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Updated June 25th, 2009
By Robin Corwin - LCF Outlook
Each Garden Has
Different Needs
Since every garden is different,
every gardener’s summer
chores will differ as well. If you
have lots of rose shrubs, you’ll
find that deadheading the spent
blossoms will take up a lot of
your time. I no sooner finish
deadheading my lot than I have
to start all over again. But, it’s so
worth it to be surrounded by the
scent, beauty and voluptuousness
of the queen of flowers.
If you grow lavender, it’s
time to harvest the stems for
gifts, crafts and cooking. For
best scent and flavor, gather
when the wands color up but
before the flowers fully open.
Schedule this chore for a late
afternoon or you’ll be competing
with the swarms of bees that
visit each morning. Still, isn’t it
nice to know that you’re doing
your part to insure the continued
existence of these valuable
insects just by what you’ve chosen
to grow in your garden?
Pinching mums back regularly
in early summer keeps
them bushy and prolific and
delays flowering until autumn.
Since I’m a confessed mumaholic,
my fingers are very busy
right now. “Seaton’s Toffee” is
one of the new cultivars I’ve
added to my collection this year.
Its large quilled flowers are a
scrumptious shade of toffee
caramel that makes my mouth
water.
Daylilies will continue their
colorful show if you regularly
pick off the mushy spent blossoms
and then remove the whole
stem once all the flowers on it are
finished blooming.
Summer vegetable gardeners
need to be sure that their crops
are receiving ample and consistent
water and fertilizer. Since
I’m growing my tomatoes,
cucumbers, peppers and basil in
large containers of fresh potting
soil with regulated irrigation, I
can cheat and occasionally use
those handy chemical fertilizer
tomato spikes. I normally feed
my vegetable plants diluted fish
emulsion or seaweed extract
weekly, but by using the tomato
spikes, I can go on vacation guiltfree
while they provide nutrients
for at least a month. In my garden
beds, however, I only use compost
and organic fertilizers to
safeguard the health and microbial
activity of the soil.
Every garden is different, but
if you get out in yours often, the
plants will tell you what they
need. If you have trouble understanding
them, consult a comprehensive
month-by-month guide
like Pat Welsh’s “Southern
California Gardening.” It will
spell out every month’s chores for
you no matter what you’re growing.
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