Keep Water Clean! Replace Lawn Pesticides with Compost

Did you know that…

Santa Maria’s storm drains do not go to the City's wastewater treatment plant? When surface water flows through streets from storms, any pollutants run into storm drains. Storm drains flow directly, without treatment, to the Santa Maria River or into the nearest local retention basin where the water percolates back into the groundwater. Both our river and our underlying groundwater eventually flow to the ocean. Any pollutants found in the water, stay in the water untreated, and causes ocean pollution affecting our beaches, our coast, and our ocean life.

A major contributor to the pollution problem is lawn pesticides. Think about it - if there was a way to make your lawn lush and green without using harmful pesticides and harsh fertilizers, wouldn’t you want to know about it? The key to a good lawn is healthy soil. It’s the foundation of a vibrant lawn. If your soil is dry and compacted or clay based your lawn won’t be able to get the oxygen and nutrients it needs. Root systems need room to grow and that won’t happen in tired, dry soil. Healthy soil contains high organic content and is teeming with biological life, supporting the development of healthy grass that is naturally resistant to weeds and pests. Once established, an organic lawn uses fewer materials, such as water and fertilizers, and requires less labor for mowing and maintenance. More importantly, your lawn will be safe for children, pets and your local drinking water supply. Follow these tips to start transitioning your lawn and you'll be well on your way to a lush, green, pesticide-free landscape.

Top-dressing – what is it?

The process of applying a layer of compost over the surface of a lawn is called Top Dressing. Top Dressing may be applied after lawn aeration, or alone as a Quick & Easy application. Golf courses and sports fields have always realized the value of top dressing the turf, but this practice has only recently become popular on home lawns. Top Dressing with Harvest Blend Compost is the most environmentally beneficial way to a greener, healthier lawn. Naturally!

When should I top-dress the lawn?

Spring and fall are the best times to top-dress, but in our temperate climate there's really no wrong time to improve our turf. Lawns based on poor soil will benefit from top dressing the soil twice each year. Lawns based on good quality soil might not need top dressing every year but if you want a lush, green lawn then once a year will keep it that way.  Professional greens keepers regularly top dress to ensure a top quality turf. If you want a beautiful lawn that can meet professional standards then you should top dress your lawn annually.

What product should I use for top-dressing?

Compost is the ideal material for lawn top-dressing. There are 2 methods we suggest; ‘Quick & Easy', simply spreading a thin layer of compost over lawns, and 'Professional'; aerating lawns before spreading compost. Instructions for both are available on our website. Harvest Blend Compost not only beautifies your landscape, it’s environmentally responsible and benefits your landscape by:

1. Improving soil structure, porosity and density to ensure a healthier root environment.
2. Infiltrating heavy soils thereby reducing erosion.
3. Increasing water holding capacity of soil so that water is used more efficiently.
4. Stabilizing pH and improving the soil's ability to hold nutrients.
5. Supplying valuable microbes, micro and macronutrients and organic matter to the soil environment.
6. Helping to suppress soil-borne plant pathogens.
7. Binding and degrading specific pollutants – so they stay out of our water system

For more information, please visit www.GotCompost.com or email info@HarvestBlendCompost.com

FREE Lawn & Garden Workshop!



Compost Builds Healthy Soil. Dig in!

For the past 13 years International Compost Awareness Week (ICAW) has served the important role of bringing the Compost! message to the attention of the public, businesses and other groups. We at Harvest Blend Compost want you to know how easy it is to buy and use bulk compost for your lawn and garden.

To make it easy for our Community to discover all the terrific things compost does for your landscape we hope you’ll join us at our FREE LAWN & GARDEN WORKSHOP:

·  Sat., May 12 @ Mussell Senior Center

·  510 E. Park Ave.

·  Santa Maria, CA 93454

·  FREE COMPOST! B.Y.O.B (Bring Your Own Bucket)

·  FREE VEGGIE TRANSPLANTS!

Engel & Gray, Inc., Harvest Blend Compost and the City of Santa Maria Utilities/Rec & Parks Depts. are presenting this event to promote landscape improvement through compost use and water conservation techniques. Free compost and vegetable transplants will be available, so don’t forget your bucket or bin! For more information please visit www.GotCompost.com

Or call Melissa @ Engel & Gray, Inc. - (805) 925-2771

Incorporating compost into your landscape is easy and economical. Whether you need a little compost to spruce up flower beds or a few yards to top dress lawns; help is only a phone call away. For the homeowner interested in renewing lawn and garden; there’s no better soil amendment than compost. It’s 100% natural, providing vital nutrients and organic matter that soil needs to be considered healthy. Compost has a variety of uses – some of the most beneficial are:

·        Lawn Top Dressing: applying a layer of compost to the surface of the lawn will improve soil and grass for a lush, green turf.

·        Turf Establishment: amending soil with compost provides nutrients and improves water holding capacity; saving money on water!

·        Flower & Vegetable Gardens: adding compost before planting creates the perfect foundation for new plants. Or top dress existing beds to give soil a boost.

·        Tree & Shrub backfill mix: compost opens compacted soil; adding oxygen for an improved root system.

Call 805.925.2771 to speak with a Harvest Blend Compost field rep. Or, email Info@HarvestBlendCompost.com

Please ‘Like’ us on Facebook.

Open (Green)House!

OK, so it’s finally beginning to look and feel like spring on the Central Coast. We’re itching to head into the garden this weekend to begin prepping the soil for our spring and summer veggie garden. Looks like we have everything needed to get started:

1.     Clean, sharpened garden tools – check!

2.     A lovely pile of fresh, local Harvest Blend Compost – check!

3.     Rain – check! Wait…what? Not this weekend!

Rain will definitely dampen (no pun intended) our plans. What to do, what to do. Hey, isn’t there something on Harvest Blend Compost’s Facebook page about a greenhouse tour? Yeah, here it is. It’s the Central Coast Greenhouse Growers annual Open House: SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2012

They have a lot of great things planned for their visitors! All seven nurseries will be showcasing locally grown products for sale.

IN NIPOMO

·        Viva Farms’ beautiful hanging baskets

·        Pacific Sun Growers’ amazing tropicals and succulents

·        Clearwater Nursery’s vibrant potted flowers

·        Eufloria’s gorgeous long stem roses in every color!

IN ARROYO GRANDE

·        Native Sons’ features hearty, healthy outdoor landscape plants

·        BallFloraPlant’s decorative, colorful containers

·        Ball Tagawa’s trays of veggies, bedding pack and ever popular potting soil

If you’re farther South, fear not! Rain or shine, Santa Barbara County Flower and Nursery Growers’ Association is hosting a day of farm tours in the Carpinteria Valley this Saturday April 14th between 11 am and 4 pm.  The public is invited to come and learn about the local flower industry and see the variety of crops that are grown. This event is free and open to gardeners of all ages.

Don’t let a little rain stop you from meeting your Flower Farmer. These tours are mainly indoors but in case of a little rain, an umbrella may be handy. Tell your friends and share this unique opportunity to meet your local flower grower! You might pick up some great flowers, tools and/or ideas for your own garden. Naturally!

For compost info visit www.GotCompost.com

Like us on Facebook

Spring Cleaning in the Garden

Spring has sprung. In California this season normally signals warmer temperatures, strong breezes and the dwindling of our rainy season. For Central Coasters though, the weather still carries remnants of winter chill and dampness.

So what’s a gardener to do, you ask? We suggest you slog through messy garden beds and soggy lawns to assess your landscape’s condition. If you’re like most of us, general garden clean up is in order. Yeah, yeah, we know…the maintenance end of gardening holds little magic for most of us, yet it is crucial to the success of spring and summer planting.

Some garden jobs best done in March and April:

- Lawn top-dressing

- Plant bare-root (packaged) perennials

- Tend flowering shrubs – clean up spent blossoms, feed with acid fertilizer

- Sow annuals – cosmos, nasturtiums, sunflowers and zinnias

- Sow: carrots, spinach and chard

- In April – set out transplants of tomato, peppers and squash

- Sow: beans, corn and squash

- Water

Interestingly enough, the rainy weather helps indentify low spots that might hamper drainage. Make note of these areas, using soil amended with compost to fill them in. Since it’s too early to do much planting, you’ll want to focus on prepping soil for future plantings; both flower and vegetable. In addition, you may amend surrounding soil as well as soil in planting beds you’ve designated for spring and summer vegetables.

Victory Garden author James Crockett calls compost “the caviar of organic materials” for its ability to retain moisture and provide the necessary 5% Soil Organic Matter to soil. Harvest Blend Compost is a premium compost; wonderful for use as lawn top-dressing, soil amendment, tree and shrub backfill mix and in flower and vegetable gardens. Click here to locate a Harvest Blend Compost dealer near you.

To amend soil with compost: you will first need to loosen the soil. If the soil is too wet from too much rain, let the soil dry for a few days as wet, heavy soils are difficult to work. For dry soil or new garden plots that have not been worked before, a thorough watering a few days ahead of time will make your job easier. Using a rototiller for large areas or a fork and spade for existing beds, break up the soil to a depth of approximately six to twelve inches (the lower range is appropriate for existing beds).

Spread compost evenly over soil. Blend compost into the soil using a gardening fork or your rototiller (if you don‘t own a rototiller, they’re often available through equipment rental locations). After you have thoroughly worked the materials into the garden soil, level the area with a rake.

Your soil is now properly replenished for the upcoming planting season. Over the next few months, the organic amendments you have added will continue to break down, building healthy soil for a plentiful gardening season ahead; providing a slow-release of nutrients that will benefit growing plants. Remember, these nutrients won’t last forever and should be replenished periodically throughout the year.

Many organics naturally occurring in your yard are ideal for building up your garden soil. A simple lawn mowing provides one of the best resources for organic garden soil improvement. Mow your lawn and bag or rake the shredded leaves and grass clippings to work into your soil. Not only will the grass and leaf bits break down to provide essential soil nutrients, but they will work to loosen and aerate the soil as well, increasing root health during the next spring and summer growing season. This will aid in soil drainage, too.

Before you know it, we’ll be experiencing warm evenings and even warmer days; perfect for planting all the tasty vegetables we’ll be enjoying throughout summer and fall. Naturally!

For more info on compost use and benefits, visit http://www.gotcompost.com/

Healthy Soil is a Balancing Act

The health and beauty of a plant or the productivity of a crop is directly related to the health and vitality of the soil in which it grows.  When the pH is wrong, nothing works right - not fertilizers, not weed killers, and especially not the biological components within the soil. When the Soil Organic Matter (SOM) content is low, the soil is unproductive, and crops, trees or turf lack the energy sources to help them grow.

When soluble salts and chlorides are too high, the microbes that live in the soil and help aerate and digest dead plant material (turning them into organic material) are killed, thereby increasing soil compaction. When the soil is compacted, not enough air, water or nutrients can enter the root zone, so the plants suffer greatly.

Is your lawn telling you something?

Our lawns are a great barometer of soil health. They can’t lie, so if something’s wrong with the soil beneath your grass, it shows up in some not so subtle ways.

Symptoms of Sick Soil:

·        Bare Patches – if grass won’t/can’t grow, soil is definitely not well

·        Shallow Root System – anything less than 6 inches

·        Compacted Soil – soil probe penetration less than 6 inches

·        Puddling – water quickly runs off or pools in low areas rather than soaking into the soil

·        Disease Prone – annual outbreaks of diseases; either the same disease during the same time period each year or different diseases through the season.

·        Insect Infestations – like diseases, insect problems are many times related to thatch, but can also be a sign of low levels of soil nutrients.

·        Thatch – dead grass stems, blades and roots that are not breaking down into organic matter, but accumulating on top of the soil and creating conditions that favor disease and insect problems, as well as restricting moisture from getting into the soil.

·        Weeds – especially if there are a wide variety of weed types.

What causes ‘Sick Soil’?

When nutrients are out of balance with each other or just not available for the plant’s use, plants become unhealthy and are more susceptible to disease and insect attacks.

When secondary & micro nutrients are in short supply, plants become weak and are damaged more easily by wear & tear, drought conditions and insect/disease problems.  

Soil in very poor condition may need to undergo a comprehensive soil test to find out what unhealthy conditions exist and what can be done to fix the problem.

If corrections are not made, lawns may develop thatch, weed, insect and disease problems. This means added chemical usage, mechanical intervention and unnecessary costs.

How to remedy sick soil?

Adding Organic Matter in the form of compost will raise, or help maintain, SOM to the 5% level. Top dressing lawns or amending soil with Harvest Blend Compost will correct many symptoms of unhealthy soil by:

1.      Improving soil structure, porosity and density to ensure a healthier root environment.

2.      Infiltrating heavy soils thereby reducing erosion.

3.      Increasing water holding capacity of soil so that water is used more efficiently.

4.      Stabilizing pH and improving the soil's ability to hold nutrients.

5.      Supplying valuable microbes, micro and macronutrients and organic matter to the soil environment.

6.      Helping to suppress soil-borne plant pathogens.

7.      Binding and degrading specific pollutants.

When soil is healthy, all plant life is healthier and more productive; better able to survive weather and environmental stresses, and insect/disease attacks.

The US Composting Council is promoting healthy soil through their “Strive for 5%” campaign, educating the public on the importance of building Soil Organic Matter to 5%. Click here for details

Click here for more info on Harvest Blend Compost. Naturally!

Local Field of Dreams is a Reality

If you’ve followed the progress being made on Orcutt Jr. High’s soccer field, this will be our final installment on the revitalization project.

On January 20, 2011, the renewed sports/soccer field at Orcutt Junior High was celebrated with a dedication ceremony. Local students arrived bright and early, along with Superintendents Bob Bush, Assistant Superintendent Ken Parker and other administrators, to honor the contributions and hard work of all those who made the project a success. A sign recognizing all the participants, donated by Engel & Gray, Inc., was installed on a wall overlooking the new field.

Does your yard need a breath of fresh air? For more info contact us at Info@HarvestBlendCompost.com

It all began back in May of 2010. This is one of the main fields used by Orcutt United Soccer League: comprised of 1400 children, aged 4 thru 18 in 140 teams. Constant pounding of all those little feet had torn up the field, compacting the soil at the same time. With all this wear and tear, the grass was dry and the soil was unable to retain moisture, creating potholes which made the field unsafe for play. Since children playing on an unstable field are at an increased risk of injury, something had to be done.

A partnership between Nishimori Landscape, Engel & Gray, Inc. and Orcutt Union School District made this project a reality. Local sponsors included Tim Trenkle, President of Orcutt United Soccer League, Orcutt Union School District and Craig Reade of Betteravia Farms.

With direction from Jim Nishimori, old grass was raked and hauled away. After disking, Engel & Gray, Inc. donated and delivered 400 yards of Harvest Blend Compost to be used as soil amendment after which Nishimori Landscape was on hand to spread it over the field. Hydro seeding came next, and soon there was a lush green turf where before there was an unsafe field of potholes.

This beautiful new field illustrates what can happen when a community works together toward a common goal. Drop by Orcutt Jr. High soccer field (across from the District Office – 500 Dyer St.) and see the results for yourself!

For information on how to refresh your landscape, contact one of our friendly field reps at Info@HarvestBlendCompost.com