What To Plant

  • Vegetable seeds for thing like broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce, onions, potatoes, turnips, etc. need to be planted now! If you wait until September you may need to skip seeds and use transplants from 6-packs instead.

  • Long blooming summer shrubs like Hydrangea, Crepe Myrtle, and Rose of Sharon would be a great addition to your garden right now. Plant them now and they will burst into flower every year without much effort on your part.

  • Annuals can provide you with a ton of color this time if year. Plant petunias, begonias, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, ageratum, alyssum, lobelia, portulaca and more!

  • Perennial color like snapdragons and alyssum will flower now and continue to flower through Winter!

Plant Protection

  • If crab grass has made an unwanted appearance in your lawn, treat it now with Extreme Crabgrass Killer by BioAdvanced. More than just crabgrass popping up in your lawn? Try Trimec crabgrass by Gordons.

  • Protect your fruit trees from scavenging birds and critters with re-usable netting.

  • Slugs and snails are out snacking on your garden every night. Grab your flashlight and catch them in the act, or lay down some Sluggo pellets or Diatomaceous Earth powder instead.

  • If your tuberous begonias are dropping buds, they might not be getting enough air circulation. Too much shade causes the same problem. If they’re in pots then consider changing their location accordingly. If they’re panted in the ground make a note and adjust your planting location next year.

Maintenance

  • Prune your Hydrangea macrophyllas as soon as their blooms fade. Waiting too long to do this can reduce the number of blooms you get next year. Take out no more than a third of the plant. FYI Other types of Hydrangeas have different pruning guidelines.

  • If you are going away on the weekend, prepare your garden ahead of time by mulching and giving the garden a thorough soaking the day before you leave. Going away for longer? Get a plant-sitter. This is not the time to fertilize, as new growth will suffer if there is a heat wave while you are gone.

  • Planning on planting in your vegetable beds this fall? Be sure to feed your soil and freshen your dirt up with a bag (or three) of our Organic Bumper Crop Soil Conditioner.

  • Monthly fertilizing and deadheading (removing) spent blossoms is the key to continued bloom from your flowering plants this summer.

  • Keep the cutting edge of the lawn mower up at least 2 ½ inches. The roots will stay cooler and the grass happier in this hot weather.

  • Train new blackberry canes on a trellis or other supports and be sure to cut this year’s old canes to the ground.

  • Feed and pinch back fuchsias and chrysanthemums to make them bushier and have more blossoms in the Fall.

Fruit Trees

  • Almond fertilize mature trees / irrigate / harvest / remove and destroy fallen fruits

  • Apple summer pruning / fertilize mature trees / irrigate / control codling moth

  • Apricot harvest / irrigate

  • Cherry irrigate / summer pruning / cover with bird netting / harvest

  • Fig irrigate

  • Peach/Nectarine irrigate / summer pruning / harvest

  • Pear fertilize mature trees / irrigate / control codling moth

  • Pecan fertilize mature trees / summer pruning of young trees / aphid control / harvest

  • Persimmon summer pruning / irrigate 

  • Pistachio irrigate

  • Plum/Pluot/Prune irrigate / summer pruning / harvest

  • Quince  fertilize mature trees / irrigate / control coddling moth

  • Pomegranate  fertilize mature trees / irrigate

  • Walnut fertilize young trees / irrigate / remove and destroy fallen nuts

    When irrigating, provide enough water to wet the soil 18” to 24” down. If using drip irrigation, place emitters in a circle around the tree at the drip line/canopy,     not at trunk. Water deeply as needed instead of frequently and shallowly.