Ideas for gardeners to revel in the long days and cool nights
Agapanthus, aka lily of the Nile, is a popular summer flowering plant around Sacramento. Most varieties have periwinkle or blue flowers, but some bloom white. Kathy Morrison
Ah, summer is here! The solstice arrived in California at 1:51 p.m. today.
Sacramento gets to enjoy 14 hours and 51 minutes of daylight today; that amount will slowly drop as the summer progresses. By the time the fall equinox arrives Sept. 22, we'll be down to about 12 hours of daylight.
Here's a completely arbitrary bucket list for gardeners to glean some special moments from the next three months.
1. Go out to your garden after sunrise -- but no later than 9 a.m. -- and just stand there, watching. Avoid the temptation to deadhead or water or pick or weed right now. Give yourself a full 5 minutes (or more) of just observing. Listen to the bees already at work and the mockingbird singing overhead. A hummingbird may happen by, or maybe a dragonfly. This is nature and you're part of it -- how wonderful! Do this at least once a week until fall.
2. Pick something you're growing and eat it right there in the garden. (No fruit or vegetables? Well, nasturtiums, marigolds, and mint and basil flowers are among common edibles.)
3. Plant sunflowers if you haven't already. If you have some, plant more, if only for the birds and squirrels.
4. Choose seeds for a cool-weather garden early, while there is still a good selection. This seed-starting period always creeps up on gardeners -- for most crops, it begins in August. Decide to grow something you've never tried before. For me last year it was bok choy.
5. Designate one spot for a "moon garden." Choose white-flowering plants, ones with silvery foliage and/or some with fragrant night flowers. Make sure the one plant or several will be lit by the moon, not blocked by fences or side of the residence. Shasta daisies, candytuft, sweet alyssum, calla lilies and impatiens are among white flowers easily found. Common yarrow and chaparral yucca are California natives with white blooms. Silver foliage plants include lamb's ears, dusty miller and Russian sage, while fragrant plants that would work include nicotiana, evening primrose and star jasmine.
6. Visit a public garden or neighborhood park you've never been to. Make notes on the plants. Which ones work together? Any summer-dormant natives? Are there a lot of birds? Which plants are the bees drawn to?
7. When a heat spike is expected, bring a bit of the outdoors inside: Early in the morning, cut a selection of flowers (especially roses), small branches, vines and the like that will probably get blown out or crisped later in the day. Put them in a vase or other arrangement to see while indoors. You grew it, now enjoy it!
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Food in My Back Yard Series
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of June 15
Make the most of this “average” weather; your garden is growing fast! (So are the weeds!)
* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. That can encourage blossom-end rot.
* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.
* Pull weeds before they go to seed.
* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. It also helps smother weeds.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.
* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.
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