The Garden Gate

Garden tips for every month of the year!

July

As we enter July we need to be ready for heat and the hurricane season. It is early, but we have already had our first storm. If that is any indication we better get prepared.

It is possible to leave heat tolerant (and somewhat pest resistant) vegetables in the garden and let them grow through the summer. Among the toughest are Peppers, Eggplant, Okra, and Sweet Potatoes. To keep these growing well, keep them watered but water at the roots, instead of on their leaves (to reduce disease); don't work them when the garden is wet; and fertilize them every 4-6 weeks using a 15-0-15 at the rate of 1-3 pounds per 100 foot of row.

For those areas which won' t be planted again until August, especially where disease prone vegetables such as tomatoes might be planted, consider using the sun to sterilize the soil for you. This works well during the hottest part of the year (July and August). It' s called solar sterilization.

• Pull up all vegetables trying to get out as many of their roots as possible.
• Rototill the area to be treated to 8-10 inches and irrigate.
• Place a clear (better than black) plastic sheet large enough to cover the area of the tilled spot and weigh it down at the edges.
• Seal it in place by watering over top of it to drive out most of the air under the sheet.

You now have what amounts to a solar water heater. The soil is dark colored and wet (so it will absorb heat) and the clear plastic allows the sun' s rays to penetrate to heat the wet soil high enough to kill most pathogens and many weed seeds to a depth of several inches (perhaps up to 4-5).

Leave this in place for 2-3 weeks and go to process two:

• Remove the plastic sheet.
• Rototill the treated soil and then form you beds.
• Water again.
• Cover again the area with plastic as before.

Leaving this in place for 2-3 weeks (or until you are ready to plant ), you are now sterilizing the soil a little deeper (because you mixed it with upper layers treated with lower ones not), and because you don' t have to form the beds that would bring untreated soil to the surface, you have as much as 5-8 inches of fairly pathogen free soil, which allows small plants (seedlings) a partially sterile media to grow in. As a plant gets older, it begins to build tolerance/resistance to many soil pathogens, so that in fact you have bought time for the young vegetable to get stronger. Solar Sterilization - a good thing to do in Florida soils before the fall garden is planted!

This month plant the following heat tolerant annuals: Celosia, Coleus, Crossandra, Exacum, Impatiens, Kalanchoe, Nicotiana, Portulaca, Salvia, Ornamental pepper, Periwinkle, and Zinnias. Remember to have a flowering plant that will bloom for longer periods, the old flower heads need to come off as soon as the petals fall to stop the flower from going to seed. A plant that starts to put it's reserve energy into forming seed, stops flowers.

If you planted shrubs this spring or this last winter, now is the time that many of those fail when temperatures reach into the 90's. Often the gardener is under the mistaken belief that by now (half a year after planting) these plants are well established and ready to be on their own. This is not the case.

If properly planted, the soil should have been loosened for a distanced of 2-3 times the diameter of the root ball. Such loosened soil will absorb moisture readily when watered, but it will also dry out very quickly. When irrigating, make sure the root ball of the plant is kept moist. You can not always do this if you water from overhead, because the foliar crown of the plant may capture much of the water and direct it to the edges of the drip line where sufficient roots have not yet had a chance to form. For this reason, it is desirable to place water under the foliar crown near the stem of the plant. A slow running hose placed there will do that, but so will low volume emitters or weep hoses placed along new plant beds. One word of caution however - it is possible to overdo this type irrigation. I have heard of persons allowing hoses to run overnight - or in the case of some fruit trees for days at a time. This is a bad practice.

This sort of watering drives air out of the soil and you end up killing the small, one-celled hair roots which are there to take up water for the roots. Without them, plants can actually wilt if it gets hot enough, with the hose still running on them. I suggest that 5-10 minutes with a slow running hose next to a plant in the ground for several months, once or twice a week when temperatures are in the 90's, should be enough in most soils.

Special note: Studies have shown that mulching under a newly set plant is not a good idea because the mulch will intercept the water (irrigation or rainfall) unless the area is flood irrigated and not wet the soil below it unless the water cycle is long enough to do that. Light rains therefore will not benefit a newly planted plant if it has been heavily mulched. Current thinking is that it is best not to mulch under a newly set plant until it is well established - nearer to fall or winter perhaps.

Summer months are the months that gardeners working out in the yard, particularly in piney wood situations or where water is nearby, need to protect themselves against tick, yellowfly, and mosquito attack. Best protection is one of the personal repellents containing the ingredient, N, N-diethyl - metatoeuamide shortened and called DEET. There are also products containing Resmethrin and Permethrin (two manmade pyrethrums) that can be used on clothing (not on the skin) for those allergic to DEET. Over the years, DEET still remains the longest lasting and most effective at repelling mosquitoes, ticks, and yellowflies, even when compared against some of the new natural repellent products that are being so heavily marketed these days.

For those who live near stagnate bodies of water or ponds where mosquitoes breed, there are Biorational pesticides which are derivatives of the common Bacillus bacteria used for caterpillar control (Thuracide and Dipel). These new strains of the Bacillus attack only mosquito and blackfly larvae. They are sold as wettable powers, granular formulations, and in briquettes, often shaped in the form of a donut. All are applied to ponds or stagnate water areas, where after only 4-5 minutes of exposure to these products, blackfly and mosquito larvae loose their ability to turn into an adult. The great thing about them are that they have adverse effect on fish, or mammals who drink or swim in the water, or plants that surround the water. Nor are they a problem for fish that might eat the affected larvae.

Many mosquito control agencies have used these products and they are now available at most Garden Centers to the homeowner. Check at your local Garden Center. Some brands to look for include: Teknar, VectoBac, Ractimos, Skeetal, Mosquito Attack Bactimos Briquettes, and mosquito Attack Rings If you have a pond or body of water that is stagnant and breeds mosquitoes, consider placing these in the water each time you observe mosquito wigglers coming to the surface to breathe.

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