You want hot? You got it!
Be careful what you wish for.
A few weeks ago I mentioned that all we needed to get our
tomatoes to ripen was a week of hot weather.
You want hot? You got it!
Be careful what you wish for.
A few weeks ago I mentioned that all we needed to get our tomatoes to ripen was a week of hot weather.
Talk about overkill. The tomatoes are ripe, of course, but 10 days of horrible hot weather also burned roses to a crisp, damaged lawns, rotted citrus, and sent weeds soaring. As bad as many gardens suffered, a little repair work now will undo most of the damage. There is still plenty of gardening season ahead.
Start with rose bushes. The sun was so hot that flowers were badly scorched Add to that the presence of heat-loving aphids, and the rose story is bad news. First off, cut back all damaged flowers to the first (or even the second) set of five leaves. Pick off dead or diseased leaves, including those showing blackspot. Clean up underneath the bush, water, apply a rose fertilizer and water again by deep soaking. If aphids are a problem, use a spray control.
A one-two punch of fertilizer and deep watering will encourage a rose bush to put out new buds that will carry the bloom season through fall.
Trees and shrubs have been sorely stressed by those high temperatures. Watering is the most important thing you can do now. Wind also dries out plants by sucking the moisture from the leaves. Irrigate by deep watering. Form a water basin around trees, shrubs and plants. Lay the hose on the ground and let the water slowly fill the water basin. Turn it off. After the water has soaked down, turn on the water, refill the basin and do it again. The best time to water is early morning. Next best time is early evening. The worst time is during the hot part of the day from noon to 5 p.m. That heat causes the water to evaporate and you have pretty much wasted your watering effort.
Annual flowers also suffered sun damage. Pinch off dead flowers, cut back lightly, apply a fertilizer and be generous with watering. If the annuals seem beyond help, don’t waste the effort. Pull them up and replant a fall-season annuals which are just beginning to show up in garden centers.
How about the vegetable garden? Well, as I promised, the tomatoes are ripening. But keep in mind that the entire vegetable garden is stressed, too. Vine vegetables such as beans, cucumbers, squash and, yes, even tomatoes, will stop fruit set when the weather is very hot. Prune vegetable plants of their leaves that have become ragged from age or heat. Then, give everything a shot of vegetable fertilizer and water deeply. Fruit set will begin again about 10-14 days after the temperature stays below 85 degrees.
Toward the end of the month, pinch off the last blossoms of eggplants, peppers, melons, squash and tomatoes. Plant energy will be then spent maturing fruit that is already set, instead of setting more fruit that won’t ripen sufficiently before fall’s cold weather (yes, it’s coming).
Remove faded blooms of perennials such as coreopsis, Shasta daisy, delphinium, penstemon and yarrow. Cut them back to within 6 inches of the soil and they may bloom again in fall. Again, fertilizer and deep irrigation will make the difference.
Some lawns took a punch from the hot weather. One of the contributing problems is lawn that is cut too close. It’s called “scalping” the lawn. In summer, the lawn should be mowed at 2 to 3 inches height to keep grass roots shaded. Grass that is cut too close is susceptible to shock and sunburn. Raise the lawn mower blade to this height. Also, feel Bermuda, dichondra, St. Augustine and other subtropic grasses. Wait until the weather cools before feeding cool-season grasses.
While 10 straight days of scorching weather is a bit unusual, keep in mind that there will be probably more hot weather coming up. August is always hot, and the early days of September are not much better. Drink plenty of water, and give your garden the same wet treat.
Plant a Row for the Hungry: Home gardeners relied on the heavy hitters of the summer garden – cucumbers, corn, squash and zucchini – to add to the Plant a Row for the Hungry project at Community Pantry.
This past week, gardeners shared 784 pounds of produce to help the Pantry fill food bags distributed to those in the community who need it most. This brings the total to 3,934 pounds of garden produce shared so far this year.
“Those vegetables were most welcome,” says Mary Anne Hughes, Pantry director. “And, keep in mind, the peak of the gardening harvest is just ahead in late August.”
If you have garden vegetables or fruit to share, the Pantry is located at 30 Airport Ave., Hollister. Call 831-637-0340 for more information.
