This past Friday was the Summer Solstice—the longest day of the year and the first “official” day of summer. The word “solstice” comes from the Latin solstitium, meaning “sun stands still.” The summer solstice occurs at the point in Earth’s orbit when the sun shines most directly on the northern hemisphere. Astronomers consider this the beginning of Summer in the northern hemisphere. While it marks the start of summer in the north, in the southern hemisphere, where sunlight is at its lowest angle, it’s the beginning of winter.
What Summer Means for Your Garden
This is the time of year for us to focus on maintaining our gardens. It’s the time to focus on keeping our gardens weeded, watered, and fertilized, as well as enjoying the first of the season’s summer veggies, like green beans, cucumbers and squash, maybe even a few tomatoes.
Saying Goodby to Spring Veggies
It’s also the time to get ready to say goodbye to most of your spring veggies like lettuce, broccoli, kale, etc. Once the heat makes them bolt, or go to seed, that’s it for them. However, you can plant them again late summer for fall.
How to Fertilize Those Summer Plants
Now is the time to double-check your fertilizer and make sure you’re using the correct fertilizer for your plants. Flowers, fruits, and vegetables need a fertilizer where the middle number (phosphorus) is higher than the first number, which is nitrogen.
Nitrogen is for foliage growth—this would be the one for your lettuce, kale, collards, etc. Most of our summer veggies, however, have to bloom in order to set fruit so a fertilizer for blooming plants is better. I use Espoma Organic’s Tomato-tone. The numbers are 3-4-6. Yes, it says Tomato-tone but you can also use it on cucumbers, squash, beans, etc. Follow the directions on the package and do exactly what they say. NEVER overfeed. If you overfeed you can actually burn the roots and kill your plant.
Get After Weeds and Water Properly
Definitely stay on top of your weeding. Long sunny days and warm temperatures make weeds grow faster. Put off weeding even a week and they can double in size.
Make sure when you water, you water correctly. A good deep watering every few days is better than a light sprinkle every day. That light sprinkle does not encourage the roots to grow bigger and deeper. That good deep watering does. Also, a garden hose directed at the roots or a soaker hose is way better than a sprinkler that gets the foliage wet and can invite powdery mildew to move in.
And Most Important…
Finally, ENJOY that produce. Fresh produce is WAY better than buying produce that was grown in California ten days ago.