FoxFarm Blog

Kelp Meal

What does seaweed have to do with your garden? Have you ever noticed how a free-floating piece of kelp can regrow in the ocean? Powerful plant growth regulators and hormones give kelp the ability to flourish and regenerate. 

One of the not-so-secret ingredients in many of our products Norwegian kelp meal. Organic gardeners know that kelp meal is packed with plant growth regulators, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids that help plants flourish. Best of all, kelp meal is a long-term, slow-release fertilizer that feeds plants all season long. By adding it to products like our Grow Big liquid fertilizer and our Fox Farm Original Planting Mix, we make sure that your garden reaps the extraordinary benefits of this seafaring plant.

Flowering Annuals--let Them Bloom!

It is impossible to resist those flowering annuals at the garden center this time of year—and why should you? Buy annuals early in the year so you can enjoy them all season long. Here are a few tips:

Choose annuals that are not yet in full bloom. Those colorful flowers may lure you into the nursery, but you want young plants with plenty of life still ahead.

Pinch off some blooms to encourage more green growth. This way, you’ll get larger, fuller plants and more flowers later on.

Carefully slide one or two plants out of their pots to check the root system. If the roots are wrapped in a tight, dense ball, the plant is potbound and may not grow much beyond its current size. Look for sturdy, healthy roots that can easily spread out into the surrounding soil.

Use a premium planting mix like Fox Farm Original Planting Mix or, in the case of containers, Ocean Forest Potting Soil. Flowering annuals need the very best soil in order to keep looking good all season long.

 

Start with our Peace of Mind Starter or Happy Frog Jump Start fertilizer, working into the soil according to package directions when you plant. Continue with Peace of Mind Fruit & Flower throughout the growing season, scratching it into the soil and watering well about once a month. If you’d rather use a liquid fertilizer, try our fabulous organic Big Bloom.

Throughout the growing season, continue to pinch off spent blooms to encourage more flowering, and make sure container plants get plenty of sun on hot summer days.

Worm Castings Rock!

Earthworm castings are the powerhouse ingredient in many of our products, including our premium Ocean Forest Potting Soil. So why do we get so excited about worm poop?

We start with rich compost. Remember that worm castings are nothing more than compost that has passed through the gut of a worm. Compost, or decomposed organic matter, is a basic building block of healthy soil.

Worms make it even better. As compost passes through the body of an earthworm, beneficial bacteria flourish. These helpful microbes fight off plant disease and help transform nutrients in the soil into a form that easier for plant roots to use.

Our high-quality earthworm castings are a cornerstone to many of our earth-friendly gardening products. It’s what makes our potting soils so rich and our liquid fertilizers so delicious—for plants, that is.

Water Brings Life to the Garden

It’s finally starting to look like spring outside your window. Woody shrubs are beginning to leaf out, bulbs are coming out of the ground, and spring wildflowers are getting ready to bloom. With longer days and more sunlight, it’s a good time to think about water.

Drip irrigation is one of the best ways to make sure that water goes directly to the plants that need it. You won’t accidentally water the weeds, and by avoiding overhead spraying, you can reduce the risk of plant disease. Even in a drought tolerant garden, a little drip irrigation can help plants make it through the dry season.

Mulch can help hold moisture in the soil and add beneficial microorganisms that will allow plants to better withstand periods of prolonged drought. Our Happy Frog Soil Conditioner is designed to do both those things. Add a 2 or 3 inch layer to your garden and watch your plants thrive.

Foliar feeding is the best way to hydrate plants and feed them at the same time. This time of year, we are using our liquid Grow Big to get plants off to a good start. Apply directly to leaves, and your plants will absorb all the nutrition they need and stay hydrated at the same time.

It’s Bulb Season, Baby!

Daffodils and tulips and hyacinths, oh my! If you planted them in the fall, you’re going to start reaping your rewards any day now. Support healthy flowering with Peace of Mind or Happy Frog Bulb Food by scratching it into the soil according to package directions as soon as foliage appears.

After your flowers have bloomed, be sure to feed them again! As soon as a bulb finishes blooming, it starts working on next year’s flower. A healthy dose of fertilizer now will promote bigger blooms next year. And don’t forget to leave the foliage on—it helps feed the roots throughout the summer!

Start Your Seedlings!

There’s nothing better than a home-grown tomato, and who can resist starting the plants from seed? Check average temps in your area and find out when you can expect regular temperatures in the 70s. Count back 8 weeks, and get those tomatoes going!

Start with our Light Warrior Seed Staring Mix, with mycorrhizae and humic acid. If it’s cold in your seed-starting area, use a heated grow mat to keep your seeds warm. You’ll need bright lights, so unless you’re growing in a greenhouse, plan on adding a few shop lights from the hardware store and placing them just six inches from the soil. You’ll need to raise the lights as they grow, always keeping them about six inches above the foliage.

Plant your favorite tomato varieties in seed flats, and keep the seeds watered well. When they start to germinate, choose the sturdiest, most vigorous seedlings, making sure to select about twice as many as you plan to grow in your garden in case a few fail (and so you’ll have extras to share!) Pluck out the remaining sprouts so your “survivors” will have room to flourish. Then begin feeding with a light application of 100% organic Liquid Big Bloom to get those roots growing.

Once the plants have two sets of healthy leaves, they’re ready to graduate to pots and real potting soil. Repot them into four-inch pots using Ocean Forest, making sure you continue to give them regular water. For a little extra push, mix Peace of Mind Starter or Happy Frog Jump Start into the soil before planting.

A week after planting, they’re ready for some fertilizer! Check out our feeding schedules for liquid plant feeding, or simply use our Peace of Mind Tomato & Vegetable according to package directions. Only a few more weeks until spring!

Revitalize Your Indoor Garden

There may not be much going on outside, but indoor plants can really use a lift in the middle of winter. Pick a mild-weather day, haul your houseplants outside, and give them the FoxFarm Makeover:

Clean. Start by blasting foliage with the hose to remove dust and debris. Let dry and yellowing leaves fall to the ground. Your plants do a better job of purifying the air and adding oxygen to your home if the leaves are clean.

Feed the foliage. Once the leaves are clean, give them a taste of 100% Organic Liquid Big Bloom. Try to get both sides of the leaves. A foliar feed like this is hard to do indoors, so take this opportunity to give the leaves a healthy, revitalizing treatment that will encourage the plant to grow and bloom.

Repot or replenish the soil. Plants in smaller pots should be repotted once a year. Toss the old soil on the compost pile, shake out the roots, and repot with Ocean Forest or Happy Frog Potting Soil. Remember to water well and let the soil settle before bringing inside; you may find that you need to add extra soil once you’ve watered the first time.

For larger plants that can’t easily be repotted, simply scrape off as much soil as possible from the top and sides of the pot, and fill in the gaps with Ocean Forest or Happy Frog.

That’s it! Bring the plants inside, and bask in their reflected glory. Feed every other watering with Liquid Big Bloom and Grow Big to maintain leafy-green foliage, healthy roots, and beautiful blooms.

Bareroots

Do you dig bareroots? This time of year, you’ll find asparagus, strawberries, fruit trees, flowering shrubs, and roses in bareroot form at the garden center. These plants are ready to be put in the ground as soon as they get home, so be sure you’re ready for them.

Dig a hole that’s just deep enough to give the roots room to spread out.  Mix half native soil with Happy Frog Soil Conditioner, which is packed with beneficial microbes and nutrients.  Add Happy Frog Jump Start fertilizer according to package directions, and you’re ready to plant.

Carefully spread the roots out and cover them gently with soil.  You may need to form a mound in the bottom of the hole for the base of the plant to rest on; this depends mostly on the shape of the plant’s root system.  Cover it well, leaving only the branches or trunk aboveground.  Mark the area with a stake, and wait for spring!

New Years Resolutions

What are your New Years resolutions for the garden? We asked around at the office, and here’s what the gardeners around here are planning for 2008:

Feed the soil. We have a couple of new homeowners in our office, and both of them are stuck with compacted fill dirt so typical of new housing developments. Working in a good soil conditioner like Happy Frog will make all the difference.

Heal the sick. Some of us have trees damaged by the wind, shrubs in tatters from the dry, cold nights, and diseased plants that just never seem to get well.  We’ve had surprisingly good results with Big Bloom Liquid Plant Food—a weekly root drench and foliar feed can really help them bounce back.

Start early. The only way to get the interesting, unusual flower and veggie varieties you crave are to grow them yourself. Get seeds started two months before plants should go in the ground, and you’ll have a healthy, robust, home-grown garden when spring rolls around. Start with Light Warrior, feed with Big Bloom, and follow our custom feeding schedules for best results.

The Mulch Protection Program

As the temperatures drop, mulch is more important than ever.  One of the best things you can do to get your garden through the winter is to add 2-4 inches of mulch around shrubs, trees, and perennials. 

Has the vegetable garden gone dormant?  Add six inches as a top-dressing, cover with grass clippings or dried leaves, and plant directly into it next spring. A good layer of mulch will help suppress weeds, prevent soil erosion, and add valuable nutrients that feed the plants at the root zone. 

One bale of Happy Frog Soil Conditioner will cover 12-15 square feet of bare ground.  It’s the best investment you can make this winter.