There are three vital components to the soil.  The chemistry is the most important.  When the delicate chemistry ratios between the elements in the soil are in place, then the second component, biology, can begin to flourish.  When the chemistry and biology are functioning, the physical structure of the soil accomodates plant growth.  The soil becomes porous, accepts and holds water and has ample space for air and water.  Our sincere goal is to enhance these three components with total reverence to nature's plan for the soil.  It is called biological farming.

While the common fertilization notion that "N-P-K" is all plants need, there are actually 17 essential elements.  What really makes it complicated is they need to be in balance.  Too much of one will make another not available.  To find the true available ratios of each element, we send our soil tests to Kinsey labs.

Amazingly, 95% of plant material comes from the air.  Carbon (45%), hydrogen (6%) and oxygen (45%) are luckily the freebies that are taken by the plant from the atmosphere.  The mere remaining 5% are the elements.  Nitrogen occupies 1.5% of plant material, phosphorous is .15% and potassium is 1.5%.  And while those amounts sound small, calcium makes up .5%, sulfur is .1% and copper is only.0006%.  If the amounts of these elements needed in plants is so minute, are they really needed??  Following are just a few examples of the huge role these elements play.

Calcium is my favorite.  When we added high calcium lime to our soil ten years ago, we noticed big changes, especially in flavor.  Customers, wherever they came from, would say we had the best sweet corn they had ever had.  Calcium is like the traffic cop in the center of the intersection directing traffic.  First of all, it opens up the soil to make it more porous, giving the life in the soil the air space and water it needs to survive. We noticed a huge increase in earthworms with the addition of calcium.   It allows for enzyme activity and protein synthesis to take place.  It strengthens cell walls of plants increasing storage life.  It manages decomposition and increases symbiotic nitrogen fixing in legumes.  Those are just a few of the many benefits of calcium.

It has been said that if you have enough sulfur in your soil, you drought-proof your farm.  It makes the soil soft and enables it to soak up and hold the water of a five inch rain.  But it also plays a huge role in the plant making complete proteins.  Interestingly enough, insects can't digest complete proteins.  They would much rather feed on plants that aren't nutritionally dense.

Who would think copper in such minute amounts would be important?  And yet it is a catalyst for enzyme and chlorophyll synthesis, respiration and carbohydrate and protein metabolism.  Copper is also partially reponsible for the huge boost in flavor.

These are just three examples of what often overlooked elements do in the soil.  And these were just three examples of the seventeen.  Think what doesn't happen within the plant when they aren't in place.  Better yet, think of what plants can do when they are!!  That is why the slogan, "SAVOR THE FLAVOR OF SUMMER AT BLUEBIRD GARDENS" are not empty words.  We place a huge investment in those words for our customers.