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.

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!

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.

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.

Transplanting

If you live in a mild climate, you’ll keep gardening in November and December. This is the perfect time of year to transplant and divide perennials.  There are only two things you need to know:

FoxFarm Planting Mix:  Don’t transplant without it. When you dig a plant up and move it to a new spot, you have a great opportunity to improve the soil.  Work in some planting mix and you’ll add important nutrients that will help the plants succeed in their new location.

Big Bloom: You might think of Big Bloom as a fertilizer for your flower bed, but the fact is that Big Bloom has proven to be the perfect formula for transplants, divisions, and any plant that’s under stress.  After you’ve finished moving plants around, give everything a good root drench with Big Bloom. 

Last Call for Bulbs!

Still got bulbs sitting around? Now is the time to get those spring bulbs in the ground.  Garden centers have a great selection of daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, lilies, and other spring favorites. Just remember:

Many bulbs need rich, well drained soil.  Work in a generous amount of Happy Frog Planting Mix when you plant.  Typically, bulbs need to be planted at a depth equal to three to four times their size, so be sure to amend the soil to that depth.

Bulb food is absolutely essential.  Use one to two tablespoons of Happy Frog Bulb Food for every bulb you plant, and feed existing plantings of bulbs according to package directions.  Our Happy Frog fertilizers come in a water resistant resealable pouch, so you can save your leftover fertilizer for a second feeding in the spring, as soon as the bulbs begin to emerge.

Don’t forget about containers.  Most bulbs grow beautifully in pots, and you can layer smaller bulbs among and above larger bulbs for a display that lasts longer.  Use a high quality potting soil like Ocean Forest, and don’t forget the bulb food.  This is especially important for premium bulbs that you want to grow indoors during the winter, like amaryllis.

What About Evergreens?

It’s easy to forget conifers and other evergreens in the late summer when everything is in bloom. But they can get depleted, too.  We developed Marine Cuisine specifically for evergreens, acid loving plants like rhododendrons and hydrangeas, and vegetables.  This is a strong, fast acting, time release fertilizer that includes more than the basic minerals your plants need to stay healthy.  We’ve also added crab meal, kelp, and seabird guano.  That means that your soil is getting vital micronutrients and amino acids as well as the basic nutrition it needs.  Think of it as seafood for your garden.

Because Marine Cuisine contains soluble, fast acting nutrients, it’s important that you use them according to package directions to avoid burning plants.  A little goes a long way, but fortunately, Marine Cuisine comes in a resealable pouch so that you can keep using it all season long.

Tiger Bloom for Fall Bloomers!

Not everything flowers in the spring.  Autumn brings a new round of flowering annuals like marigolds and snapdragons, as well as late-blooming shrubs and trees.  Take stock of your garden and you might even find that summer roses are ready to produce one more round of blooms before winter.

In fact, many gardeners miss the opportunity to enjoy fall flowers.  But there’s no reason why your garden can’t keep blooming right up until the first frost. As soon as you start to see a new buds set, try a foliar feeding of Tiger Bloom. We call it a “vicious bloomer” because it is packed with fast-acting, high-phosphorus nutrients designed to help plants burst into bloom.  We like to use it as a foliar feed (just dilute according to package directions and spray it on the leaves in early morning or late afternoon to avoid sun scorch) because the nutrients are immediately available to the plant and go right to work.

And if your plants are already blooming and you just want to keep them going?  Try Big

Keep It Going with Cha-Ching

If you’re looking for a little extra horsepower to keep your flowers blooming or to keep those tomatoes producing late into the season, it’s time to take a look at Cha-Ching. However, if you’re a little laid back when it comes to following package directions, you could accidentally use too much and burn tender plants. If you’re growing native plants that take their own sweet time to bloom, higher doses of fertilizer may not be necessary. We feel that with some of these native species, you should let nature handle it naturally.

This high phosphorus fertilizer is packed with micronutrients designed to increase essential oil production.  That boosts flavor and fragrance.  It’ll also help your plants produce more vibrant colors and continue to fruit and flower late in the season.

Cha-Ching is just one member of our fabulous trio of soluble fertilizers.  Hydroponic gardeners are achieving amazing results using our high-grade fertilizers.  Each ingredient has been carefully selected to ensure optimum plant production, from the vegetative stage through harvest.  But these fertilizers are not just for hydroponic growers.  They can also be a gardener’s secret weapon.  Check them out today, and remember ---this is powerful stuff.  A little goes a long way.