FoxFarm Blog

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.