Most kids enjoy eating sunflower seeds but how many realize that you don't have to buy them in plastic bags at the grocery store? Whether you grow them to harvest the seeds or just the smiles generated by the whimsical flowers, everyone should plant some.

Sunflowers have been around since the days of the early Incas and were ultimately brought to our country by European explorers and settlers. They are called sunflowers because the flower heads actually turn to follow the sun through the day. As we get past the last remnants of cool wet weather, it is time to think about planting seeds. They are easy to grow and we now have 22 different varieties in stock. The mature sizes range from the dwarf two and a half foot tall 'Music Box' to the towering fourteen foot tall 'Heirloom Titan.' And with variety names like 'Moonshadow,' ' Peach Passion,' ' Moulin Rouge,' ' Chocolate Cherry,' 'Vanilla Ice,' 'Van Gogh' and 'Cinnamon Sun,' there is certain to be one that fits your garden color scheme.

Sunflowers should be planted in full sun in a loose, well-amended soil. Just before planting, spread some Dr. Earth Organic Rose & Flower food on the surface and work it lightly into the top inch of the soil. The big seeds are easy for kids to handle and should be planted about one half inch to one inch deep and four to six inches apart. If you are planting multiple rows, allow at least two feet between each row. Cover any holes you make with soil and lightly sprinkle with water every day so the soil stays evenly moist. Your new seedlings will emerge in one to two weeks. These can be very tempting for birds and snails, so consider covering them temporarily with strawberry baskets or use Bird Scare Tape and Sluggo. After the seedlings are a few inches tall, thin them out to allow about one foot between each plant, slightly more for taller varieties. To extend the blooming period, don't plant all of your seeds at the same time. Instead, plant some every two weeks for a month. Every four to six weeks, sprinkle some Dr. Earth around the base of the plants and water it in well. Then get ready to sit back and watch the smiles as your Dr. Seuss garden flourishes with fantastically fun flowers.

A Brazos Walking Stick is an essential accessory for any avid walker or hiker and a perfect Father's Day gift. These beautiful, high-quality walking sticks are hand crafted from a variety of hardwoods including maple, sassafras, sweet gum, hickory, ash, oak, sycamore and cedar. The Brazos Walking Stick company is a family owned business representing the individual talents of neighboring craftsmen in the Brazos River Valley in central Texas for more than ten years. All of their sticks are hand finished to a satiny smooth surface that caresses your hand and highlights the natural beauty of the wood. In addition, they are all fitted with a leather lanyard and a steel reinforced rubber tip for a secure grip on any surface.

The bright, carefree flowers of nasturtiums bloom easily with cheerful abandon. No wonder these versatile annual beauties warm the eyes and hearts of gardeners worldwide every summer season.

Pert, saucy nasturtium flowers and their lily pad shaped leaves have a spicy flavor reminiscent of watercress with a touch of honey. They are delicious garnishes for green salads and can really give a spritz of flavor to pasta, macaroni, egg and potato salads. The blossoms are particularly lovely surrounding poached or grilled salmon or shrimp. Add them to shrimp and crab salad. Even everyday tuna salad will take on a new interest if you season it with shredded nasturtium petals. Or blend them with cream cheese or butter and spread on thin slices of crust-less bread for savory snacks or appetizers. Food, fun and easy beauty – what else could you want from these favorite flowers!

We currently have 8 different varieties of colorful, easy to grow nasturtium seeds from Renee's Garden.

1. Plant potted roses and tropicals.
2. Replace cool-season bedding plants with warm weather annuals.
3. Continue to plant summer vegetables and basil.
4. Replace parsley if you haven't already done so.
5. Plant a giant pumpkin for Halloween.
6. Plant, and transplant succulents.
7. Thin out fruit on deciduous fruit trees.
8. Pinch dahlias back when the plant has three sets of leaves; tie the plant up as it grows.
9. Continue to pick and deadhead roses.
10. Divide and repot cymbidiums that have outgrown their containers.
11. Cut off bloom spikes from cymbidiums after flowers fade.
12. Prune and feed camellias if you have not already done so. Rake up spent flowers.
13. Clean, prune and feed azaleas.
14. Prune winter and spring-flowering vines, shrubs, trees and ground covers after they finish blooming.
15. Provide support for your growing tomatoes.
16. Remove seed pods from fuchsias after flowers fall.
17. Continue to prune and train espaliers.
18. Feed citrus trees, avocado trees.
19. Feed fuchsias, azaleas, and tuberous begonias.
20. Fertilize lawns with Dr. Earth organic lawn food.
21. Side-dress vegetable rows with organic fertilizer.
22. Feed all container-grown succulents with a well-diluted complete liquid fertilizer.
23. Fertilize peppers when flowers first show.
24. As the weather becomes drier, consider installing drip irrigation.
25. Taper off watering those California native plants that prefer a dry season.
26. Watch for mildew, rust, aphids and rose slugs on your roses.
27. Control weeds and conserve soil moisture by mulching.
28. Control weeds among vegetables and flowers by hand-pulling.
29. Harvest vegetables regularly.

Did you know that we offer an extensive selection of garden related books? Just inside the doors of our Gift Shop are shelves lined with a wide range of titles from vegetable gardening to California natives.

We are especially excited to feature two books by local author Frank Tozer. The Organic Gardener's Handbook tells you everything you need to know about how to create a highly productive organic vegetable garden. Combining European tradition with American creativity, it covers the art and science of organic gardening with a depth that is rarely seen in contemporary books. Whether you are a complete novice or a veteran gardener, you will find this book both helpful and informative.

The other title by Frank Tozer is the Vegetable Grower's Handbook, which contains all the information you need to successfully grow more than 50 common vegetables, with specific step-by-step instructions for each crop. It goes on to discuss many unusual crops, culinary herbs, edible flowers, enhanced nutrition foods and even how to use common edible wild plants and garden weeds.

Our book selection includes a number of plant-specific titles that provide in-depth coverage of individual groups of plants such as Japanese Maples, Roses, Camellias, Magnolias, Orchids, Succulents, Carnivorous Plants and many more. These make great coffee table books or gifts for plant collectors and enthusiasts.

And there is a wide range of practical book topics covering subjects like composting, rainwater harvesting, birding, container gardens, grafting, pruning, perennial gardening and dozens of others.

So the next time you are in the nursery, step into the Gift Shop and check out the possibilities for a thoughtful gift...or simple self-indulgence.

Have you ever been to Hawaii or Mexico and gazed in awe at the spectacular walls of vibrant color created by Bougainvillea vines? If you have a sunny spot in your yard you can enjoy that same spectacle for much of the year. Bougainvillea is a sub-tropical plant that is usually evergreen in the Santa Cruz area. They bloom from late spring through fall and are available in a wide range of colors including purples, pinks, red, lavender, yellow and white. There are even varieties with variegated foliage. They thrive in warm sunny locations and are available in sprawling vine forms or as a shrubby mounding habit.

As a vine, they should be grown along the top of a fence or arbor, or, up against a west or south facing wall on a trellis. The stems can become fairly woody and heavy over time, so be sure to provide a sturdy support and use flexible vinyl tape to secure the stems and direct the growth. The shrubby types are well suited for container growth but can also be grown in the ground.

There are a few things you need to remember to be successful with bougainvillea. First, select a location with good soil drainage, dig the whole larger than the root ball and mix Soil Building Compost with the soil. Most importantly, treat the roots as if they were made from fine crystal. Never yank the plant from the pot by the stem and resist the temptation to ruffle the roots before planting. Bougainvillea have very sensitive root systems and do not tolerate rough handling. As much as I advocate recycling black plastic nursery pots, this is one time it may be advisable to slice the pot down the sides so you can reach in and cradle the root ball as you remove it from the pot. Place the root ball in the ground so that the top of the root ball is even with or slightly higher than the surrounding soil. Water thoroughly after planting and bear in mind, that even though bougainvillea are very drought tolerant after a couple of years, they do need some moisture to get established. They don't want to be soggy, but don't let them dry completely either. Of course, plants in pots will need supplemental water on an ongoing basis.

With their sub-tropical heritage, bougainvillea can be damaged in a hard freeze. In colder areas like Scott's Valley or Bonny Doon they will require protection from freezes and would have the best chance for success if planted against a warm wall of the house under an overhanging eave.

If you have been gardening in Santa Cruz for a while, I'm sure you've experienced the disappointment and frustration of having a favorite plant ravaged by a gopher. If you haven't yet, you probably will. Pocket gophers are ambitious little underground dwellers that have an uncanny ability to seek out new plantings or even established plants that are just reaching their prime. They are vegetarians that feed primarily on bulbs and roots. The gophers may be all around us, but there are ways to avoid the sheer madness experienced by Bill Murray in the movie Caddyshack.

Baskets:
Gopher baskets are an effective method for protecting the root systems of individual plants and are installed at the time of planting. The type that has been around the longest is the "Diggers" gopher basket. These are fabricated from a wire mesh fabric specifically designed to thwart gophers. It is a heavier gauge wire with smaller openings than common chicken wire and the protective thick galvanized coating provides superior corrosion resistance. These baskets are packaged and sold in a flat configuration with solid side seams. They are formed into a cylinder shape by pulling out both sides and folding under the side seams. This is a bit awkward the first few times but it gets easier with practice. These baskets represent a good balance of price and longevity.

If bending and stretching flat wire baskets into cylinders seems like too much work we do have two alternatives that are pre-formed to the shape of one, five, or fifteen gallon containers. With these products you simply dig the hole, set the basket in position, slip the plant in place and backfill with soil. The first is a hexagonal shaped basket made from aviary wire. The wire is thinner than the baskets from Diggers so they will likely rust out sooner; however, they do cost less.

The other preformed products are the Nophers brand baskets fabricated with stainless steel wire. These are sturdy cylinder shapes which are the most user friendly in terms of shape and sharp edges. The stainless steel wire offers the greatest corrosion resistance but comes with a higher price point.

Rolled Wire:
Rolls of the Diggers gopher wire are available in widths of 2, 3 or 4 feet in lengths of either 25 or 100 feet. There is also a 5 by 100 foot roll. These are useful when trying to protect large areas. Customers will typically dig out a garden bed, line the open pit with the rolled wire and then replace the soil. The wire can also be used to create a barrier on the bottom of wooden raised beds and can be rolled out before installing new sod lawns. Some gardeners even like to cut and form their own baskets for individual plants.

Repellents:
Recently we have been getting positive feedback on a product from Bonide called MOLEMAX. This is an organic product with a castor oil as the active ingredient. It is available in either a dry granular form or as a liquid concentrate applicator that can be attached to your garden hose. As the castor oil penetrates the soil it leaves a scent that gophers find undesirable causing them to move away from the area. Bear in mind that it doesn't happen instantly and you're never quite sure how far away they've gone. This is useful for gopher activity in established plantings where barrier protections were not installed. Since it doesn't kill the gophers it must be reapplied periodically to maintain the repellent scent.

A few years ago we carried a product called Repellex. These were tablets that were pushed into the soil at the base of a plant where they released a bitter compound that gophers didn't like. It couldn't be used on edible plants for fear of altering the flavor of fruits or vegetables, however, customer feedback and demand for this product was very strong until the company encountered financial problems and stopped distribution. It is rumored that it will soon be available under a new name. I will keep you posted.

Poison Baits:
Eaton's Gopher Blocks are solid bars of grains mixed with an anticoagulant. They are certainly not organic but are far less toxic than the previous generation of baits that used strychnine as an active ingredient. Without strychnine there is far less risk of secondary poisoning for domestic animals or birds of prey that might have contact with a dead gopher. Since the gophers usually die in their tunnels it is often difficult to tell if you have been successful.

Traps:
We sell three different styles of traps that have garnered positive feedback from staff and customers. They all employ combinations of spring tension and hinged jaws. Lance swears by the traditional green Macabee trap that has been manufactured for decades. Jennie was inspired by a video from gopher control expert Thomas Whitman of Gophers Limited and has had success with the Cinch Trap. And the most recent addition to our selection is the Gophinator, which is the trap of choice for Rowland Morin of Rowland's Gopher Service. There is a specific technique for each of these traps, so if you are interested, stop in and let us do a demonstration. Be advised that these traps are deadly to gophers and do pose a risk of injury to children if they pull them out of the hole after they are set. The beauty of trapping is that you know when you are successful

So don't give up! With a little preparation, practice and patience you can win the fight with those little varmints.

How should I fertilize with my drip irrigation system?

Answer:
Drip irrigation is a great way to save water and money while reducing weed growth in between plants. It is possible to add a fertilizer injector to your system which dilutes tablets of synthetic water soluble fertilizer and applies it as a liquid through the entire system. The problem is that because the fertilizer is in liquid form and heavily diluted, it is weak and must be done frequently. This can result in accumulated salts in the soil, which can be detrimental to the activity of earthworms and beneficial bacteria. It can also be expensive and does not allow you to adjust the type or amount of fertilizer individual plants receive.

Dry organic fertilizer releases gradually and is gentle to the soil. The problem is that it requires water to move it through the root zone and drip irrigation doesn't wet the surface adequately. For this reason it is important to work the dry fertilizer into the top inch of the soil and hand water every couple of weeks so the fertilizer soaks into the soil.