And Then It Got Cool Again….Happy Official Summer!

Branchy sunflowers with six-inch blooms self-sow every year.

Double Delight roses

Tomatoes growing lushly with lots of fruit!

The first Tomcot apricots, about mid-June. I chose this variety because my husband's name is Tom. Good thing they're delicious!

Apricot main harvests on June 14 and 20, totaling about 90 fruits.

Apricot last fruits still on the tree. What a lovely 2-week harvest! Just enough to relish each one without getting tired of the flavor!

Carrot blossoms attract many beneficial insects.

Salvia canariensis provides beautiful mauve color through the Fall.

Early-season artichoke on the left is dying, and follow-up shoots to the right are beginning to produce.

Leonitus leonurus comes in many shades of beige through orange. In life, these are colored like the deepest shade that shows in the photo.

Lilies

These must have come up from the assorted seeds I scattered in the fall, before our rains.

Pepper blossoms

The tail end of this color of alstroemeria, showing the green seed pods.

Feverfew makes the whole garden a bouquet.

Dancy Tangerine babies.

Salvia 'Limelight'.

Sparse fruit set on grape allows good air circulation so less chance of mildew.

Lily

Lots of figs set on both last-year's brown wood and this year's green wood.

Artichoke blossoms are the same "blacklight" color of Jacaranda trees.

More ripening Tangerine tomatoes.

Mallow.

Let poppies get crispy dry before harvesting the seed. Hold a container underneath as you snap off the head so the "salt-shaker" top doesn't spill all the seeds before you capture them.

​     Weather is always weirder than we remember or expect, so we’re just continuing the pattern.  But this coolness after that barely-hot spell is definitely bespeaking Spring instead of Summer.  I personally love the cool mornings with sun burning through the cloud cover for midday.  But I know the tomatoes and squash and cukes ad infinitum thrive on the heat and intense sun.  So I keep waiting for our usual burning heat of Summer to finally happen. 
 
Should I start a garden now?
     A friend of mine, in anticipation of being able to determine his own Father’s Day activities, asked if he was too late in the season to begin incorporating amendments and planting. 
      Expecting the summer heat to be upon us any day, I warned him that the amended soil would warm up as the microorganisms from the mix of manure, compost, and coffee grounds would heat up too much to plant transplants for about two weeks. 
     I urged him to dig in the amendments and purchase the plants, but to wait to plant them until his hand stuck into the soil six inches deep was barely warm, indicating that the plant roots wouldn’t be “burned” by the still-active soil mix. 
      He’s accomplished the amending, and has the transplants waiting nearby so they acclimate to the climate of their new home.
     The weather forecast through July 6 is for low-to-mid 80s daytime temperatures, so getting those seeds and plants in should be just fine. 
     So, I’m doing more seeding and transplanting than I’d planned, as well.
     If you choose to, as well, just be sure that you purchase healthy plants that have extensive roots but aren’t rootbound in their pots. 
     For vegetables and flowers, purchase four-inch-size pots.  You want more root system at this time of year than is provided in 6-packs, since you want them to be able to quickly establish themselves into your garden beds before summer heat arrives and stresses the plants.
 
Transplanting Tips

1. Dig a hole that’s several times as wide as the container.
2. Rough up the rootball as you hold the plant above the hole so the potting mix falls into the hole. 
3. Mix the original soil in the hole with the potting mix from the container to create a combination of what the plant has grown in and where it will grow. 
4. Hold the plant at the same level it was in the container (tomatoes are the only plants that can be planted deeper)
5. Pull the mixed soil into the hole around the rootball. 
6. With your fingertips, press the soil around the rootball to anchor it. 
7. Create a shallow basin about four inches around the plant so you can water the plant in and have the water go down deeply into the soil.
8. Fill the basin three times to make sure that the soil has made good contact with the roots.
9. If the sun does get intense, provide a bit of shade from about 11am-6pm for a week or two, until the roots have established themselves and the plant is growing well.
10. In four days, water again three times.
11. After that, water as necessary to make sure the water reaches a good foot or so down.  Most vegetables’ roots go at least that deep; tomatoes can go three feet down!

  
For More Garden To-Dos
See June and July tasks.