5 things to do in the garden this week:
1. Fruit Trees: If you plant a fruit tree now, you would be wise to provide it with shade for a month or two until the heat of summer begins to wane. You can use an inexpensive canvas patio or yard umbrella or an old sheet or burlap for protection. If you use shade cloth, make sure it provides 50% shade. You will want to use a woven material as opposed to a tarp or a plastic sheet that will not provide relief from the sun but actually make the heat below more intense. Make sure there is plenty of space between the tree and its sun protection to allow air to circulate. Use lodge poles or other tall stakes to prop up the protective material.
2. Vegetables: To extend the shelf life of your vegetables, harvest them before the sun rises. If you pick a ripe tomato when the temperature is 55 degrees its shell life will be three days longer than if it was picked at 60 degrees and so on; each additional five degrees of heat at picking time will reduce shelf life by an additional three days. It is also important to harvest tomatoes, squashes, peppers, and beans as soon as they are ripe in order for more of these crops to develop and mature. Otherwise, there could be complete cessation of crop growth.
3. Herbs: Never allow an herb plant to flower as the pungency of the leaves is reduced once flowers appear. As soon as you see a flower bud emerge, snip or pinch it off. Pinching is also the appropriate technique for harvesting foliage for cooking when it comes to basil, thyme, and oregano. When harvesting parsley and chives, cut foliage back to within an inch of the ground; plants should begin to regrow in about a week. With perennial herbs such as tarragon, rosemary, and sage, the top two inches of foliar growth at the tip of any stem are the best for culinary purposes; during the summer, harvest this growth once a week.
4. Ornamentals: Port St. John’s creeper or Queen of Sheba (Podranea ricasoliana) is a pink trumpet vine of remarkable vigor that you really don’t have to think about watering once it takes up residence along a fence, over a gazebo, or up the posts of an arbor or pergola before creating a canopy overhead. It blooms most heavily twice a year, once in spring and again towards summer’s end but will display some flowers throughout the growing season. Its flower clusters are beyond compare, featuring up to a dozen three-inch wide trumpets in a single bundle that explode on shoot terminals. Its flower shape and mild fragrance guarantee visits from hummingbirds and butterflies. You can find this infrequently encountered beauty at San Marcos Growers (smgrowers.com) and Annie’s Annuals and Perennials (anniesannuals.com).
5. In California, water is the enemy of oak trees during the summer. You never want to irrigate under the canopy of an oak tree at this time of year due to the danger of root rot. If you cannot keep the ground under an oak tree completely dry at this time, make sure that you do not allow water closer than 10 feet from the trunk. When you water close to the trunk, the danger of root rot increases exponentially.
Send your questions and comments as well as garden predicaments and successes to joshua@perfectplants.com
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