and Caring All Season Long

Throughout the summer, keep an eye on your plants. Feed every month or as needed with the appropriate Espoma Organic fertilizer for each plant type. Water deeply at the base, mulch to retain moisture, and enjoy the lush, organic garden you’ve worked so hard to create.

With the right products and a little care, you’ll be harvesting beautiful, homegrown food and flowers all summer long — the organic way!

Featured Products:

Espoma Organic Potting soil Mix Big bagEspoma Organic Land and SeaEspoma Raised Bed Mix bag  Espoma Organic Tomato-toneEspoma Organic Rose-tone bagEspoma Organic Plant-tone organic fertilizer

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The Dirt on Improving Your Soil

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Sunflowers bigger than the sun. Cherry tomatoes tastier than cherries. Yes! Your flowers and veggies can be that good. All they need is healthy soil.

Boost your entire garden by starting from the ground up: the soil.

Soil, as you may have thought, is not dirt. Healthy soil is a collection of creatures, minerals and living material that holds water and nutrients like a sponge, making them readily available for plants. To continue to grow big, juicy fruits and vegetables, you need to make sure you’re feeding your soil.

Think of your soil as a bank, you need to continue to make deposits so you can make withdrawals when you need to. If you continue to draw all of the nutrients out of it until it’s dry and clay-like, you’ll be disappointed in your harvests.

healthy garden

Different Types of Soil

Soil can be clay-like, sandy or loamy. Ideally, you have loamy soil that is well-draining and full of organic matter.

  • Clay soil holds little water and air and is typically “heavy.” The particles are small and packed tightly, making drainage very slow.
  • Sandy soil has large, loose particles. Although it contains lots of air, it doesn’t retain moisture well because it drains so quickly, allowing nutrients to leach through the soil.
  • The ideal soil, loamy, is just the right mixture of clay, silt and sand. It holds nutrients and drains well, making it ideal for growing most fruits and vegetables.

To find out what kind of soil you have, thoroughly wet a patch of soil then let it dry for a day. Clay soil will remain in a tight ball and feel slippery. Soil that is gritty and crumbles is sandy. And slightly crumbly soil that stays in a ball is loamy.

good garden soil

The Golden Ticket to a Greener Garden: Compost

In organic gardening, compost is as good as gold! Scout’s honor.

1. Go for the Gold. There’s no such thing as too much compost. Compost adds nutrients, improves soil structure and helps retain water. Compost should make up 25 percent of each planting bed or container.

2. DIY the Good Stuff. Skip the bagged compost and make compost for free by recycling food scraps. Use a compost tumbler, and turn once a week.

3. Fashion It Faster. Jumpstart your compost by adding our Organic Composter Starter, which speeds up decomposition. Then turn on the turbo by shredding scraps first.

4. Split the Spoils. Fill your compost with an even split of brown and green. Green goods, such as food and garden scraps, add nitrogen while brown items, such as paper and leaves, complement with carbon.

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Build Even Better Soil

Start with the composting tips above. Then take your soil to the next level.

1. Take the Test. Before planting, test your soil to see exactly what organic amendments it needs.

2. Curb the Chemicals. Step away from the chemical fertilizers – for the sake of your garden and pets! Opt for organic fertilizers that improve soil as they break down.

3. Make It with Mulch. Now, protect your golden soil with magic mulch. Mulch helps moderate soil temperature, prevents soil compaction and stops weeds, too.

Hands down, the best gift you can give your garden is golden soil. All your plants will be bigger, stronger and dare we say, happier!

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