At Fifth Season Gardening, we sell pretty much every amendment your soil needs to improve its health. But many customers purchase soil amendments to add to their soil without knowing what the soil needs first. This may be not only a waste of money, but also a waste of time. If plants already have enough of a particular nutrient, they either won’t absorb any extra added to their soil (which is a waste), or, what’s worse, they’ll overdose on the nutrient to the plant’s detriment. Too much … [Read more...] about Know What Your Soil Wants, Not What You Want
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Spring Gardening Expo – Asheville
Saturday, April 16th, 10am - 6pm Demos, Workshops, Artisans...Storewide Giveaways All Day! Join us Saturday, April 16th to celebrate the opening of our outdoor plant nursery at our annual Spring Gardening Expo at Asheville Market! There will be free workshops and classes throughout the day, local artisans on hand with their creations, kids' activities, food and drink, raffle prizes, and more. Here are some of the festivities: Food: Ultimate Ice Cream will be in the house doing … [Read more...] about Spring Gardening Expo – Asheville
February Garden To Dos
You may not think there’s much to do in the garden at this time of the year, but there is. The preparations you do now will pay off in the form of a healthier garden with less work during the growing season. Here’s some things you can do to get ready (besides starting seeds!). WORK ON YOUR HARDSCAPE & STRUCTURES This is a great time of year to work on your hardscape elements such as repairing raised beds, building rock walls, putting up trellises, etc. Typically, garden structures … [Read more...] about February Garden To Dos
It’s time to improve your soil’s health
Fall is a great time to think about improving your soil’s health. We have all kinds of great resources at our finger tips this time of the year including leaf mulch, moisture, aged compost (hopefully you’ve been working on this), and cover crops. This is the time of year when your trees and perennial shrubs put their energy into their root systems. They have just spent the last growing season using up many of the nutrients in the soil they are growing in. In the natural world, say an … [Read more...] about It’s time to improve your soil’s health
Food Waste Reduction
Recently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency announced the first official national goal for decreasing food waste across the country. Partnering with state and local governments, private companies, and charitable organizations, the goal is aimed at reducing food waste by 50 percent by the year 2030.Each year, around 40 percent of food produced in the U.S. goes to waste. It is estimated that 25-40% of the food grown, processed and shipped will never even … [Read more...] about Food Waste Reduction
It’s Garlic Time Again
It’s that time of the year when we garlic lovers need to be thinking about starting our next garlic crop. For those of us in the upper Southeast part of the country, the best planting time will be in November. Why November? Because for the cloves to develop nicely, they need a temperature between 32 degrees and 50 degrees fahrenheit. November tends to offer those kind of temperatures here in the southeast, but you can stretch this timing in either direction a bit. Later is better than earlier if … [Read more...] about It’s Garlic Time Again
Minimizing plant disease through healthy soil
One thing you can count on as a gardener this time of the year is plant diseases. I know of no gardener who does not experience at least some form of plant disease every garden season. Plants, like humans are susceptible to adverse environmental conditions, airborne viruses, weak immune conditions, etc. The healthier the soil and plant, the less likely it will be infected, but 100% avoidance, in my experience, is not likely. Indoor growers have a better chance because they can control the … [Read more...] about Minimizing plant disease through healthy soil
Defending your garden against disease and pests
I'm guessing that, like me, most of you have started putting out your seeds and seedlings for the season, and will continue to do so over the next couple of months, at least. Congratulations... you have just provided the first feast of the season for the fungi, bacteria, bugs, and beetles that will soon arrive in your garden! As they say, "plant it, and they will come," or something like that. Now what are you going to do to protect your little plant babies? Sure, you can break out the … [Read more...] about Defending your garden against disease and pests
Time to get the planting beds ready
The time is coming that we gardeners have been waiting for -- getting the planting beds ready. Start now and you'll have more time in season for the actual seeding and planting! Here's a checklist of things to do: Plan out what you're going to plant in each bed, taking into consideration putting plants together that require the same soil conditions. A simple diagram of each bed on a piece of paper will do. Check your soil pH in each bed. If needed, add amendments to each bed to raise … [Read more...] about Time to get the planting beds ready
Get Ready for Spring Gardening
You may think it's too early to get ready for Spring gardening, but there are plenty of things to get done during this cold weather down time before the beginning of garden season. Winter is our time to prepare and get all of our tools in place so that when planting time comes, we're ready. Do these things now and you'll have more time for the fun stuff when the Spring weather arrives: Boost your soil fertility by adding new organic matter in the form or compost, worm castings, and/or … [Read more...] about Get Ready for Spring Gardening