Wow, it sure did get HOT fast, didn’t it? While I’m not loving it so much (with a nod to a certain woman I know who THRIVES in the heat…), our gardens certainly are.
Please, folks, pay attention to your bodies when you’re working out in the yard in the heat. Wear a hat and sunscreen. And whatever you do, stay hydrated. You need water in this heat as much as the plants you are care-taking in your yards and gardens. Where will they be if you’re laid up with heat stroke?
Some tips for keeping your early summer garden looking fresh and colorful:
Trim or shear deciduous or evergreen hedges.
Mow your lawn as often as needed, but don’t cut it too short. Never remove more than 1/3 of the grass blades at one time. When your lawn is growing like a house a’fire, it’s better to mow it every four or five days, than to wait a whole week.
Keep weeding! Easy to say, but not always easy to do. If you have children or grandchildren, spending a couple of hours together in the morning or the cool of early evening with a reward of, perhaps, baking some cookies afterward, is a sure way to get those weeds in check quick.
Continue to water as needed, especially new plants, trees, shrubs and perennials. They definitely need a good soaking every week for the first couple of months. If it doesn’t rain enough, and it’s looking like we’re pretty much done with rain for the year, you will have to water. You may want to also get out your watering can and hand out a dose of water mixed with fish emulsion every couple of weeks as well.
Keep a keen eye out for developing insect and disease problems.
Deadhead your rhodies and lilacs and prune back some of those spring flowering shrubs that have finished blooming.
Spray your roses every week with a baking soda solution or fungicide (if you use chemicals in your garden) to protect against blackspot disease. A great homemade fungicide is 2 teaspoons of baking soda with a few drops of Ivory dish soap in a half gallon of water. Use a spray bottle or garden sprayer. This will also help prevent aphids on your roses.
Pinch back your asters and mums, if you have them, to encourage compact growth and more blooms.
Cut back yellowing bulb foliage.
Let’s talk a bit about fertilizing your roses. You probably first fertilized your plants this year around mid April. You probably used a general purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer. Some of you may have supplemented with alfalfa pellets, cottonseed meal or fish emulsion. You may have also added some Epsom salts to encourage new canes from the crowns of your plants and healthy leaf production. You’re coming up on the next general fertilizer application. As much as I prefer organics, for success with roses you really should consider a fertilizer formulated especially for roses. Apply in a circle about six to eight inches from the crown. Scratch the fertilizer lightly into the soil and water it in. Be careful not to disturb the roots that live nearer to the surface of the soil.
Many rose gardeners are using a liquid fertilizer in between the major feedings in April, June and August. Liquid plant foods can be applied as a spray and can be combined with sprays for fungus and insects, including the baking soda fungicide. Do not spray your roses during the heat of the day; this could result in leaf burn. Early evening, when it’s pleasant out, is ideal. One point to note – Experts say that we should spray our roses for blackspot and fungus even if we see no evidence of these diseases. Using the baking soda solution will not only help prevent disease but also kill insects.
We’re going to talk about mulching your roses, although mulching is something that will benefit ALL of your planted areas. There are a number of important reasons for mulching. One is to provide a neat and manicured look to your rose and flower gardens. Some weed control is provided, moisture is retained, soil temperature is regulated through summer and winter, erosion is prevented and mulching prevents the need for constant cultivation. Mulch also encourages root growth, encourages earthworms and bacteria in the soil, and – if you’re using an organic – will renew and rebuild the content of your soil.
You can use lots of different things for mulching. Before I list those, let’s note that pine needles – which most of us have in copious amounts – benefit acid-loving plants. Rhodies and berries of any kind like this. The variety of materials available for mulching include hardwood bark, pine needles, rotted manure, straw (not alfalfa), wood chips, mushroom compost, ground corn cobs, grass clippings, chopped tree leaves, black plastic, sawdust and chopped or ground nut hulls. Generally, what you use greatly depends on what you can get, how much it costs and how easy it is to deal with. Be aware that straw has a tendency to reduce available nitrogen in the soil, but it does furnish potassium. You will want to maintain a mulch thickness on all your beds, including vegetable gardens, of two to four inches. If you’re using hardwood bark, you will have to regularly test your soil and, if the pH lowers to the acid side, you will need to add lime to maintain a 6.0 to 6.5 pH level.
In the rose or perennial garden, a convenient way to utilize hardwood bark as a mulch is to mound your plants with it as winter protection and then spread it out over the rest of the bed in the spring.
Some key tips for your veggie gardens for this season are:
Keep picking.
Water regularly.
Control insects and diseases.
Feed lightly.
Make sure they’re getting enough sun.
Keep the weeds down.
Practice succession planting.
Consider fall planting, perhaps with the use of a tunnel or cold frame system, to extend your veggie growing season.
Remember to share the bounty. With a little extra work and maybe some luck, we’ll all probably have more veggies than we can use. Sure, we can all freeze some and put some up for the winter. We’ll probably be dropping some off on the neighbor’s porch when they’re not looking (that is, if we aren’t competing against them for the best salad greens or the biggest ‘maters!). Don’t forget that our community center, local churches, food banks and the Plant A Row programs can all use extra help. With so many in our region struggling to put food on their tables, let’s not forget that caring for our fellows is always the right thing to do.
Please, folks, pay attention to your bodies when you’re working out in the yard in the heat. Wear a hat and sunscreen. And whatever you do, stay hydrated. You need water in this heat as much as the plants you are care-taking in your yards and gardens. Where will they be if you’re laid up with heat stroke?
Some tips for keeping your early summer garden looking fresh and colorful:
Trim or shear deciduous or evergreen hedges.
Mow your lawn as often as needed, but don’t cut it too short. Never remove more than 1/3 of the grass blades at one time. When your lawn is growing like a house a’fire, it’s better to mow it every four or five days, than to wait a whole week.
Keep weeding! Easy to say, but not always easy to do. If you have children or grandchildren, spending a couple of hours together in the morning or the cool of early evening with a reward of, perhaps, baking some cookies afterward, is a sure way to get those weeds in check quick.
Continue to water as needed, especially new plants, trees, shrubs and perennials. They definitely need a good soaking every week for the first couple of months. If it doesn’t rain enough, and it’s looking like we’re pretty much done with rain for the year, you will have to water. You may want to also get out your watering can and hand out a dose of water mixed with fish emulsion every couple of weeks as well.
Keep a keen eye out for developing insect and disease problems.
Deadhead your rhodies and lilacs and prune back some of those spring flowering shrubs that have finished blooming.
Spray your roses every week with a baking soda solution or fungicide (if you use chemicals in your garden) to protect against blackspot disease. A great homemade fungicide is 2 teaspoons of baking soda with a few drops of Ivory dish soap in a half gallon of water. Use a spray bottle or garden sprayer. This will also help prevent aphids on your roses.
Pinch back your asters and mums, if you have them, to encourage compact growth and more blooms.
Cut back yellowing bulb foliage.
Let’s talk a bit about fertilizing your roses. You probably first fertilized your plants this year around mid April. You probably used a general purpose 10-10-10 fertilizer. Some of you may have supplemented with alfalfa pellets, cottonseed meal or fish emulsion. You may have also added some Epsom salts to encourage new canes from the crowns of your plants and healthy leaf production. You’re coming up on the next general fertilizer application. As much as I prefer organics, for success with roses you really should consider a fertilizer formulated especially for roses. Apply in a circle about six to eight inches from the crown. Scratch the fertilizer lightly into the soil and water it in. Be careful not to disturb the roots that live nearer to the surface of the soil.
Many rose gardeners are using a liquid fertilizer in between the major feedings in April, June and August. Liquid plant foods can be applied as a spray and can be combined with sprays for fungus and insects, including the baking soda fungicide. Do not spray your roses during the heat of the day; this could result in leaf burn. Early evening, when it’s pleasant out, is ideal. One point to note – Experts say that we should spray our roses for blackspot and fungus even if we see no evidence of these diseases. Using the baking soda solution will not only help prevent disease but also kill insects.
We’re going to talk about mulching your roses, although mulching is something that will benefit ALL of your planted areas. There are a number of important reasons for mulching. One is to provide a neat and manicured look to your rose and flower gardens. Some weed control is provided, moisture is retained, soil temperature is regulated through summer and winter, erosion is prevented and mulching prevents the need for constant cultivation. Mulch also encourages root growth, encourages earthworms and bacteria in the soil, and – if you’re using an organic – will renew and rebuild the content of your soil.
You can use lots of different things for mulching. Before I list those, let’s note that pine needles – which most of us have in copious amounts – benefit acid-loving plants. Rhodies and berries of any kind like this. The variety of materials available for mulching include hardwood bark, pine needles, rotted manure, straw (not alfalfa), wood chips, mushroom compost, ground corn cobs, grass clippings, chopped tree leaves, black plastic, sawdust and chopped or ground nut hulls. Generally, what you use greatly depends on what you can get, how much it costs and how easy it is to deal with. Be aware that straw has a tendency to reduce available nitrogen in the soil, but it does furnish potassium. You will want to maintain a mulch thickness on all your beds, including vegetable gardens, of two to four inches. If you’re using hardwood bark, you will have to regularly test your soil and, if the pH lowers to the acid side, you will need to add lime to maintain a 6.0 to 6.5 pH level.
In the rose or perennial garden, a convenient way to utilize hardwood bark as a mulch is to mound your plants with it as winter protection and then spread it out over the rest of the bed in the spring.
Some key tips for your veggie gardens for this season are:
Keep picking.
Water regularly.
Control insects and diseases.
Feed lightly.
Make sure they’re getting enough sun.
Keep the weeds down.
Practice succession planting.
Consider fall planting, perhaps with the use of a tunnel or cold frame system, to extend your veggie growing season.
Remember to share the bounty. With a little extra work and maybe some luck, we’ll all probably have more veggies than we can use. Sure, we can all freeze some and put some up for the winter. We’ll probably be dropping some off on the neighbor’s porch when they’re not looking (that is, if we aren’t competing against them for the best salad greens or the biggest ‘maters!). Don’t forget that our community center, local churches, food banks and the Plant A Row programs can all use extra help. With so many in our region struggling to put food on their tables, let’s not forget that caring for our fellows is always the right thing to do.
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