Rich soil is crucial for the sustained health and beauty of natural ecosystems. These natural ecosystems, inherently resilient, seldom face pest or disease issues and require no artificial fertilizers.

John and Bob's smart soil products nourish soil organisms with a blend of organic compounds, minerals, and microbes, mirroring the strategies found in thriving plant communities.

Our four-product system — Optimize, Maximize, Nourish-Biosol, and Penetrate — utilizes mother nature's potent ingredients to enrich your soil. It's the easy, effective and organic way to make your soil healthy.

What is ORGANIC Soil?

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Benefits

Enhances root development and plant growth

Safe around children & animals

Creates rich, fertile soil structure

Increases water retention

Adds beneficial minerals and microbes

Listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) for use in organic production

Promotes aeration and drainage

Helps leach out harmful alkali

Non-toxic, will not burn

Easy to use

Chemical Gardening vs Soil Based Gardening

Most home gardeners agree their soil is important but don't realize that most products at garden centers don't improve soil. John & Bob's promotes soil based gardening as opposed to chemical based gardening. Chemicals feed plants directly with products like Miracle Gro and other popular fertilizers. These products don't improve your soil and result in the need for more chemicals, getting you stuck in an endless cycle of chemical inputs which only make your soil worse.

Soil life is the most effective way to sustainably address pests and disease while maximizing plant health and fundamentally improving your soil.

Soil based gardening focuses on inputs that not only feed your plants, but feed your soil so that chemicals aren't needed for pest and disease control. Soil life is the most effective way to sustainably address pests and disease while maximizing plant health and fundamentally improving your soil. The organisms in healthy soil convert organic matter and soil minerals into the vitamins, hormones, disease-suppressing compounds, and nutrients that plants need to grow. Their excretions help to bind soil particles into aggregates that make soil loose and crumbly. When your soil is healthy and full of life you never need to till because the organisms continually break down organic matter into soil, which then feeds the next generation of plants.

Pests & Disease

75% of all insect pests spend part of their life cycle in the soil and many of their natural enemies occur there as well, as long as the soil is rich with complex soil life. If your soil is healthy then pests are eliminated before they ever become an issue. Another factor is that most pests lack a liver and can't digest high concentrations of amino acids, which very healthy plants possess. This is one way the plant is made to be an unattractive nutrient source by healthy soil.

Human, Pet, and Plant Safe

Chemical fertilizers can be deadly and require you to wear protective gear while applying, be wary of toxic run off, avoid contact after application, and can burn your plants if applied incorrectly. Herbicides, pesticides, and insecticides can be toxic to us, our pets, our water sources, and to our soils. These chemicals have been linked to cancer, Alzheimer's, and birth defects, and also have the potential to harm the nervous system, reproductive system, and endocrine system. Soil based gardening avoids all of these concerns by using only natural and safe products that will not harm you, your children, or your pets if exposed. It makes so much sense to us to use wholesome products in and around our living spaces while practicing sustainable, soil based gardening.

Value Comparison

It takes 112 bags (at 1.5 cubic feet per bag) of one of the popular brands of soil amendment or compost to deliver the same benefits of one bag of John and Bob’s Optimize. The value is even more dramatic when if you use a blend of John and Bob’s three product system, including Optimize, Maximize and Nourish-Biosol.