Garden Pharmacy

Organic answers and green solutions

Over the last few years, garden center professionals have seen an increase in the number of customers who want to use safer gardening practices for their family, pets and the environment. This increased awareness outlines a definitive need for education geared toward garden customers and sales people. Some retailers may see these ever-growing concerns over safer products as an immediate reduction in the sales of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides.

At BCG, we see this growing trend as an opportunity to educate ourselves and our customers about all of the available products and practices for "green", "sustainable" and "organic" gardening and living techniques. These new practices will lead to endless possibilities for new product lines, the organic food trade, homegrown fruits and vegetables and overall environment-friendly materials.

As awareness grows, terms like: organic, inorganic, sustainable and Eco-friendly will be used over and over again by the media and especially by the professionals in the gardening industry. Bucks Country Gardens' sales professionals consistently strive to simplify the use of these terms and assist the customers in choosing the products that work best for them while keeping environ- mental safety and customer satisfaction the priority. Customers can also find our OMRI listed products in our garden center. These OMRI listed materials can be used in certified organic production, handling and processing and are safe to use and Eco-friendly.

At BCG, we have a special organic section in the retail garden store and also carry organic products at our pharmacy.

Here is a sample of some of the items offered at BCG:

Fungicides

• Plant-based fungicides like Neem act as a disease preventative.
• BT which can be used on flowers and edible crops.
• Sulfur is a natural fungicide and also acts as a good miticide.

Herbicides

• Corn Gluten Meal is an effective pre-emergent weed control when used twice a year in fall and early spring and will control 85% of weed seeds in turf-grass.
• Burn Out II works as a post-emergent weed control using clove oil.

Insecticides

• Insecticidal soaps which kill soft-bodied insects without leaving a toxic residue.
• Horticultural oils which suffocate soft- bodied insects.
  Pyrethrins have a fast knockdown effect.
• Non-toxic traps such as Safer Sticky Whitefly Traps

Fertilizers

Organic Fertilizers encourage microbial activity in the soil. They fertilize in a slow, steady manner without promoting quick lawn growth. This means of growth reduces water usage for lawns and decreases the need for additional mowing.

Some of the organic specialty fertilizers which are available for a variety of needs:

For Vegetable

• Jobes Spikes

For Lawns

• Espoma Organic Lawn Food
• Cockadoodle Doo Organic Fertilizer
• Cockadoodle Doo Organic Weed Control
• Concern All Natural Weed Prevention Plus

As always, we encourage our customers to read all labels and understand any product's proper use and dispensing instructions. We continue to offer information from manufacturers via product brochures and websites. We also encourage our customers to stop in and discuss any of their garden concerns with one of our BCG professionals