Trends-Try this for a natural Weed & Feed Fertilizer-Corn Gluten

One of the cutting edge trends in the lawn and garden this year is using corn gluten as a natural weed & feed fertilizer. I'm excited about this because it means that we now have a totally United States produced, renewable source for fertilizer for our gardens and lawns! It is also environmentally friendly and is an organic option. Corn Gluten naturally runs around 10% nitrogen. To gain its pre-emergence benefits, you need to apply it BEFORE the weeds sprout. If you wait until after, you will have paid to fertilize those little nuisances…..

Follow guidelines that are with the product for correct dosage to your specific usage and application.

Nitrogen, by the way, is the “N” value of the N, P, K you see on fertilizer bags and when soil test results are interpreted. It has to do with the lush green color of your plants and is a very necessary nutrient. (I won't bore you in this post with all those excruciating details, but take my word for it. )

Of the other two values, "P" is for Phosphorus. There is a movement to greatly reduce the application of Phosphorus to our lawns and gardens because the runoff of that element into our streams, sewer systems, etc, produces a lot of problems. It really isn't the use of it, it's the overuse, and even abuse. More on that in a future post.

"K" refers to Potash (Potassium). It's the third element in the N, P, K.

Corn Gluten as a fertilizer is a development I am very encouraged by. It has many benefits and implications for future use as it is adopted by lawn and garden owners more widely.  I plan to begin to use it.

The product shown is from www.bradfieldorganics.com and is available locally through some of the chain stores. There are several other brands available too, some organically labeled, and some not.  I won't be surprised if there won't be a lot of “indie” dealers for this product as well, as it should be fairly easy to adopt processing methods to make it.

Have a great week, and happy gardening!

~JB was here.

Bouquet: Fresh Flowers Abundant

I have hundreds of Daffodils in bloom right now. I could place fresh flowers in every room of any house in the state of Missouri, I believe.

They are one of the easiest flowers to grow. In fact they are so resilient and hardy that they have outlasted many of the old homesteads where they were originally planted. I've seen them lots of times near old houses that were probably at the site not long after the turn of the century!

Such is the case of the great drift that resides where my late mother-in-law's house was. Each year I think of her in the spring when they bloom.

They say that they will be more robust in bloom the following year if you will apply fertilizer, after they bloom in the spring. Additionally, wait for the leaves to die down before you cut them down because this is where they get their food for the following year.

I have King Alfreds and several “fancy” varieties that bloom every year. I believe they are a little gift of sunshine before the real thing arrives for real this summer.

Have a good rest of your week. ~JB was here.

What I Planted: Starting the Season Early (I think!)

I bought some seeds (if I'm admitting it, a lot of seeds) at the Springfield Lawn and Garden Show recently. I went with the express intent to buy some lettuce, some radishes, and maybe some seeds that might be a little harder to find later in the year. And I did that, but wound up getting a few flower seeds too.

This last week, one evening, on a day that was seventy degrees plus, I decided to go for it with the early stuff. I planted Arugula (a lettuce variety), Buttercrunch Lettuce (an older variety-heirloom), some baby leaf lettuce mix of several varieties in one packet and Cherry Belle, and White Icicle Radishes. The seed packets were pretty generous, so I'll have a lot if they come up.

I was pleased while at the show, to see that here locally in the Springfield, MO area there are some nurseries and seed sources that brand and package seeds themselves, which means that they buy the seed in volume and then package it. Technically that is what all seed vendors do, but I've been appalled the last several years at the number of them who have greatly reduced the seeds in their packets. Walmart is one of the worst offenders, carrying big name vendors in teeny tiny packets. They may be just a dollar or something but you'd have to buy five of them to get the amount of seed in half of one of these generous sized packs I bought at the show.

A couple of these local sources are: Schaffitzel's and Joplin Greenhouses. A big thumbs up to them and to others fighting the teensy packet ripoffs. Can you tell that drives me crazy?

Of course, back to the original statement, I didn't stop with the early veggies.

Here is a flower straight from the flower gardens of my grandmother and great grandmother, I can remember seeing them in both:

The Black Magic Bachelor Button. I bought these and some other flower seeds from Botanical Interests. Listen, they know how to really get you addicted with their seed packet design alone. They are simply works of art.

I also got packets of Butterfly Flower and some Yellow Coneflower.  I planted the two latter ones already too, because you do that with these native varieties two to four weeks before when you think the last frost will be….like anyone knows, but it feels early, so in the ground they went. I'll be anxious to see if any of those come up. Some seeds are just harder to work with than others. I wanted to try my hand at those two native varieties anyway. Below is the Yellow Coneflower, a tough naive species that is tolerant to dry conditions once established. I think that might come in handy this year. Just sayin'.  

Destination Garden: Wickman's, Springfield, MO

Well, it's not exactly a garden.....it's a greenhouse. An icon in the area. The Southwest Missouri Camera Club, which I recently joined, had a field trip to Wickman's Garden village in Springfield, Missouri. A great afternoon in a beautiful place. Throw the slideshow up to full size. Dream of spring and summer. :)

New Flower Pots for My Display

In November I bought some new pots for my flower displays this year. I'm pretty sure they were some sort of seconds as they seemed to have a few irregularities but I'm so excited because I picked out some of the more perfect ones and got some different textures and sizes/patterns to use this year. I got a great buy on them I thought, too. A few dollars apiece. They are called "Harrappa Pots". I believe that refers to a style or type originally made by either native americans or some other ancient civilization. I have to look at the labeling again....anyway they were on close out locally and were sold by the now defunct River Market Pottery of Kansas City, Missouri. I'm really excited about working with them in the summer of 2012.