Learn how to figure out a watering schedule that will work for your plants
In July, “June gloom” gives way to summer heat. Days are long. Tomatoes finally ripen. Summer fruits are warm on the tree. Late summer afternoons are made for lounging in the garden!
* Garden in the morning, then again after 3 p.m. Avoid midday heat and sun.
* Protect your scalp and eyes with a full, wide brim hat (not a visor) .
* Wear polarized lens sunglasses to cut the glare. Choose dark gray lenses to see plant colors best.
* Protect your skin with high SPF sunscreen, clothing, forearm protectors, and lightweight gloves.
While there aren’t water restrictions this year, drought tolerant plants don’t need much water, and in fact suffer if watered too often. Water only enough to keep plants hydrated.
* Replace overhead irrigation systems with inline drip irrigation, the most efficient kind of irrigation and the only type to use with mulch. Drip lines sit on top of the soil to release water drop by drop. Mulch covers the soil to help hold in moisture and support beneficial soil microbes, among other things.
* Check driplines. Flush the system to remove debris (Don’t have a flush valve? Simple ball valves are very easy to add). Repair leaks. Adjust drip line positions and use “staples” to secure lines in place.
* Ornamental plants do best with deep, infrequent irrigation. With inline drip, it is typical to water for an hour, two hours, or more each time but only once every few weeks or even once a month.
* What’s the best watering schedule? Here’s how to figure it out:
– How long to water: Adjust each irrigation zone’s run time to saturate the soil that surrounds plant roots. If you don’t know how long that is, here’s the test: run each zone according to its normal schedule. Stick your finger into the soil, dig down with a trowel, or use a soil probe to see how deep the water has gone. For trees and shrubs, the soil should be damp from the surface down 12 inches deep, 8 inches deep for perennials and vines, 6 inches for everything else.
– How often to water: Do the canary test, following this link: bit.ly/44xM5Wv.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch. Use stone or decomposed granite (DG) mulch for succulents, wood-based mulch for all other ornamentals (not bark), straw for vegetables (not hay).
* Take control of your irrigation controller. Once you know how long, how often, and when to water, use that information to set your controller. Lock the cover so you are the only one who can adjust it.
* If you are still using spray irrigation, run it early in the morning so leaves dry before nightfall.
* Run inline drip a night or very early morning when soil is coolest.
* Lose your lawn. This is the ideal time to solarize your lawn to kill grass and seeds in the upper six inches. Cut the grass short, water to saturate the soil, then cover with clear (not black) plastic. Use the sun’s rays to superheat the soil using the greenhouse effect. For directions, find my Bye Bye Grass mini class at bit.ly/ByeGrass.
* Don’t use weed cloth, weed fabric, landscape cloth, etc. under mulch. Weed cloth does not stop weeds. Instead, it stops water from penetrating into the soil, turns soil rock hard, and kills the important beneficial microbes that plants depend on to be healthy and vigorous. Ultimately, weed cloth breaks down and makes a mess that you’ll need to remove and throw away — it can’t be recycled or composted.
* Plant the summer’s last round of vegetable seedlings now: squash, melons, etc. Harvest late summer through fall.
* Plant okra, pumpkin, and corn seeds now — they all thrive in the heat.
* Avoid powdery mildew on tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkin and melon leaves with a quick rinse of water early in the morning.
* Pruning tomatoes and other vegetable plants does not increase their production, nor does it “redirect” energy to making fruit. Leaves are the engines that make energy for flowering and fruiting. The more you prune away, the less energy — and less fruit — plants make. The only exceptions are:
– When plants have powdery mildew, selectively remove branches (not just leaves) to improve air circulation.
– When branches/leaves touch mulch or soil. Fungus, molds, viruses, etc. find their way from soil to plant via branches/leaves that touch soil or mulch. Remove those branches/leaves to protect the plants.
* Pruning shears and fingers transmit viruses and fungi from one plant to the next. Disinfect your tools and wash your hands between plants.
* Concerned about curled tomato leaves? In the heat, fast growing tomato plants lose water faster than roots can replace it. In response, leaves lose their turgor and roll their edges to shade the surface from the intense sunlight. It is a simple response to environmental conditions and not a sign of pests or diseases. Deep water the next morning and watch for curled leaves to relax.
* While worms and caterpillars eat plant leaves, they mature into moths and butterflies that are crucial for pollination. It’s important to keep a balance between leaf and worm/caterpillar. Leave the critters be as much as you can. A few holes in leaves are no problem. Only remove the worms/caterpillars that are truly destroying plants.
* Want your child to become a gardener? Plant sunflowers, blanket flower and marigolds not only for their colorful flowers, but also for the birds, bees and butterflies they attract to the garden.
* Problems with tomato pollination?
– The optimal temperatures for tomato pollination are 70to 80 degrees during the day, 60 to 70 degrees at night. In warmer or cooler temperatures, pollination stops.
– When temperatures are in the optimal range, you can bee-come the pollinator. bumble bees and other large bees (but not honeybees!) pollinate tomato flowers. Their beating wings vibrate, inadvertently loosening pollen, which then falls onto the female part of the flower. You can loosen the pollen instead, by holding the backside of an electric toothbrush very close to the backside of a tomato flower.
* Watch out for blossom end rot, the soft brown spots at the bottom ends of tomatoes, peppers, and squash. The solution to blossom end rot is to keep soil damp (not wet) at all times. There’s no need to add calcium to our soils, they have plenty already. Consistent moisture is the key. Mulch vegetable beds and containers with straw (not hay) to help keep soil damp.
* Grow winter squash plants next a trellis, mesh, or tomato cage that tendrils can climb. Check beneath leaves for developing fruits. Pick them when the stem connecting to the vine starts to brown and pull away. Or harvest the fruits after the entire vine dies at the end of the season.
* Do your small squashes or cucumbers turn brown and fall off before they ripen? Most likely those fruits were not fully pollinated. Help by hand pollinating with a tiny brush. Welcome native bees, ants, even flies to help with pollination, too.
* To fertilize or not to fertilize? If you prepped the soil with vegetable fertilizer and added some to the planting hole, you may not need to fertilize again. If you see evidence of nutrient deficiencies — leaf discoloration, stunted plants, etc. — then fertilize.
* Curly patterns in leaves of squash and related plants are trails of tiny leaf miners that burrow into the leaves. And since they are literally inside the leaves, no pesticides can reach them, which is not a big deal since they don’t hamper production.
* Whiteflies? Spider mites? Hose off leaves, top and bottom, with a Bug Blaster garden hose attachment every few days for a week or so. By interrupting their reproductive cycle, they’ll disappear.
* Monitor moisture. This time of year, garden beds should always be damp but not wet. Use your finger to monitor the moisture
* Plant roots cook in black plastic nursery pots this time of year. Paint pots white, drape them in shade cloth in burlap to reduce heat buildup.
* Grow bags and other fabric plant pots dry out very, very quickly in our arid climate. Check the soil moisture every day. To keep the potting mix damp, set the pots in a kiddie pool filled with a few inches of water.
* Learn more about managing your summer vegetable garden by watching “Summer Vegetable Gardening in Southern California” at bit.ly/SumVeggie.
* Harvest fruits as they ripen. Can the extras or freeze now to can in winter. Check the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning on the National Center for Food Preservation website, bit.ly/CanSummerFruit.
* Compost fallen fruits so they don’t attract fruit flies, giant green fruit beetles, rodents and other pests to your garden.
* Shorten branches of deciduous fruit trees right after harvest. Keep the branches short enough for fruit to be within reach. When the trees are dormant in winter, prune again for structure and to promote next summer’s fruits.
* Fertilize and water citrus, avocado, mango, banana and other subtropical fruiting plants.
* Protect exposed trunks of citrus and avocado trees from sunburn by painting them with orchard paint. It’s like sunscreen for fruit trees.
* As tempting as it is to plant shrubs and flowers under citrus and avocado trees — don’t. Those plants compete with citrus for nutrients and water — which in the long run can reduce production.
* Check for ants! Ants carry scale, aphids, and mealy bugs into fruit trees. To get rid of the bugs, you have to get rid of the ants. Use a boric acid-based ant bait and a spreadable sticky barrier to keep ants out of trees. Use a sharp spray of water to wash off aphids, dab isopropyl alcohol onto mealy bugs and scale.
* Plan, don’t plant. It’s too hot to plant drought tolerant ornamental plants now. Plan for planting once the weather cools in late October.
* In summer, most native plants sleep to conserve moisture and avoid the heat. That’s why chaparral-covered hillsides turn brown. Emulate that cycle in your garden by holding off watering natives — even when they look dead.
* Focus on foliage when flowers are not plentiful. Conebushes (Leucadendron) have beautiful leaves in shades of green, yellow, red, pink, maroon, etc. They are very drought tolerant and their branches are excellent as cut foliage.
* Hold back on pruning and fertilizing. Both stimulate new growth but this is the time for slow growth so plants adapt to drought tolerance.
* Use a sharp spray of water to clean plant leaves of dust, dirt, aphids, white flies and spider mites, whose presence is evident by tiny webs on leaves and stems.
* This is the best time to plant spring flowering bulbs, especially species gladiolus. Rather than big, gaudy-colored flowers, species gladiolus — which are the parents of the fancy hybrids — show off more natural looking blooms. Look for creamy white blooming and fragrant marsh Afrikaner (Gladiolus tristis), hot pink Byzantine gladiolus (Gladiolus byzantinus), pearl pink and magenta painted lady gladiolus (Gladiolus carneus) to start. Find these through bulb specialty growers. Plant now. They’ll emerge in early fall and bloom in spring.
* Avoid fungus gnats by watering less. Add a layer of small gravel over the surface so gnats can’t reach the potting mix to eat the fungus that naturally develops in the mix, nor to lay their eggs.
* Put potted plants in a protected spot outside for a few weeks. The natural predators will eat the fungus gnats, aphids, scale, mealy bugs, etc.
* Keep outdoor container plants watered — monitor the soil and water when it gets too dry.
* White crusts on soil or pots is accumulated salts from our high mineral water. Remove plants from their pots and wash soil off the roots. Scrub the crust off the pot, then replant into fresh potting mix (not planting mix, dirt, peat moss, etc.).
* When you water, fill the pot for long enough that water starts to leak out the holes in the bottom. Wait a few minutes, then repeat.
* Give your houseplants a summer vacation. Put them outside under the eaves, the branches of a shady tree, or in an east-facing spot with morning light. Use the hose to give them an all-over shower. Bring them back inside when the weather cools in fall.
* Going on vacation? Put your houseplants in a bathtub or shower stall in a brightly lit bathroom. Add a few inches of water to the bottom of the tub or shower, then prop your potted plants atop an overturned pot or block or stand. The goal is to ensure that the pots sit above — not in – — the water.
* Learn all about growing and managing houseplants by watching “Happy Houseplants” at bit.ly/HappyHouseP.
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