June

June 25, 2009

Welcome to SUMMER!

There's been a gap between the April and June newsletters the last couple years called MAY at a garden center, but now we are back into it just in time for some June and July bugs and drought.

We have seen many four lined plant bugs, aphids and three striped potato beetles. If you are having issues, please bring your leaves or bugs in a ziploc bag so we can try to identify the source of your plant sadness. A great diagnostic tool on the U of M website can be found here: www.extension.umn.edu/gardeninfo/diagnostics/index.html.

The next order of business is the yearly watering conversation. This hot, dry week has been tough on plants, and many of us feel inclined to water often. While containers need to be attended to daily, garden beds actually benefit from infrequent, deep watering. A quote from organic gardening magazine:

"How much water do plants need? About 1 inch per week is a standard rule of thumb. A single weekly soaking is much better than daily sprinklings, because shallow watering encourages the roots to stay in the top 4 inches of soil. Shallow roots make plants more susceptible to water stress and weed competition. Wet the soil to at least 1 foot deep (that's 1 foot down from the soil surface, not the mulch layer)."

To determine how much sprinkling is required to get to an inch of water, set up your sprinkler with a rain gauge or marked container in your garden and sprinkle until the desired water level is reached. You may be surprised how many hours it takes to reach an inch. With many sprinklers, an inch is reached with overnight sprinkling. The best time of day to water is early morning, with evening the next best time. Water sitting on the leaves can encourage diseases and fungi to grow, so soaker hoses are a great option. This year, we finally made use of multiple soaker hoses and sprinklers. The addition of quick releases on the hose end and attached to each watering device makes it so much easier to water that we created a dance in honor of the quick release. Don't forget about mulching well, to keep water from evaporating!

And now for the first SALE! That's right, the pottery and outdoor decor has got to find a new home. 25% off all outdoor pottery and decor, as well as selected beautiful indoor and gift items. The Declaration of Independence Sale runs July 2nd, 3rd and 5th. We will be closed on July 4th. Look for info in the next newsletter on a number of activities at the store toward the end of summer. Community puppet theater and a late summer line up of seminars are in the works.

Have a great holiday!