There are a few tips you should keep in mind when planning your produce garden:

1.  Plant near your house. This way, you can keep an eye on your produce, and you will be able to pick it when you notice that its at its peak ripeness.  It will also be convenient to collect the produce when it is near your house.

2.  Plant in an area that gets morning sunlight. Your vegetables and herbs need at least six hours of direct sunlight a day.  Early morning sunlight dried the dew that collects overnight, which will decrease the chance of disease growing on your plants.  Additionally, afternoon sunlight can be harsh and may over-dry your plants.

3.  Prevent grass from mixing with your garden. You will need to separate your garden area from the rest of your lawn.  A good idea is to use bricks or decorative stones.

4.  Protect your garden from hungry animals. If you live in an area with deer, rabbits, or woodchucks, you will definitely want to protect your garden.  You may consider installing an animal barrier fence, like Ross Protective Garden Netting.  This malleable fence can be cut to your desired size.  It is temporary, and can be taken down at the end of the season and setup again next spring.  Setting up a net fence is a great alternative to using harmful chemicals.  If you have animals that like to dig under the fence, you will need to press wood or poultry wire through the ground to prevent digging animals from snatching your produce.

5.  Keep the soil fertile. If the garden space you chose does not have the most fertile soil, it is very important that you replace it with fertile soil.  Organic Tomato and Vegetable Food, shown above, is specially created for your vegetable garden.  Fertile soil thwarts the growth of weeds.

If you have never grown your own produce, you must start now!  You have not really tasted vegetables unless you have eaten them straight from your own garden. Your family will thank you for feeding them the freshest produce possible.

There are a variety of ways you can go about treating your weedy lawn.  One time-consuming way is to hand pull out weeds one by one, paying close attention to pulling the entire root out along with the weed.  This is a feasible option if you have a small yard without many weeds.  However, if you have a large yard, this is an impractical solution.

A much more practical option is to consider weed killers.  Since you do not want to harm your lawn or other garden plants, you have to pay special attention to the toxicity and safety of weed killers.  An organic weed killer is a good choice because it has less toxins and is more environmentally friendly than their inorganic counterparts.  Burnout Weed & Grass Killer is an ideal choice as this organic blend contains clove oil and other natural food ingredients.  Within 3 hours of application, you will notice the weeds start to die.  By the next morning, you will see that many of the weeds have died.

There are a variety of steps you can take to prevent weeds from growing back.  Mowing over weeds chops off the head of the weed where many seedlings live.  Mowing will prevent the weed from spreading its seeds.  Also, do not mow your lawn too short.  Doing so will expose short weeds to the sunlight, which will provide them with enough light to grow.  For the prevention of weeds, longer grass is better.

Another tip for weed prevention is to pay special attention to the the fertility of the of soil in your lawn.  Common lawn weeds, such as dandelions, crabgrass, moss, ground ivy and dock, thrive in infertile soil.  If you do not fertilize your lawn enough, weeds will begin to take over.  Organic lawn fertilizers are perfect in this situation.  While they may be a bit smellier than inorganic fertilizers, they will provide you with a healthy and fertile soil.  Safe N Simple Lawn Food 6-2-4 contains nutrients like soybean and alfalfa, which will increase the fertility of your lawn.  Your grass and the environment will thank you!

Using organic solutions in your garden is an important step in controlling diseases such as powdery mildew.

Some organic ingredients like the patented seaweed extract in some of our Safer® Brand fungicide products actively increase a plant’s resistance to disease because it is a root growth stimulator, controlling many types of plant pathogens through increased biological activity.  This is what many gardening experts refer to when they talk about the natural defenses of a plant and it is similar to antibodies in a human immune system.

Pictured to the right is Safer Brand Garden Fungicide.  This easy to use concentrate is ideal for controlling and preventing powdery mildew, black spot, leaf spot, rust. The Safer® Brand garden fungicide RTU utilizes the effectiveness of our popular sulfur-based fungicide.  This product is an effective, economical and convenient solution to the wide array of fungal blights that consumers face everyday. To use, spray at 7 day intervals, following rain or as needed.

Treating an infected plant with an organic fungicide is treating a symptom of the bigger problem.  Keeping the living organism in the soil protected by using organic products is not only good for the global environment; it also helps protect your plants from further outbreaks and other issues like insects.

Grubs are grayish-white c-shaped worms that become Japanese beetles later in life. They are a lawn pest and are also a favorite snack for moles.  If you have a mole problem, look for grub worms in your lawn – get rid of one, you will probably get rid of the other!

Moles eat from 70 to 100 percent of their weight each day. A mole’s appetite seems to be insatiable. Experiments with captive moles show that they will usually eat voraciously as long as they are supplied with food to their liking. The tremendous amount of energy expended in plowing through soil requires a correspondingly large amount of food to supply that energy. 

If you have a mole and grub problem – start with getting rid of the moles food – the grubs!  Here are some great products to help:

Maxide Grub Granules – For home lawns, landscape plantings and flower beds. Season long grub control. Readily absorbed by the roots. Insect feeding will stop with a few hours. Allows turf to recover from grub damage. Treats up to 5,000 square feet.

Grubz-Out (pictured to the right) – Controls white grub larvae, chinch bugs, mole crickets, larvae of annual bluegrass weevil, asiatic garden beetle, billbugs. Apply with broadcast spreader or drop spreader 10# bag will cover up to 8300 sq. ft. 

For an Organic Alternative:

Safer Grub Killer - Ready to spray / Hose End  – Effective on 6 species of white grubs: june bug, billbug, masked and europe chafers, japanese and oriental beetles. If you want the best in lawn grub control, Safer Brand has the organic solution for you.  Safer Brand Grub Killer effectively kills June Bugs, Billbugs, Masked & European Chafers, Japanese Beetle & Oriental Beetle, Sod Webworms and Cinch Bugs. Utilizing a derivative of the seed of Neem trees, this organic product is a natural and effective solution to your grub control problems.

Get rid of those bothersome pests with a grub control product that is OMRI Listed® and compliant for use in organic gardening. This organic grub killer comes in a convenient, ready-to-use spray formula that attaches to your hose.  No mixing necessary.

Jobes makes a great line of organic fertilizers for all types of organic gardens.  

• Use the Jobes Organic Roses and Flowers Granular Fertilizer in your organic flower beds.  This fertilizer is made with 100% organic material and made especially for growing big and beautiful roses and flowers.  It is made with Biozome, an organic material, that helps to break the food for better absorption by your plant.  Use this fertilizer in the early spring for the best results.  It should also be used with new plantings to help give them a great start. 
• If you plan on creating an organic vegetable garden, use Jobes Organic Vegetable and Tomato Granular Fertilizer to start your organic garden off right. Use this 100% organic fertilizer in the beginning to help your vegetable plants take off growing.  Each time you plant a new seed or vegetable plant use some of this organic fertilizer to give the seed or plant a great start.
• When creating a mixed garden with a variety of vegetables and flowers, Jobes makes an All-Purpose Fertilizerthat is also made with 100% organic material to start your garden off right. This fertilizer also contains organic Biozome to help break down the nutrients in the soil for your plants to easily absorb.