Fall Cover Crops for Better Spring Soil

With a good 1 to 2 inch layer of organic compost over your garden bed, and a cover crop of green manure planted from seed in the fall, you will be on your way to improving your garden soil for next year's planting. Sown from seed, cover crops germinate very quickly and will grow all winter long. Then simply till the cover crop in once it flowers in spring. The cover crop's foliage will help protect the soil from getting compacted, which can happen in constant winter rain or from blanketing of snow. And when you till it in, the foliage adds organic material that will improve soil structure, increase nutrients and help your soil retain moisture.

Plants in the the legume family, commonly known as the pea family, bean family or pulse family, include soybean, alfalfa, vetch or fava beans. These are some of the best cover crops available (check online seed companies and nurseries). Legume plants are special in that they will retain nutrients that will then be returned to the soil when tilled in, thereby providing nutrients for your spring and summer crops next year. These crops have assertive root systems, which are helpful in breaking up hard soils. They are also very hardy and frost tolerant.

Cover crop seeds can be broadcast in mid-October right over that one to two inch layer of compost and all around the fall crops that are currently growing in your garden. Fall cover crops will grow quickly and reduce weed problems, but won't grow tall enough to overwhelm existing plantings.

Making organic compost for your fall cover crop is easy with tumbling composters. Look for models with more than one section inside: one for new compostable materials and one section for completed compost. If you live where there are temperature extremes, consider one of the Jora tumbling composting machines. They are manufactured in Sweden, and insulated to withstand temperature extremes.
Happy Composting!

Readying the Garden for Fall

This was the perfect weekend for preparing my garden for fall. Today's temperature hovered around 70 degrees, with a little breeze and the bluest sky. I've harvested the lettuce and the beets, and a bush bean that hadn't done so well. Now I have room and cooler temperatures to allow for some more spinach and chard. But the soil looks like it needs a lift. It's a good thing that we've been composting all summer, putting into our tumbling composter all our kitchen scraps, some shredded newspaper and alittle hay. Now I have plenty of organic compost to amend my garden soil. As a mulch, it will retain moisture, so I can water less. It will also keep down the weeds that have sprouted up so prolifically in my walkways and rocks this year. Need I mention the nutrients that my organic compost will provide to the vegetables I'll plant? I can hardly wait for some fresh spinach salads!

I'm convinced that the biggest reason that we've been so successful with our composting is because we've used BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost regularly. It's kept the temperature of the compost at a regular 130 degrees to allow the organic matter to decompose at just the right rate. With all it's powerful enzymes, BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost has also prevented the odors that sometimes accompany compost. It doesn't mask the odor, but actually digests it.

Check our website for a variety of tumbling composters, paying particular attention to the Jora models for year round composting. And don't forget to order some BiOWiSH™ Compost Boost for your own compost piles for faster, better smelling, 100% organic compost for your garden. Happy Composting!

Growing Hydroponically and BiOWiSH™

Growing interest in hydroponics led me to review a study that had been done by BiOWiSH™ Technologies and a lettuce farm that had shown dramatic results. The farm in question had seven greenhouses with a variety of lettuces, all grown on Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) tables.

The lettuce farm used BiOWiSH™ Crop to treat the water that was flowing through the dripper lines, micro-tubes and NFT gulley floors. BiOWiSH™ Crop was a no-brainer for these purposes, since it increases the nutrient availability in water flowing to the plants' root systems. More nutrients mean better absorption, and more nutrients absorbed means bigger, healthier plants. That is, in fact, what happened. In the six week growth cycle, the farmer had lettuces that were double the usual size, all other factors being equal. And don't we all love bigger, healthier plants?! Especially when growing space is limited...you want to as large a crop as possible in the space available.

BiOWiSH™ Crop is 100% natural, biodegradable and safe for use in a wide range of consumer, commercial and industrial situations. With over 18 years of research and development, BiOWiSH™ products accelerate enzymatic reactions over a thousand times faster than normal speed. These enzymes breakdown all non-living organic matter, so in addition to increasing the hydroponic grows water nutrient availability, it also prevents sludge build-up and scaling in the water lines!

BiOWiSH™ Crop is now available at www.BestComposters.com. It should definitely be part of your hydroponic grow!