Nothing signals the start of fall like the pumpkin patches that seem to pop up everywhere! If you’ve ever tried growing your own for Halloween or Thanksgiving, however, you know that the perfect pumpkin takes a bit of preparation and planning. The inputs seem relatively simple: seeds, soil, sun and water. But the perfect pumpkin…
If you’ve been spending the warm days of August harvesting a bounty of tomatoes and zucchini from the garden (and figuring out what to do with all the extras), it seems hard to believe that fall is right around the corner. Yet if tasty, home-grown Brussel sprouts are on the menu for Thanksgiving, now is…
Ah, August. Summer’s days may be numbered, but it’s not too late to give your garden a late-season boost with some much-needed minerals. Your tomato, cucumber and zucchini plants will be especially grateful and will reward you with their plentiful bounty. Your lawn, on the other hand, may be suffering thanks to a summer that…
It’s mid-July, and your garden is really cooking thanks to all the long hours of hard work that you put into preparing your soil earlier in the year. Or, maybe you are like many of us—wishing that you had put more time into soil preparation back when the gentle breezes and cool showers of spring…
It’s the month of June and gardens (and gardeners) everywhere are in full swing! One of the questions that people frequently ask us is, “Is it too late to apply Cascade Minerals?” The answer is an emphatic “Not at all!” It’s never too late to improve soil health. Although pre-plant incorporation is ideal, top-dressing with…
A few months ago, we shared the story and photos of a replanting event that took place at Portland’s Peninsula Park Rose Garden. Hundreds of volunteers replanted 3,000 roses in anticipation of the garden’s upcoming centennial celebration. Cascade Minerals was honored to help by donating nearly 2,000 pounds of our all-natural volcanic soil amendment to…
Whether you are new to composting or consider yourself a master composter, you may not have considered the benefits of adding volcanic rock dust to your compost pile. Ground up rock material doesn’t usually appear on lists of compostable materials such as “greens” (e.g., grass clippings, hedge trimmings) and “browns” (e.g., fall leaves, wood chips)….
The month of May has arrived here in Oregon with beautiful, sunny weather. Needless to say, gardeners are itching to get their tomato plants into the ground. (Including all of us here at Cascade Minerals. After all, our company mascot is “Mr. Tomato!”) Do we go for it? Should we wait? These are the questions…
The recent replanting of roses in Portland’s Peninsula Park was a great success. Thousands of new rose bushes were planted by a group of dedicated volunteers in anticipation of the park’s 100th anniversary in June. The blooms are going to be stellar. How can we be so sure? The rose bushes got an extra “boost”…
Spring has sprung, and the warmer weather has been good news for the volunteers who came out to plant thousands of new rose bushes in Peninsula Park, Portland’s first public rose garden that will celebrate its 100th anniversary in June. Cascade Minerals has donated nearly 2,000 pounds of our volcanic basalt rock dust to help…
