April is National Lawn Care Month and National Pest Management Month! To help your May flowers get off to a healthy, pest-free start, learn how to start your first completely organic garden. Your lawn and garden will look lush and green, and of course, will be completely organic. Spring is the best time to start!

How to Start an Organic Lawn & Garden

Even if your soil looks dead and lifeless, it can be brought back to life. But in order to find out what your soil needs, you need a soil test. 

1. Get a Soil Sample

Testing your soil is the first step toward building good garden soil. You could waste a lot of money and energy, not to mention the possibility for poisoning, by adding things to your soil before conducting a soil test.

It’s a good idea to test your soil every 3-5 years since levels change all the time. Spring is … Read Full Post »

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the weeds. Before you let plant predators such as cleavers, chickweed, henbit, sow thistle and wild carrot take over, learn the pros and cons of herbicides, as well as some non-chemical alternatives.

Weeds can rob nutrients from the soil and smother other plants, but they aren’t all bad. Some can help your plants grow; others you may actually enjoy. They can also act as a free soil test, telling you whether or not you need soil balancing. Certain weeds spring up only when the soil is too high or low in something.

Many times, you can organically solve your weed problem by simply getting rid of the existing weeds and then balancing the soil. Learn more about how to improve soil quality in your lawn.

Sometimes, however, herbicides are necessary. But before you start releasing chemicals around your property, it’s important to consider what they are, how … Read Full Post »

Probiotics, basically helpful bacteria, are recommended for treating everything from digestion to depression. But probiotics aren’t just beneficial to humans. They can also maintain the balance of good and bad bacteria in plants and soil. Helpful microbes, like those found in Holganix, can help plants grow bigger, healthier, and stronger.

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are bacteria or fungi that are non-harmful or helpful. Harmful bacteria and fungi would be classified as a type of parasite.

When the bad bacteria overwhelm the good bacteria, you can get sick. The same applies to your plants and soil. It’s all about maintaining a healthy balance between the trillions of cells and microbes that make up living things.

All plants have endophytes, organisms that live between plant cells, which is normally the term used for the plant version of probiotics.

Endophytes attach themselves to plants and serve a similar purpose for plants that probiotics do for us. In the … Read Full Post »

Our lawn and pest care philosophy is based on the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, which seeks to blend a variety of eco-friendly strategies to solve a pest problem. You may think this is unnecessary since chemical pesticides are convenient and often successful.

But pesticides contain toxic chemicals that are harmful to humans, wildlife, and the environment. They contaminate the air, water, and soil, disrupting all the links in the food chain.

There are many reasons why eco-friendly pest control is preferable:

• Balanced Ecosystem, Healthy Environment
• Pests Often Build Up Resistance to Pesticides
• An IPM Approach Is Safer and More Sustainable
• IPM Saves Money

One great way to avoid the adverse effects of pesticides is by replacing chemical pesticides with organic fertilizers and composts, such as Holganix. There are many different options when it comes to lawn care, but Holganix has proven itself to be the best lawn fertilizer for strong soil and healthy plants.

What is Holganix?

Holganix … Read Full Post »