Do you Know the National Gardening Association?

The National Gardening Association has existed since 1971 and has more than one million members. Check them out here. 

Fertile Soils

It takes fertile, organic soils to grow great, healthy plants. Every gardening knows that the only way to start gardening is to have good organic soils. 

So what are the components of good dirt. How so we know we are using the best gardening techniques when it comes to the soil. 

Good, organic soils require several things including good soil structure, beneficial soil microbes, a good pH, sunlight. water, necessary nutrients, and good drainage. 

National Gardening Association

The National gardening association provides a number of benefits to its members. 

They have gardening tools, gardening advice, and a bunch of great pictures of some very interesting plants. 

They also have some great quotes. Here’s one I ran into a few days ago: 

A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy.  

Oh yeah, they also have books and other tools on the website. 

Living Soils

Back to our topic of soils. Soils make or break a garden. I think many beginning gardeners don’t completely understand this. It’s almost impossible to grow great plants and vegetables without good soil. 

The reason dirt is sometimes called living soil is because of living, beneficial soil microbes. Without these silent helpers, soil would not be as fertile. 

If you don’t have enough beneficial microbes in the soil, you can add them. There are many commercial preparations and  they have different names. Sometimes they’re called biofertilizers, or microbial soil amendments, or maybe bugs in a jug.

Either way, they may contain beneficial soil bacteria, or soil Trichoderma, or mycorrhiza. 

Here’s a guide that will help you to decide which product is best for your garden.