Host a Haunted Homegrown Halloween Dinner

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Round up the whole gang and dress in your best for a spine-chilling, homegrown Halloween meal.

Start by gathering the fruits of your organic fall gardening efforts, or head to your local farmer’s market to see what’s in season.

Boo! Prepare a Spooky and Scrumptious Homegrown Halloween Dinner (Because even goblins and ghouls prefer homegrown on Halloween.)

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Scary Snacks. Cook up a few frightful and finger-licking good snacks.

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Frightening Feast. All the best fall flavors featured in fangtastic dishes.

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Daring Decor. Use organic and recycled material to create eco-friendly Halloween decor.

  • Stack, scatter and spread pumpkins and gourds inside!
  • Transform old wine bottles into decorative jack-o-lanterns.
  • Add corn stalks and Indian corn.
  • Make a spooky skeleton using recycled milk jugs.
  • Plant paranormal plants in dark containers using organic soil. We’re thinking: spider plants, earth star plants, black orchids and Venus flytraps.

And don’t forget to Post a Pumpkin. Whether you carve, paint or bedazzle your pumpkin, there is still time to show it off in our “Pumpkin Decorating Contest.”

Talk about a hoot of a Halloween party! Imagine how much fun your friends and family will find this homegrown Halloween garden dinner!

Keep Your Lawn Strong – Even in the Dead Of Winter

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If you want a greener lawn in spring, did you know the most important time to organically fertilize your grass is the fall? Most people guess spring!

Learn why a fall fertilizer — or winterizer — is so important and how to correctly apply this organic lawn food.

Winter Lawn Care Essentials: Boost Your Lawn with an Organic Lawn Winterizerwinter lawn care

In the fall and winter, your lawn looks like it’s done growing, but it’s actually flourishing underground. Grass roots are absorbing nutrients so long as the ground isn’t frozen.

Applying a slow-release, organic lawn winterizer supplies your grass with nutrients throughout fall and winter.

A lawn winterizer is simply a food formulated to help your lawn survive winter. Lawn winterizers contain nitrogen to promote thicker, fast-growing grass come spring. This organic, winter fertilizer also possesses potassium to help lawns recover from summer droughts.

In spring, your grass then uses this stored energy to grow greener grass fast — usually by mid-March.

Put Your Lawn to Bed with an Organic Winterizer

  1. Give Your Lawn a Look. Check if you have cool or warm-season grass. Most areas with freezing winters grow cool-season grasses, such as bluegrass, ryegrass or fescue. Southern regions have warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda, Saint Augustine or Zoysia. Only apply winterizer to cool-season grasses. Warm-season grasses do not get fertilized at this time.
  2. Prime Time. Apply an organic lawn winterizer one week after your final mow of the season. Or if it’s easier to remember, apply around the week of Thanksgiving.
  3. Need to Feed. Spread organic fertilizer onto dry grass. Get step-by-step instructions on applying lawn winterizer here.

Applying a lawn winterizer is like wrapping your lawn up in a cozy blanket and presenting a warm cup of soup.  Your lawn stays warm and well-fed during winter, so it can grow back thicker, greener and faster next spring.

Still looking for more info? Check out our Winter Lawn Care Pinterest board?

Share Your Pumpkin to Win Big

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It’s the middle of October but we’ve already had our fair share of pumpkin spice lattes, autumn soup and pumpkin bread. Yet, we haven’t indulged in our absolute favorite pumpkin activity — carving!

Nothing beats picking a pumpkin right from the patch and envisioning how different it will soon look. With so many different pumpkin decorating ideas, each pumpkin is now a true work of art.

We’re inviting you to share your masterpiece pumpkin in our “Pumpkin Decorating Contest.” You could win $250!

Here’s how to enter the Espoma Pumpkin Decorating Contest!

  1. Like Espoma on Facebook.painted pumpkins
  2. Click the Contest Tab.
  3. Before November 3, post a picture of your decorated pumpkin. That’s right, it doesn’t have it be carved. Get funky! Paint your pumpkin, dress it up, or decoupage it! As long as it’s decorated for Halloween, your pumpkin’s ready for its worldwide debut.
  4. Share your photo with friends and family. Encourage your Facebook friends to vote for you. . A panel of judges will then choose the winner from the photos with the most “Likes”
  5. “Like” your favorite entries!
  6. Drumroll please! The winner, selected on November 3rd, wins $250.

Below are a few of our favorite pumpkin and gourd decorating ideas.

While you’re working, save those seeds and pumpkin insides! We see some tasty pumpkin soup and roasted pumpkin seeds in your future.

Score More from Your Organic Fall Garden Crops

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Organic gardening in the fall always feels like such a treat. Even though the leaves may be changing, your veggie garden is still going strong! While the seasons are transitioning, you’re making the most of every moment — going to football games, bundling up in cozy sweaters, and munching on homegrown produce.

Help your organic garden to produce more veggies than ever this fall with these four tips.

1. Feed to Succeed. Feed your veggies once a month for a bigger, bountiful harvest. This is especially important if you had other crops planted in the same spot earlier. Those crops depleted the garden soil of its nutrients. Luckily, an organic plant fertilizer replenishes the nutrients to keep your produce growing strong.

Step-by-step instructions on adding an organic plant fertilizer here!

2. Pick of the Pack. The more you pick, the more produce you get! Once your crops start ripening, go out and pick every day.

Here’s when to harvest your organic veggies:

  • Lettuce and spinach: Cut outer leaves when young and tender.
  • Kale: Pick when the leaves are as big as your hand.
  • Carrots: Pick when the top of the carrot is 1”
  • Broccoli: Cut broccoli when its head is 4-7”
  • Cauliflower: Cut when its head is between 2-3”

3. A Fresh Feast. Plan your weekly dinners around what’s in harvest in the garden. This is the last hurrah for homegrown meals from the garden, so make the most of it. Of course, save some for winter,

4. Discover the Cover. If the chance of frost arrives earlier than expected, protect your crops. Water and then cover with a sheet, blanket or tarp. Use stakes to keep the cover from touching the plants.

Crunch! How amazing is it that you’re still harvesting veggies from your organic garden in autumn?!

Espoma. A Family Tradition Since 1929.

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