Some Tips to Survive Scorching Summer
When June gloom makes way for sizzling summer, you can see the difference in your garden. Dark-colored flowers fry like eggs. Leaves scorch or wilt in hours of direct sunlight. Plants parch in a day, especially when hot winds add to their stress.
A little tender, loving care will help your garden through the dog days of summer and enable plants to bounce back with a brilliant display of blossoms in late September or early October. You can even be rewarded with colorful flowers from summer bloomers such as marigolds, zinnias and petunias.
“The most important garden tasks right now are weeding, mulching, deep-soaking and careful fertilizing,” said Phil Miller, general manager of Heard’s Country Gardens in Westminster.
“Get rid of the weeds since they compete with the garden plants for water and nutrients,” he said. “Cover the soil with a 2-inch layer of mulch and fertilize with an organic or water-soluble fertilizer.”
One of the most important ways to help your garden is by mulching, which is covering the soil surface with a material that eventually decomposes and enriches the plot.
Well-aged, homemade compost, commercial mulching material, straw or even this newspaper can be spread in a layer at least 2 to 3 inches thick.
Miller recommends covering exposed soil, leaving the mulch is at least 6 inches away from the base of plants so insects won’t attack. This is especially important for roses and trees.
He recommends shredded fir bark or a product, introduced last year, made of defatted, dehulled cocoa beans from Brazil.
“I really like the cocoa mulch because its deep mahogany color is very attractive in the garden,” Miller said. “Some people love it because it smells like a cup of hot chocolate.” (It takes a while for the cocoa odor to dissipate. Anyone with a weakness for chocolate may find the pervasive aroma so tantalizing that the only relief is to devour chocolate bars on the spot.)
Reputed to repel snails and slugs because of the sharp surface of the bean hulls and a slight galvanic charge produced by the copper it contains, this mulch is also reported to deter cats that don’t enjoy the feel of the hulls on their paw pads.
At $10 for a 2-cubic-foot bag, or $14 for a 4-cubic-foot bag, this is a higher-priced mulching product than many on the market. Miller reports that Heard’s Country Gardens typically sells 120 bags in a two-week period, making it among its most popular products.
Mulching retains water in the soil, cools soil temperature and has the added benefit of reducing weed growth. Plants don’t require watering as frequently because the soil won’t dry out as fast.
Summer calls for a change in watering routine. Experts advise deep soaking rather than sprinkling the surface with a hose. Water should penetrate at least 6 inches, more for shrubs such as roses, to encourage plants to send their roots deeper into the soil for their moisture and nourishment.
The time it takes to do this varies in each garden. Type of soil, sun exposure and slope have an effect. After watering, gardeners use probes, trowels or fingers to determine how deeply the water has penetrated.
Summer is also time to change fertilizing methods. While plants are putting energy into combating 100-degree-plus temperatures, they don’t need to be encouraged to produce new green growth.
Miller points out that soil temperatures have also risen, which means the soil is teeming with microorganisms and bacteria ready to break down fertilizer into nutrients that plants need. Absorption occurs faster at this time of year.
“We feed our perennials and roses in summer with an organic fertilizer that is also high in humates, which act as bacterial catalysts,” Miller said. “We do this to get the roses ready for their next flush of blooms, which will take place in September. Now is the time that they need feeding to get ready for that bloom cycle.”
Quick results can be obtained by using water-soluble fertilizers applied according to package directions. If temperatures top 85 degrees, it’s best to fertilize in the early morning or early evening so leaves won’t burn. Granular fertilizers can also be applied around the base of plants, before applying mulch.
One of the benefits of summer sizzle is that it’s too hot for pests such as aphids to survive. Others, including spider mites, thrive in heat.
If you see leaves, especially at the base of rose bushes, turn brown and drop off, look on the back of the leaf. You may see what looks like tiny crawling specks. These are spider mites, and in severe infestations, their fine webs are clearly visible.
Fortunately, they easily succumb to blasts of water directed from a hose up through the plants. Thoroughly wet the undersides of leaves; because these mites reproduce very quickly, repeat at least three consecutive days. The bush will recover and produce new leaves. Other insects can be combated with nontoxic insecticidal soaps, applied according to directions.
Miller recommends dead-heading (removing spent blossoms) and cleaning up debris in gardens so insects can’t lay eggs. Cleanup thoroughly before the mulching material is applied.
Plants in containers have special needs in summer. They have no access to nutrients other than what is in the pot where they’re planted. Because frequent watering leaches those out, Miller recommends using a water-soluble fertilizer regularly.
“We use a very dilute fertilizer every time we water,” he said.
Potted plants may also benefit from fine misting early in the morning or later afternoon when Santa Ana winds howl.
