In this issue

Greetings to All,

Here at Growing Wise, we are in suspended anticipation of summer and the upcoming growing season.  The Canadian geese, Sandhill cranes and Trumpeter swans have filled the air with their sweet music of return to the last frontier.  And even though the mountains are still snow capped, the Matanuska Valley is in full bloom with spring flowers.

We are staying really busy getting the Alaska Bounty Products out to those of you who have already started your growing season.  We are looking forward to hearing from each of you who have had an improved growing experience with our products.  We are always interested to hear the success stories that so many of our friends have had.  On the other hand, if there is a bad experience we would like to hear about that as well.  Those types of things help us tune into areas that need more investigation.  And since our goal is to help make organic sustainable growing simpler and easier for each of you to accomplish, we look forward to trying to turn a bad experience into a good one.

This past month we have continued to make strides that promote our goal as mentioned above.  To that regard I have two new products to make available to you.  The first product in my humble opinion is the best thing since sliced bread.  It has been named the “Alaska Bounty Super Syphon”.  It is the only relatively inexpensive mechanism of this type on the market that I have found to be able to use as an inline dilution mixer of the Alaska Bountea or other similar compost tea.  The Super Syphon has been specifically designed for this purpose and should prove to be an ingenious device that will save us all great amounts of time in the application of the tea.  It is very simple to use.

The second new product is what we are calling the “You can do it” kit.  This is the do-it-yourself version of building a brewer.  We provide you with the hard to find parts, the brewer construction plans and brewing instructions with ingredients.  You provide the common, easier to find parts and the labor to put the brewer together.  This removes some of our labor costs, reduces the shipping weights and will allow you to get started brewing your Alaska Bountea at a lower cost to you.  This product is available in the five gallon size only.  Our friends that have chosen to get started this way have reported that they found it easy and fun to do.

To help avoid confusion in ordering, the “You can do it” kit is currently only available at akbounty.com and growinggreatgardens.com.  The alaskagiant.com website is now being managed from Colorado and has a slightly different selection of products to choose from.

In talking to John this last weekend, he said that using the Alaska Bounty Soil Stimulant System is allowing him to get his garden planted while the temperatures at night are still falling a few degrees below freezing.  When I looked at the plants they were doing great.  He suggested that this was only possible because the plants are so healthy and have elevated sugar (Brix) levels. This is just another benefit of this product.  Join us now to further understand why using the organic methods to growing are so important to the benefits that we get from these products.

Sid Richards
The GrowingWISE Team.

The Value of Health in Balanced Soil

When they asked me what I was doing, I had to say I’m searching for a better way. I needed to grow plants that were not only more productive but also more nutritious.  So, I started on a short journey of understanding more about the benefits we reap from the extra effort we put into the organic approach to growing.  I’m not talking about the serenity we find in the beautiful landscapes and gardens.  I’m also not talking about the wholesome physical exercise benefits we get from the planting, maintenance and harvesting of the growing areas either.  Although these things are very important, as I dug deeper I found some interesting facts that really opened my eyes.

To start with let’s look at what it takes to balance the soil.  In general we want to provide a good variety of minerals, proteins and carbohydrates for the plants to have available for food.  In addition, we want to provide the soil with the necessary micro-organisms to eat and process the food, which then turns it into plant available forms.  The final factor in the challenge to balance our soil is actually to create imbalance.  I know that seems a little contradictory but think about how it works.  It’s really a dominance issue within the micro-organisms world.  In this world we find a variety of animals which provide even a greater variety of functions to the environment they live in.  It’s important to have all of them to keep the natural predator-prey relationships in tact thereby creating a healthy environment.  But to skew the balance to our side a little bit is what Alaska Bountea provides.

To help describe this effect in a simplistic format the animals are categorized into three main groups: beneficials, neutrals and non-beneficials.  In order to get the balance that creates the best environment for our plants we want the soil to be dominated by the beneficials.  These animals are so small and so interdependent upon each other that it becomes hard to separate the categories to ensure the beneficials will dominate.  So, what Alaska Bountea has done is to find and develop the very special humisoil that holds the diverse and beneficial dominating micro-organisms that when brewed with the specially formulated activator, multiply profusely.   They go from a population of Thousands to Billions in the 24 hour brewing period.  This is why such a small amount can have such profound effects on any soil condition.  When introduced to your soil they take over the territory and clean up the non-beneficials to a great degree.  They will also clean up the salts left behind from the commercial fertilizers.  Once these things are completed they turn all of their efforts toward processing the micro-organism available foods into plant available foods. This is when the imbalance is truly in our favor.  Because this is a natural process the efficiencies are tremendous and the bounty is truly unbelievable.

In studies conducted by Rutgers University on crop nutrients, they compared major minerals and trace elements in lettuce and tomatoes grown organically and commercially.  The table below shows the significant differences of the nutrients available for human consumption in these crops.

Another study conducted in the UK by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Royal Society of Chemistry gave us similar indications, but in much more general terms.  This study shows the mineral depletion in fruits and vegetables between 1940 & 1991.  The vegetables lost 76% of their copper content, 49% of their sodium, 46% of their calcium and 27%, 24% and 16% of their iron, magnesium and potassium, respectively.  The fruits lost 19% of their copper content, 29% of their sodium, 16% of their calcium and 24%, 15% and 22% of their iron, magnesium and potassium, respectively.

Do you think this could be coincidental of the industrial revolution and the availability of the ammonia nitrate that was developed and became plentiful after the world war?   Do you think there could be a link between the lower mineral availability in the commercially grown fruits and vegetables today and the increased health problems we find in our lives?  Certainly these would be points to ponder. 

As I have taken my garden from a commercially fertilized soil to an organically managed soil I have realized the benefits of the increased nutrients from higher mineral contents.  The plants provide a similar benefit to us that the micro-organisms provide to the plants and that is making the minerals readily available and easily digestible for humans.  They provide the most efficient process for us to take these very important elements into our bodies for the greatest health benefits.  I guess Grandma really did know what she was talking about.

Now it becomes clearer how the imbalance in the beneficial direction of the micro-organism world provides for the best balance of nutrients availability for our health. The best part of it is that it is very easily measured thru the sweetness in the taste of fruits and vegetables. Or, in the deep green color in the leaves of grass and trees. Or, in the brightness of color in the flowers. Whichever it is you’re after, it’s now available to you thru the value of rebalancing the health of your soils.

Onion Growth Enhancement

As I look back on my gardens of the past, I have to wonder how they made it at all.  I guess it probably comes from not really ever fully understanding what I was trying to do to get the most from the plants that I planted.  As my knowledge increases I can see the many benefits of further study and understanding. 

A tip that has helped to dramatically increase the yield of my onions is to remove the soil from around the bulb after the onion has put on all of its leaves.  The leaves indicate the amount of rings the onion will have.  An onion that is putting on new leaves also tells us that the onions roots are in good working order and can support the onion standing with just the root system.  I have found that if you leave onion sets, transplants or live starts, in the soil for about eight to ten weeks they are usually ready to have the soil removed. Once the onion has completed growing its leaves, the bulb will start to swell.  This is when we want remove the soil down to the roots.  Be careful to not damage the roots as the soil is removed.  You will see as you pull the soil away from the bulb if the onion has the strength to stand on its own.  If the onion wants to fall over just place the soil back up around the bulb and try again in a week or two. 

If the soil is not removed the onion becomes bound. This is where the yield is lost.  So, for those of us who have not been aware of this, we have been unknowingly restricting the growth of the onion bulb.  Give it a try and watch your yield increase.