Create a Seasonal Green Roof
This isn’t a true green roof but it offers a whole new way to plant succulents for your summer garden. You can turn the roof of any garden shed into a new place to grow succulents. Simply apply a edging on top of the fascia, then spread a layer of thick plastic sheeting on top of the roofing material. Poke small drain holes where you want it to drain. On top of this spread shallow layer (4″ min.) of Black Gold Cactus Mix Potting Soil... Read More
Schefflera delavayi
Many of us are familiar with the houseplant Schefflera as it is fairly common and easy to grow. Several years ago I was given Schefflera delavayi and was told it was an outdoor plant that would grow in my Pacific Northwest garden. I was skeptical but planted it outside. Now, after several very cold winters, my plant is thriving with no winter damage, shiny green leaves, and growth to about six feet. It gets morning sun but is protected from hot... Read More
Soil, Seed and Supplies: Planning Your 2012 Garden
One of the best things about backyard food gardening is that it demands we live by the seasons. Spring is for preparation. Summer demands maintenance. Autumn is the harvest. Most important of all is winter – the time for planning. Just as a landscape architect creates a garden on paper before it’s bid or built, it saves a lot of money and time to use January to plan your own food garden with research, notes and sketches. Do it right and... Read More
Organic Solution for Spindly Palms
If your palm is not growing vigorously, it may require fertilizer. Just like your lawn, palm trees love nitrogen and certain trace elements. These are all present in Black Gold Palm, Cactus & Tropical fertilizer. Because it’s organic, the nutrients take time to become available to your palm. Fortunately, once available they remain so far longer than synthetic plant food. For those in Florida and other warm climates, help poor-doers indoors... Read More
Bulbs Accent Off Season Food Gardens
We rarely blend bulbs with food plants, but they make a great pick-me-up for off season gardens. I found this lovely garden in Germany, where they’d laid out a traditional four square design, but when not planted, this geometry doesn’t show. These smart gardeners elected to plant small bulbs in line to emphasize the design with foliage and flowers before it warms enough to plant the early spring crops. Don’t forget to plant them... 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
Divide Perennials For Free Plants
October is a fine time to dig and divide clumps of perennials that are so old they fail to bloom like they should. Lift the plant with a fork, wash it off to see the stem and root structure, then divide perennials at the natural points with a sharp knife. Soften the soil at the new planting locations with Black Gold Soil Conditioner to make it easier for the divisions to strike new roots for bountiful displays come spring. 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
Enjoying Summer Gardening
Here it is July and summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest. It took quite a long time for this to happen as our spring was one of the coolest and wettest on record. But now that summer is here, what a glorious time of year it is. As some garden friends have told me; this is why we live here and perhaps it is because we have had such a gloomy winter that when we do see sun, it is a cause to celebrate. Finally summer herbs and vegetable... 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
Transitioning from Cool to Warm Weather
~Written by Mike Darcy, photos by Rich Baer. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we have finally had some sunny days and the temperature actually reached the 80′s. How nice it was to see the sun and what a wonderful feeling to get outside in the garden without a jacket. I always like to visit other gardens and made a recent visit to the garden of a friend to check on the status of the peas he had planted from seed earlier this spring. Since peas... Read More
Raised Beds In Dry Country
Written by Maureen GilmerA large hole filed with Waterhold Cocoblend Potting Soil and newly planted pepper.The same pepper weeks later with mulch and windbreak.My desert garden is the worst case scenario, and I like it that way. When I test plants and products for gardens, they go through the wringer…literally. I want to know how far I can push things before they fail. When the dry wind blows up here in the high... 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
Germinating Seeds or Propagating Cuttings?
Black Gold® Seedling Mix is the perfect medium for germinating seeds and propagating cuttings. The mix is designed to promote better root development in young plants. We start with a careful blend of Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (which has been double-screened to remove larger particles and sticks); fine perlite and vermiculite to give seedlings and cuttings the aeration and moisture retention they need to develop a good root system. A wetting agent... 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
Freshness Counts!
Everything is better fresh, whether it is a doughnut at the store, cut flowers for your dinner table or the potting soil for your patio container. After potting soils or amendments are manufactured they become a living entity. The fertilizers and wetting agent start to react in their moist organic media environment. As part of our commitment to quality we put a date of manufacture on all Black Gold® potting soils, amendments and peat moss.... Read More
Why Buy A Premium Potting Soil?
As each of us begins a gardening project, we all have the end result in mind: a bountiful vegetable garden, an overflowing flower covered basket or perhaps a thick and rich new lawn! At Sun Gro, we believe that the key to these and many other gardening successes is directly related to the quality of product that we, as a manufacturer, put in a bag. We hope the following chart will illustrate the advantages of Black Gold® made by Sun Gro Horticulture,... Read More
Fall Planting and Winterizing Your Garden
Fall is a wonderful time to garden. You can look over this year’s accomplishments and start developing your plans for next year, but it is also the perfect time for working in your garden. Planting garden beds, color bowls and hanging baskets with fall annuals is a wonderful way to extend the joy of gardening throughout the remainder of the year. Be sure to add some Black Gold® Garden Compost, Soil Conditioner and Garden Amendment or Planting Mix... Read More
Better Results All Season Long
With the advent of Black Gold® All Purpose with Technicote®, you are now able to enjoy the benefits of a premium quality potting soil with a fertilizer that will feed your plants for up to six months. Sun Gro sells this same fertilizer product to professional growers. By incorporating Technicote® into your potting soil, your plants will have a consistent supply of nutrients throughout the entire season. Technicote®, a controlled release fertilizer,... 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
Potting Soil vs. Top Soil
I’d like to start this post with a story. A couple of weekends ago, we had a truckload (12 yards to be more specific) of top soil from a local supplier delivered to our house. I had brought it in to fill our new raised garden bed and to supplement our existing flower beds. Many people ask themselves what is the difference between potting soil and topsoil. My goal in this blog entry is to hopefully answer that age old gardening question. Topsoil... Read More
Quality Coconut Coir Makes the Difference
As you can probably tell, Sun Gro® the manufacturers of Black Gold® gardening products is very focused on producing a quality product. This focus on quality is evident in the choice of coconut coir used in our potting soils. What exactly is coconut coir? Coconut coir is a coarse fiber taken from the fibrous outer shell of a coconut. Coconut coir comes in many forms. In Black Gold® Waterhold Cocoblend, Sunshine® Pro Just Coir (if you want... 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
Gardening for Northwest Weather
For those of you that have followed my monthly web articles, you are aware that I live and garden in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. While we are probably famous for our rainy weather, this year seems to be an exceptionally wet year. Not only wet, but some very cold days this past winter and the spring has continually been cool. We made a record (perhaps not something to brag about) these past few months by having the longest period without the temperature... Read More
