Life begins in the soil. Balanced, healthy soil life yields balance and health for the consumer. High-quality produce has a longer shelf life and tends to dehydrate before spoiling. In contrast, poor-quality produce has a shorter shelf life and tends to rot. If we use livestock manure, mulch, or unfinished compost without addressing calcium, phosphates, sulfur, nitrogen, and trace minerals, it brings imbalance to our gardens. This will cause ratios between calcium and potassium, and between potassium and phosphorus, to be out of line. This imbalance decreases the flavor and nutritional value of food.
Follow Lancaster Ag’s Bio Farm Garden Program for sweet, full-flavored produce that will keep you healthy and well-satisfied.
Gardening Tools
- Tillage Tools - Hoe, Spade, Tiller, Disk, or Plow
- Sprayer - Sprinkling Can, Small Pressure Sprayer, Back Pack Sprayer, or Garden Hose Applicator
- Fertilizer Spreader - Hand Method, Two Wheeled Push Spinner Spreader, or Two Wheeled Drop Spreader
- Perseverance
Gardening Procedure
- If you have followed the fall program, shallow till the soil of your garden by your preferred method to prepare the soil to plant.
- Before the last tillage pass, mix 1 gallon of Bio Farm Seed Gro with 8 gallons of water and spray apply with the application method of your choice to each 1000 square feet of soil surface. This will add some organic nitrogen to get your seeds germinated and your plants started. Caution: Till only as much as is absolutely necessary.
- Apply 25 pounds per 1000 square feet of Bio Farm Top Dress to the soil surface with your preferred method. Or, apply 5 lbs. per 200-foot row (1 foot wide) to the surface of the soil after the seed is covered. Top Dress will add extra minerals, including trace minerals, to get your garden off to a good start. These rates can be increased to boost the energy levels in poor or wet soils.
- When the soil is ready, plant your seeds. Apply Top Dress to the soil surface if it wasn’t applied before planting. When it is time to plant your transplants, prepare a solution of SP-1 and water by mixing them in a 1:1 ratio. Place this solution in a small bucket or other container. Dip the entire root mass of transplants in this solution before placing them in the soil.
- To help control weeds, after vegetable seeds have sprouted and are at least one inch high or transplants have been planted, lightly till the surface of the soil to kill any weed seed that is germinated. Then spread Clean & Feed at the rate of 30 lb. per 1000 square feet with the spreader method of your choice.
- Two weeks after planting, mix 1 pint Bio Farm Seed Gro in 2 gallons of water and apply to 200 feet of row with your preferred application method. Apply Seed Gro in this ratio every 2 weeks during the growing season. You may double this application for crops of high demand. Seed Gro will provide some organic nitrogen and biological life to the soil.
- Foliar-feed the plants with LAP F-1 and LAP Fruit- Mix, applying it with a pressure sprayer of your preference alternating products each week. Mix 1 pint F-1 with 2.5 gallons of water or mix 1.5 oz. Fruit Mix in 2 1/2 gallons of water and apply as a light mist on 1000 square feet. For smaller areas, mix 6.5 oz F-1 with 1 gallon of water or mix 1.25 tablespoons of Fruit Mix in 1 gallon of water. These products will help improve growth and strengthen the plants before disease threatens.
- Thoroughly observe the plants in your garden once each week. This will greatly improve your efforts to correct any problems before they become out of control. Observe each different type of plant for proper general appearance, structure, color, growth, and reproduction. Also observe your plants for insect problems. A lot of insect problems begin on the underside of the leaf surface
- Control weeds through out the growing season with plenty of perseverance by the control method of your choice!
- Harvest the fruits of your labors with thanksgiving to the Sustainer of the universe!
If your area receives a heavy amount of rainfall, you can use Top Dress and/or Seed Gro at the suggested rate immediately after the rain to improve the energy level of the soil. Then continue with the original schedule. These can also be used to improve the energy level of soil that has been moved or for transitioning soil away from chemical use. MAP (not organic) can also be used to improve soil energy at 5 lbs. per 1000 square feet.