Gardening in a Heat Wave

Moss rose thrives in hot summers

The high temperature here today was 107. Tomorrow it's supposed to be 106.  The forecast for the next week shows highs of 100 or above every day.  Well, that's summer in Kansas -- thank God for air conditioning!

Heat like this, especially over an extended period, is really hard on the garden (as well as people, animals, utilities budgets, etc.)  There are a few things a gardener can do to help their plants make it through this kind of weather.

Got Weeds?

The weather has been so lovely recently; cool, often sunny, but enough rain so that everything outside is incredibly green and lush.  It's a great time to be outdoors, and I treasure my garden time.  So what do I spend my time doing?  Weeding!  I avoid using synthetic products on my lawn, like weed killers or weed and feed products, and so my yard gets lots of weeds.  Weed pollens tend to be a major allergy issue, so I need to eliminate them.  Result?  I spend a lot of time pulling weeds.

There are a few things I can do to try to prevent weeds in the first place. 

Spring Break

Last week was spring break. I'd looked forward to that for weeks, anticipating spending a great deal of time every day in the garden. We've had enough warm weather for a while that things were really growing. The reality? It rained every day until Friday. I was stuck in the house -- okay, so I love to read and had a lot of book time, which I enjoyed too. But by the weekend, the weeds were way ahead of me. I've pulled up four big garbage bags full of weeds, and am nowhere near done.

I did put out some of the hardier flowers already; snapdragons can handle cool weather, and of course the pansies are still going that I put out last fall. I planted a few perennials that had been hardening off for a while, and a couple of bushes to fill in some gaps where things didn't make it through last summer. I bought a few more annuals, but am either leaving them in their original pots or have put them in containers that can be moved into cover for a little longer. It's still a bit too early to put the more tender little guys out yet.

Ongoing Winter Garden Work

Over the winter, I look forward to any moderately pleasant day on the weekend, so that I can get out and get a bit more done in the garden. I spent so much time in the fall scraping and painting on the garage that a lot of tasks to prepare the garden for the winter didn't get done. I still need to cut back the asparagus plants, and trim and clean out the iris bed.

I've begun getting out the things to start seeds indoors. Some things should be started 10 weeks before last frost date, which is mid-April here. I like to get plants started far enough ahead to put them out as soon as weather permits. Growing season is all too short!