The Garden in the Summer

 

                                                     Summer Top Jobs in the Garden

The heat is on and the garden is flourishing!  In the cool evening go out and take a look and see what needs attention.

Things to look for:

Fruit tipping the branches dangerously close to the ground- thin some of the developing fruit and prop the branches with 2x4's. When ripe, remove all fruit from trees.

Wilting- check the watering system and make sure all the drippers are dripping and sprinklers popping up.  Give extra hand watering to suffering plants and wash the foliage of the garden overall.

Deep water your broadleaf trees and fruit trees.  In the summer lay the hose under your trees along the drip line in 4-5 spots and let run in each spot slowly for 30-60 minutes. Do this from June though September 1-2 times a month so that the trees and large shrubs get some deep watering. Irrigation is mostly surface watering.

Thin patches in the lawn. Check the watering system for coverage. Does the lawn have dry spots after watering? Increase the coverage on the head (open small screw on the top of the sprinkler nozzle).
or add heads as needed.
Sometimes these dry patches are grubs eating the lawn roots or greedy trees soaking up all the water.
Grubs can be treated with pesticide- see nursery for info.
For tree roots add sand or topdressing to bring up the soil level over the roots and over seed with lawn seed.

Fertilize, please!  Apply a slow release fertilizer or regular fertilizer to planting areas and wash in well to avoid burning. Blooming and leaf color will increase with food. Follow manufacturers instructions carefully.
Use "weed and feed" for lawns to control weeds and feed the grass.
Fertilize plants and lawn every 6 weeks in the growing season with regular fertilizer or every 6 months for slow release.

Put out shallow bowls of water for birds, insects and garden inhabitants. Its dry around here.

Remove dead flower heads for a better repeat bloom.

Control weedy plants so they don't overtake the other plantings.

Enjoy the garden! Its the best this time of year.