The Key to Garden Bed Preparation is to Start Early

You wouldn’t run a marathon without proper preparation and training, right? If you stop and think about it, planting a vegetable garden can be considered as a race too. You only have so much time to plant seeds or transplant seedlings into your garden before it is too late in the season. And just like your body requires nutrients to perform at its best, so do your garden beds. However, if you skip the proper preparation for your vegetable garden beds, you are starting your garden season at a disadvantage.

Seriously? Comparing Gardening to a Race?

Yes, seriously! Buying a new pair of running shoes and drinking a bottle of sports drinks does not make you ready for a race. You cannot just clear away the remnants of last year’s garden, plant your seeds/plants, call it a day and expect a thriving vegetable garden. Taking the time to properly prepare your garden beds before planting helps ensure its success every season by reducing the chance of diseases, pests and nutrient-depleted soil.

Making the End the Beginning

Preparing your garden beds for the next season actually starts at the end of the previous gardening season. Many of us gardeners are guilty of not clearing away spent plants at the end of the season. Commit this year to clearing your garden beds out at the end of the season and planting a cover crop. Any plant diseases or pests, e.g., fungus, blight or squash borers can continue to thrive if garden debris is left to rot during the offseason. Make sure to remove any leaves or weeds from your garden beds so that you can also create an optimal environment for wintering pests and diseases.

Plant a Cover Crop

After cleaning out your garden beds at the end of the season, consider planting a cover crop. You don’t have to have acres of cropland to reap the benefits of growing a cover crop. Planting annual rye or winter wheat before the first frost can help re-energize your soil with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. But almost just as important, this type of crop helps prevent soil erosion and naturally deters weed seed from settling into your garden beds. A few weeks before it is time to start planting your garden, it is time to turn over your cover crop into the soil. It is important to wait two to three weeks before planting while the crop decomposes in the soil because it temporarily disrupts the soil’s nitrogen levels.

Refreshing Your Garden Beds with Nutrients

Imagine running a race without eating or driving a car without fuel. Not adding nutrients back into your garden beds before planting is just inviting problems. If your soil is depleted of nutrients and healthy microbes, your plants will be more prone to disease and less able to withstand stress from extreme heat. Before planting, you will want to work or till organic compost or organic supplements into your soil while helping to break up soil compaction. The added nutrients refresh your beds and help your plants grow stronger and enhance their ability for photosynthesis. When preparing vegetable garden beds, BioFlora is the source for any organic nutrients your soil may need. Whether you are growing tomatoes and require more calcium in your soil or want a high-quality compost, BioFlora has all the products you need for a successful growing season. Recommended ProductsDry Crumbles® Dry Crumbles® 6-10-1 + 10% Ca is a dry, granular fertilizer that is easy to broadcast and well-suited for broad-area coverage. BioFlora formulated this product to provide an excellent source of high quality, organic nutrients for all types of plants, trees, and lawns. With this idea in mind, Dry Crumbles was developed to be a balanced blend of not just nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, but to also contain high levels of calcium and other minor and trace minerals. Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/BioFlora-R4505-Crumbles-Release-Fertilizer/dp/B01N39NDON/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527610784&sr=8-1&keywords=dry+crumblesAbout BioFlora BioFlora is a division of Global Organics® Group (GOG), an international life sciences company that develops and manufactures proprietary organic and sustainable plant nutrition products and natural ionic minerals for human and animal health. For more than 40 years GOG and its BioFlora® business have been committed to preserving the earth’s ecosystem while providing superior plant nutrient systems. Located in Goodyear, Arizona, USA, GOG is able to serve customers both locally and globally with the use of Green Acres, its 1,200 acre research farm, as well as its USDA Permitted Integrated Life Science Research Center^® (ILSRC).  For more information about Global Organics® Group, or to interview CEO and Managing Partner Luke Blotsky, please contact Sarah Van Wyk at svanwyk@globalorganicsgroup.com. Visit www.globalorganicsgroup.com to learn more.