Heat Is Coming!

Shade cloth will protect plants from suddenly-coming intense sun and heat.

Newspaper can help too!

Deep-water fruit trees and vegetables.

Sunken 5-gallon buckets provide water through the holes at the bottom - directly to the root zones 6-9 inches deep.

Cherokee Wax bush beans.

Black Krim tomatoes ripening.

Celebrity tomatoes ripening.

Sungold cherry tomatoes that we've been enjoying since May 29 -- 165 of them so far!

August Pride peach is a good size. Time to protect it from critters!

Jujube flowers and young fruit.

Rose blossoms change color every day.

Phlomis fruticosa.

Leonitus leonurus.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow shifts shades every day.

Thai Delight bougainvillea.

     With several over-90-degree days, including a couple of over-100-degree days starting next Monday, this weekend is the time to water deeply and have some shadecloth on hand.  Since our garden plants and trees have been blithely growing with nary a day of harsh conditions until now, they’ll be shocked to suddenly have to endure these coming days.  So, the more water and shade you can provide them ahead of time, the better they’ll be able to handle those stressful conditions when they occur.       
    Here’s how to help your plants survive the onslaught and continue thriving afterwards.
 
Plants Shut Down Above 100 Degrees

• Plants stop functioning during torrid heat, going into self-preservation mode where leaves stop transpiring so they won’t evaporate too much moisture, and roots stop absorbing moisture because the leaves can’t get rid of it.  So the plant just sits there to wait out the extreme conditions.
• It’s better to water plants well before the heat hits so the soil is thoroughly moist but well drained so roots have access to both moisture and air.
• If you water during the extensive heat, you run the risk of drowning the plant because it can’t absorb the moisture through the roots or release it through the leaves.
• Plants will resume functioning once the temperatures lower down to at least 85 degrees for several days up to 2 weeks.  This includes setting new blossoms on tomatoes, so hopefully you’ve already had a good fruitset on plants before this heat so they’ll be ripening before new blossoms set.

 
Hold Off On Planting Anything
     Existing plants, whether already in the garden or still in their storebought containers, will be dealing with more than enough stress just making it through these several days of suddenly-hot temperatures, so no need to inflict even more stress by transplanting new plants.  Do keep them in a lightly shaded area until temperatures lower and you can proceed with transplanting them. 
 
Hold Off On Pruning Anything
     Trimming is a shock to plants, so even if bloomed-out plants are shabby looking, leave them alone until the air temperatures lower back down into the mid-80s. When plants are comfortably growing again, do your light trimming. 

Afternoon Is The Worst Time of Day
From about 2 to 6pm is the most intensely hot direct sun, so provide some protection to plants during that time. 

• Lightweight shade cloth is generally available at nurseries and online. 
• Even cheesecloth or paper bags will serve nicely. 
• Clothespins or other clips will anchor the fabric or paper so it doesn’t blow away.

 
Move Containers Into Afternoon Shade

• By their very nature, container plants need considerable attention since they’re captive in their containers and so can be victims of what seem to be minimal changes in their environment. 
• You may have to water them every day – or even more frequently – just to keep the potting soil moist.
• Moving them into afternoon shade will help them moderate the damaging effects of the too-intense sun and extreme heat.