Grow Organic: All or Part
Edible artichokes make outstanding perennials accented with petunias. Call it botanical profiling. It’s gone on since the beginnings of agriculture. Tomatoes, corn and lettuce belong in the organic food garden. Flowers grow in the ornamental garden. The primary reason for such a division is that food growers are all about a clean, edible harvest. Flower growers put the emphasis on an abundance of perfect blooms throughout the season. They often... Read More
Teaming With Microbes
With organic gardening, it’s all about soil microbes. What we do to enrich our soils with organic matter and humus helps to feed this population of invisible organisms. Their presence enhances fertility to help plants grow healthier with a stronger root and immune system. To truly understand how important this microbe-plant relationship is to your food garden, read Jeff Lowenfels’ outstanding book: Teaming with Microbes (Timber Press).... Read More
Bio-Solids and Secret Toxins
It’s always scary looking at labels on junk food. They’re rife with unpronounceable chemicals and altered foods such as hydrolyzed oils. These would go unmentioned if the government didn’t require detailed breakdown on exactly what’s used in the creation of edible products. And it’s this analysis that is used to determine whether or not a food product contains substances the USDA has deemed unhealthy for humans. Read... Read More
Black Gold Natural & Organic Fertilizers
View Black Gold’s Complete Selection of Natural & Organic Fertilizers Black Gold fertilizers are the organic gardener’s best friend. Each one offers specific nutrients that build your soil so it can better feed your plants a naturally balanced diet. With our easy-to-pour boxes, fertilizing your organic garden is quick and easy. There’s a formula for all your plants from food garden to palm tree, so each group receives the exact... Read More
Planting Your Organic Garden
Once your soil is fed and tilled, will you grow your veggies from seed or seedlings? The answer depends on the kinds of plants you choose to grow. Fast growing plants that have large seeds planted deeper down are usually sown directly into garden soil. These include corn, squash, cucumbers, melons, sunflowers, beans or peas. When you buy your seed, know that every packet is marked with its year just like a food expiration date. Make sure... Read More
Tending Your Organic Garden
Ever wonder why some people can grow fabulous gardens and others can’t? The answer is simple: they spend more time with their plants. Experienced gardeners know that frequent inspection allows them to see the first signs of trouble, whether it’s wilt, broken limbs, a digging dog or caterpillars. These can be remedied immediately before damage occurs, and without the need for chemicals. Great gardeners do it each day. Sometimes it’s... Read More
Proof of Life: There May Be Mold in Our Soils
Written by Maureen Gilmer If you find white mold in a bag of our potting soil, don’t think it’s spoiled like moldy bread. Consider this white webby material the ultimate proof of life. It is an undeniable sign that our potting soils are perfectly blended to create a bio-active root environment. Even while that bag sat at the garden center, a great deal of activity was going on in our living soils, and the mold proves it. This is a rare... Read More
Super Organic Leaf Mold
Fall leaves are an important source of organic matter that decomposes into soft, rich leaf mold. To harvest, create a corral using woven wire to contain the leaves. Fill with a foot deep layer of leaves, wet it, then pack down tightly. Sprinkle Black Gold All Purpose Fertilizer on top and dump in any left over potting soil from this year. Repeat layering over and over as leaves fall, adding more fertilizer to speed decomposition and increase your... Read More
Cure Late Season Malaise
~ Written by Maureen Gilmer Soil in raised beds can often become deficient in elements or micronutrients replaced by adding organic fertilizer during the growing season. Eat a doughnut for breakfast and you start the morning on a sugar high. Then the inevitable follows. Blood sugar plummets leaving you foggy and sluggish. If you eat another doughnut to refire your system, you’ll only crash all over again. But if you eat a balanced... Read More
BLACK GOLD® Natural & Organic Potting Soil
~Written by Maureen Gilmer Black Gold Natural & Organic potting soil is so versatile it works for everything from hanging baskets to raised vegetable beds. This is not just any soil, it’s a precise blend of everything your plants need to look their best and produce abundantly. Because it’s listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute, you can be sure your organic food crops grown in this enriched soil remain blessedly chemical... Read More
The Garden is In! Filling, Planting and Learning on Dakota Farms
By Shelley MooreShelley Moore is an aspiring organic backyard gardener with hopes of becoming a true ‘green thumb’. She is the mother of two young daughters and the wife of one helpful husband. They reside in northern Utah. Don’t you find it a little crazy to think that pretty much the same “stuff” we wash off our kids at the end of an outdoor play day (and/or find at the bottom of the drained bathtub that same evening)... Read More
How to Create an Organic Garden with Black Gold
Written by Maureen Gilmer Creating an organic garden is the same as creating any other kind of garden except for one thing: you must feed the soil. The ground below your feet is not just dirt but a whole living breathing universe unto itself. Within those mineral particles is a population of microscopic bacteria, fungi, molds, yeasts, protozoa and algae. They are collectively known as microbes, which feed on the remnants of dead plants known... Read More
Tilling Your Organic Garden
Written by Maureen Gilmer If you don’t have a spading fork, now is the time to buy one. This unique tool looks like a pitch fork, but the tines are straight and much thicker. For anyone serious about an organic garden by hand, this is your most important purchase. Do not scrimp on quality because a good fork will last for decades. The spading fork turns soil more easily because the tines make clods break up automatically compared to... Read More
BLACK GOLD® Natural & Organic Potting Soil
Black Gold Natural & Organic potting soil is so versatile it works for everything from hanging baskets to raised vegetable beds. This is not just any soil, it’s a precise blend of everything your plants need to look their best and produce abundantly. Because it’s listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute, you can be sure your organic food crops grown in this enriched soil remain blessedly chemical free. The scientists at... Read More
Earthworm Castings (The Scoop on the Poop)
The term “worm castings” seems to confuse everyone but the plants. Earthworms have been hard at work for centuries rejuvenating soils and helping to convert various types of organic matter into one of nature’s best soil conditioners. Black Gold® has had worm castings as the cornerstone of its product line long before worm castings became the vogue in gardening. Our Earthworm Castings are OMRI Listed, making them a cut above the rest... Read More
Enrich Your Garden Soil
When you garden, you are gardening with a desired end result in mind, whether it is a bountiful vegetable garden, a bloom-laden bed of roses, a floriferous flowering bed of spring or summer bulbs or a thick rich lawn. All of these results might not be possible unless you invest into your garden with quality garden soil amendments and fertilizers. Garden soil amendments are designed to improve the physical properties of your soil. Quality amendments... Read More
Think Green & Recycle
In an effort to continue to be good stewards of the environment, we would like to share some information on how to recycle your Black Gold® packaging.All of our Black Gold® potting soil and amendment plastic packaging is recyclable. The bags are manufactured using a Low-Density Polyethylene (#4) and can be recycled if the plastic is clean. You can find a local recycler in the United States on the USA LDPE Recycling Directory , or in Canada... Read More
Natures Gift to Gardeners
Healthy soil is the key to healthy plants and lawns, it’s the “plant insurance” you need to protect your investment. How can you best prepare your soil? Use Black Gold® Peat Moss and Black Gold® Peat Moss Plus. Both are made with pure Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, with the Peat Moss Plus having an additional organic wetting agent to aid in rewetting the peat moss. Peat moss is a wonderful gift to gardeners, with some of its benefits being: *... Read More
Perfect Potting Soil for House Plants
Do your houseplants need to be repotted? If so, Black Gold® offers a wide variety of product choices. We have four specialty mixes to choose from in addition to three standard all-purpose mixes. Black Gold® African Violet Mix – Finicky African violets thrive in this blend of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, compost, pumice, earthworm castings and screened forest humus. The pH has been balanced to create the optimal rich and porous medium for growing... Read More
The Leader in Sustainable Peat Resources
Sun Gro, the makers of Black Gold®, is North America’s largest producer of horticultural-grade peat and the largest distributor of peat moss and peat and bark-based growing mixes – and we’re the leader in ensuring the sustainability of this important resource. We endorse the Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association’s definition of sustainable peatland management as the “balanced stewardship of the environmental, social and economic... Read More
Why Compromise? Use Black Gold® Soil Conditioner
When it comes to buying a garden amendment, product quality is the name of the game. And the key to product quality is the choice of raw materials used to make the garden amendment. Black Gold® Soil Conditioner is manufactured using only high quality raw ingredients. The product may include a combination of these raw materials: aged/composted bark, digested diary fiber, Canadian Sphagnum peat moss, compost, forest products, rice hulls, earthworm... Read More
A Mix With A Heritage
As you may or may not know, Sun Gro Horticulture is the largest supplier of growing mixes to professional greenhouse and nursery growers in North America. One of the more popular professional growing mixes is Sunshine® Mix #4. It was developed by Sun Gro’s team of horticulturalists based on initial work done by Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Mix #4 is a blend of peat moss and perlite, and its claim to fame has always been its high... Read More
Black Gold® Garden Compost
One of the secret ingredients used by successful gardeners is Black Gold® Garden Compost. What exactly is garden compost? Compost happens when microbes break down or decompose organic or living matter. The next time you are on a walk in a forest, look down at the forest floor and you will find compost being made naturally. The final product is a dark, rich, earthy smelling material, which gardeners commonly call “black gold”. Today at Black... Read More
