Getting your garden ready for the spring is very important, especially when it comes to organic fertilizer. Fertilizing the soil before planting provides crucial nutrients to help the vegetation grow strong. Composting worms produce a dark organic fertilizer that gardeners and farmers treasure. The fertilizer is called “worm castings.” When preparing the garden for spring planting, you’ll need to build up soil fertility and begin to loosen the soil as well. These instructions are going to teach you how to efficiently and effectively dig worm castings into your garden. It is recommended to start doing this a few weeks before…
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Education / Uncle Jim’s Blog
Uncle Jim’s Blog
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Screen Compost for Better-Quality Organic Fertilizer from Worms
An easy way to separate your composting worms from the organic fertilizer is to screen compost. Putting the finished compost through a screen also makes higher-quality compost, because it’s fluffier and free of stickers, pits, sticks, and debris. Where do you get a screen? Can you make it yourself, or buy it? How do you screen compost?
Read MoreGet Your Worm Bin Ready for Spring Composting!
The weather has slowly been getting warmer, which means it’s the perfect time to prepare for productive composting with worms. You have to start by checking on your worm bin and see what the winter elements did to its condition. You’ll have to take the proper steps to bring it back to productivity. There is no doubt that your worm bin will have organic fertilizer you can collect and use in your garden. You may need to order some new worms or supplies. Check Your Worm Bin Ensure not to disturb your outdoor worm bin during freezing weather and low…
Read MoreCompost From Worms Makes Perfect Starts for Your Garden
Giving your vegetable garden extra advantages helps ensure success. Certain plants thrive if you give them a head start before planting them in your garden. Tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and lettuce are examples of plants that can benefit from starting indoors. Did you know that using compost from worms in your starts helps them grow? Composting worms break down organic materials and produce valuable organic fertilizer. More about that later. Let’s start with the seeds. Where to Get Seeds Scope out the health food store and garden supply store for seeds. You will also find plenty of seeds online. Uncle Jim’s…
Read MoreBedding Materials for Worm Composting Bins
Composting with worms requires a worm bin and bedding. The bedding is placed into the worm bin, so the worms have a comfortable place to live. The worms will also gradually eat the bedding, in addition to food scraps you feed them. Which materials can you use for worm bedding? You may find that combining two or three types of materials makes the best worm bin bedding. Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm has pre-made worm bedding that you can buy. You can buy coconut coir and add your own worm bedding from materials found in your home. The good news is…
Read MoreVermicomposting, Hot, or Cold Composting?
Are there differences between vermicomposting, hot composting, and cold composting? Let’s talk about three different types of composting. All these styles of composting break down waste organic matter into natural fertilizer. What are the benefits of each? When is it best to use vermicomposting – composting with worms – versus hot or cold composting?
Read MoreSix Tips for Gardening in Dry Weather
Even short periods of hot, dry weather in the summer can stress plants. When it is hot out, water evaporates quickly from the soil, and if you’re not getting rain, you’ll need to water properly. Here are six tips to keep your plants healthy in dry weather. Keep Soil Moist with Mulch Mulch minimizes evaporation from the soil, so the water stays where you want it—at the roots of the plant. Mulch provides a bonus for your garden: it keeps down the weeds. Mulch can be made of bark, wood, chopped leaves or compost.
Read MoreSummer Perennial Planting Tips
Gardeners in areas with cold winters can’t wait until spring—that’s time for planting. But surprise! That’s not the only time you can plant. You can continue planting perennials throughout the summer—and you should! Perennials are plants that come back each year. They’re great for your garden because you don’t have to buy them every year like you do for annuals. So why not just buy some perennials in spring and be done? Here are six reasons to keep shopping for perennials throughout the growing season: You won’t miss out on variety. If you shop only in spring, you may buy…
Read More7 Ways to Speed Up the Composting Process
Composting is a great way to turn organic waste into valuable fertilizer for your garden. Just save kitchen scraps, such as carrot peelings and cabbage cores, and put them in a composting bin. Composting is usually done outdoors, but if you compost with worms, you can compost outdoors or indoors. If you want to start using the finished compost to fertilize your garden soon, you need to speed up the composting process. Here are 7 ways to speed up the decomposition and make fertilizer faster.
Read MoreFertilizer or Compost In Your Garden? Which is Better?
If you use compost in your garden beds, you may not have to use chemical fertilizer at all. Adding synthetic fertilizer if it’s needed can be helpful, but when it’s not needed, it can be bad for your plants and for the environment. Don’t guess—test to see whether you need fertilizer. Problems with Synthetic Fertilizer Using too much fertilizer can actually damage your plants. Fertilizer burn disrupts water uptake by the roots. The damage will show up as brown spots on the leaves. Too much fertilizer can also damage the environment. Synthetic fertilizer can be washed out of the soil…
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