Summer Garden Tips
Mid Summer Garden Tips
- Watch out for insects such as aphids or white flies that become rampant as our plants grow larger and have less circulation between them. Remember to spray both upper and lower leaves with neem or pyola oil on a seven to 10 day cycle to keep these critters from destroying your plants. Also, order some beneficial insects such as ladybugs to help keep these insects under control.
- Prune back your rose bushes after the first bloom. You can either dead head the spent blooms or do a major cutting back to keep them tame and under control. I tend to do the latter. Cut back all weak and dead wood as well. Lastly, clean up all spent leaves especially if they suffered from black spot. Plus, if black spot is a problem, use this homemade formula: Mix one tablespoon of baking soda and a 1/4 teaspoon of dishwashing detergent in one gallon of water.
- Finish pruning all spring blooming bushes such as azaleas, rhododendrons, lilacs by mid-summer so that they can begin their new growth for next spring.
- It is still not too late to plant summer blooming bulbs like dahlias or cannas. It's also not too late to plant quick-blooming summer seeds such as sunflowers, nasturtiums and cosmos.
Quick Tips For Summer Gardening & Early June Gardening Tips
- Plant fall blooming bulbs in June.
- Plant gladiolas in early June for bloom this summer.
- Feed roses with a complete fertilizer in June.
- Deadhead flowers for continuous bloom through the season.
- Plant perennial seeds for next year at the end of June.
- Plant fall pansy seeds in July.
- Clean up spring bulbs after foliage has ripened.
- Fertilize all flowering annuals every two weeks during summer.
- Cut back baby's breath in July for a second late summer bloom.
- Sow poppy seeds outdoors in August.
- Divide bearded iris and lily of the valley bulbs in August.
- Water container plants daily during hot dry weather.
Vegetables
- Stop harvesting asparagus and rhubarb
- Replace crops that have bolted with the heat and cool season flowers, like pansies
- Get any remaining warm season vegetables in the ground
- Keep up blanching of celery, cauliflower and tender greens
- Plant a new batch of bush beans every couple of weeks
- Keep tomato plants staked as they grow. Pinch out suckers.
- Put a couple of drops of mineral oil on corn silks within a week after they appear, to prevent corn earthworm
Fruit
- Be prepared for ‘June Drop’ of fruit from fruit trees. They’re just thinning out to a manageable crop size. Clean up any fallen fruit.
- Protect ripening berries with nets or row covers
Trees & Shrubs
- If you want to prune or shear your evergreens, do so as soon as the new growth starts to turn a darker green. Once the wisteria finishes blooming, you can do a maintenance pruning to keep it in check
Pests
- Summer is for insects. Be vigilant!
- Keep watch for 4-lined plant bug damage, especially on the mint family
- Japanese Beetles - They’re back!
Whitney Segura
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