June 2009 Newsletter
Viola's News
 We have had a wonderful season so far, and it's not over! Our selection of flowers in the store is the best we've ever had. If you have not been in to see the eight foot tall flower tower you need to come on in. It's time to start finishing up your vegetable gardens, so if you need to get your last minute vegetables we still have a lot to choose from.
If you haven't read our blog "Life Is Better" we had a good friend of ours Dina Barnese make us some fridgerator magnets out of ceramics. We have them for sale at Viola's be the first on your block to own one. She wrote about them in her blog at zizziba.com so go and check it out.
What is Buggin'
 This month's bug is the woolly aphid. This bug is pretty easy to identify, if you see almost cotton-like little balls in your trees or shrubs you could have woolly aphids. If you touch the little cotton ball, you will see these little bugs hiding. Symptoms of the woolly aphid usually include: poor plant growth, curled leaves, and yellow foliage. They feed on leaves, buds, and bark.
We carry a lot of things to get rid of these guys. Eight or Tomato and Vegetable 3 in 1 are a couple of pesticides to get rid of these aphids.
Petal Pushing
 By now all of us have at least one pot or two of flowers. It is time to take care of those flowers. Now that you have had them for a while you need to start dead heading. If you have not yet begun to dead head, you better get cracking. Dead heading is cutting off the spent blooms so that the plant will produce more flowers. When trimming off the spent bloom make sure you go all the way to the bottom of the stem. This way you don't end up with a plant that looks like a pin cushion. Make sure that you examine the stem that you are wanting to cut off, you don't want to snip any new blooms!
It is also time to fertilize your plants. We have organic fertilizers and non organic fertilizers that will get the job done. Good organic fertilizers are Kelp Meal, Wormcastings and of course Yum-Yum. A really good non organic fertilizer is Start n' Grow. This fertilizer is going to give plants a jump.
Critter Corner
 We loved them in Bambi, but not so much in the yard. You know who I am talking about, those darn deer. Deer love to eat your lush garden, especially during dry years. That makes sense, because there is not much to eat in the forest when there hasn't been any rain.
So what do you do? If you know that you have a deer problem, you can plant shrubs and flowers that deer don't like. We have a list of deer resistant plants on our website and in the store. Another line of defense is a fence. You can fence your garden or fence your yard. You need to make sure that the fence is high enough to keep the deer out.
If you don't like the look of fences you can treat your plants with Repel's All. This spray is good for rabbits, squirrels, deer, and almost all of your undesirable animals. It effects them three different ways: taste, smell, and touch. You can even apply it on structures.
Back To Basics
 This month's organic fertilizer is Seaweed Extract, for organic gardeners this is a good substitute for root stimulator. You can also use it as an inoculant for seeds, foliar spray, and apply it to cuttings. You can use it on all of your trees, shrubs, flowers, and even on your grass! Seaweed Extract is made from 100% natural organic kelp, what a cool product.
Water Wise
 We have had great weather this summer and we are almost into Monsoon season. In this month's Water Wise we are going to talk about not being fooled by the rain. Sure we could get a good rain shower for 10 to 15 minutes, but gardener beware. Some of the Monsoon Storms do not have enough moisture for you to skip watering. Especially for those bushes and flowers that have thick foliage. The rain seems to bounce off and not get to the roots. If you are not sure, remember this: "When in doubt, get your finger out". Yes, do a little digging around the plant to see how wet it really is down there.
During Monsoon season, and actually all season you should be watering in the morning. This will help prevent powdery mildew and other moisture caused fungi from happening. Fungi like the cool temperatures of the night and the moisture of just being watered. Also if you can help it try to keep the water off of the foliage of the plants. If you do happen to get powdery mildew or leaf spot we do carry a Copper Fungicide, and Fung-onil which will get rid of them.
What To Do
Now is the time that you should take a look at you sprinkler systems and see if you need to make any adjustments, or even worse, a leak. You should also fertilize your lawn and flowers again give them a little boost before we get into the heat of the summer. Time to clean up any trees, shrubs, flowers that are overgrown, have suckers or just need a little trimming. Also you definately need to be dead heading your flowers (trimming off the spent blooms). This will encourage your flowers to keep blooming. Time to retreat with Corn Gluten, with the Monsoons just around the corner you will want to put down this pre-emergant (prevents new weeds from germinating). Enjoy your garden and don't forget to make yourself some notes on what worked for you, and what you want to change.
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