August

August 1, 2008

Very Dry Out There.

Maybe instead of Bug o' the Week, it should be The Weekly Affliction. This week's guest star: Tomato Blossom End Rot. You've probably already looked it up online, a calcium deficiency causes that soggy black/brown bottom on your well-tended tomato.

The thing is, most of the time, it is caused by inconsistent watering. Tomatoes are a wet crop and they have long roots. Are you watering deeply? Are your pots big enough? Are your pots terra cotta and dry quickly? How's your drainage, could you be overwatering? The teeny tiny roots are affected by how they are watered and often they are damaged and unable to take up the available nutrients. Cut off the affected tomatoes, add calcium if you think your soil is lacking and water well! Your next crop could very well be salvaged.

Last month, I mentioned we would be featuring Buy Local!! Except I forgot that what we always feature in August and early September is BIG SALE. We'll be back to our Buy Local discussions for the upcoming holiday.

The Big Rainbow Sale works like so: Every week a different color is on sale.  The first week is purple. Everything in the store that is purple is 20% off. To be perfectly honest, there are a few exceptions to this. You can find out all the details by going to the website, www.motherearthgarden.com, and you will find on the front page the weeks listed by color, ending in a big crazy clearance weekend.

It's a silly complicated sale that we (and we hope, you) find funny and entertaining and all it really is is the same kind of thing every garden center does toward the end of the season, which is: clear out product for the winter. So in that spirit, come convince us that the beautiful pot you've always wanted really is a lovely shade of purple and not at all blue.

SALE STARTS SATURDAY, AUGUST 2ND.

Karen, Paige and All of Us at the Store.