Are you excited for all the gardening work that awaits you this summer? I bet you can’t wait to step outside and happily run through your yard.
But stop right there! It’s actually a bad idea to run around your yard on hot sunny days and complete your task list.
I was shocked too, because I’ve done that my whole gardening career! You’d never catch me sitting in my house during summer. I was always in my yard watering or pruning my plants, until I found out it was a big mistake!
Let’s get started!
Keep Your Garden Cool During A Heatwave
What’s the first thing you do when you hear the forecast predicting a very hot day outside? Watering, right? That’s actually the wrong answer.
If you water in the sun, you might as well not do anything. The water will evaporate in the blink of an eye before it reaches the plant’s roots.
The best time to water is in the morning or evening. If you missed the morning window then you can catch up with an evening watering session.
This will help them stay hydrated throughout the day! So, you won’t have to worry all day about whether the plants are thirsty!
Avoid Planting Sensitive Blossoms During Hot Summer Days
You want as many flowers as possible during the summer season, right? You have to be careful when choosing because delicate plants like roses, acer, phlox, and heuchera won’t handle high temperatures very well.
If you don’t have time to wait, then try flowers that have high heat tolerance. Some of them include lantana, hibiscus, cuphea, and cosmos. Or you can wait for the heat to pass to plant your favorites. In gardening, patience pays off!
Don’t Even Think About Fertilizing When It’s Hot Outside
Fertilizing when it’s over 90 degrees outside is a very bad idea! When temperatures rise, plants move out of their comfort zone and develop stress that can lead to leaf burn. If you think fertilizing will encourage and promote healthier growth, you’re mistaken!
When you fertilize during hot days, it creates an excess of salts near the roots, which causes brown leaves on beautiful plants. Even peppers and tomatoes, which love fertilizer, don’t appreciate it in the heat.
The best thing you can do is mulch, which stabilizes soil temperature and provides necessary moisture!
Why be at home when you can go to the beach or swim in the pool all day long? It’s summer, after all. It’s not like you have work in your garden, you can relax until the sun sets!
In fact, summer comes as a break for gardeners because there are many things you shouldn’t do during hot days. Make the most of this season and enjoy it! Or if you can’t do without your safe space, the garden, then plant a few sun-loving flowers!
Just be careful, you don’t want to be the one who ends up with sunburn, right?