June Garden Chores
As June arrives, the garden shifts from early spring growth into full summer momentum. With plants becoming more established, this is the time to prune, stake, and thin as needed to keep them healthy, productive, and well-shaped.
In addition, your garden is going to need your attention to ensure it has what it needs to achieve its highest potential. This includes keeping up with the weeds, pests, harvesting, pruning and yes – planting, while ensuring your plants receive the right nutrition and hydration.
From lawns to roses, perennial beds to vegetable gardens, the goal is the same: Help the soil absorb water more effectively, hold it longer, and deliver where the roots can use it. Compaction is the silent water waster. Compacted soil has fewer pores, less oxygen, poor infiltration, higher runoff, and hotter surface temperatures. Even with the best irrigation, compacted soil wastes water.
If you’re planting, take the time to improve the site by incorporating organic material into the soil.
Established roses and perennials should be supplemented with liquid humate followed by an application of endomycorrhizae then mulched.
A 3–4-inch layer of organic mulch can optimize water usage by blocking thirsty weeds and reducing evaporation. Organic mulches help retain water and increase the humidity level around plants. Soil Pep is a good choice for mulch in your garden.
When it comes to hydration, avoid overhead watering and deliver water to the root zone. An easy way to accomplish this is to build a moat around the plant and water the moat with a hose-end attachment.
Soaker hoses also help ensure that the water you apply to your garden is being used by your plants and not lost to evaporation.
Optimal nutrition is achieved by choosing and adding the right fertilizer for the crops you’re growing. Every garden fertilizer lists the three major ingredients on the front of the container, in this order: Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potash. The first number on the label is always Nitrogen. Nitrogen promotes plant growth. The second number is Phosphate. Phosphate plays a major role in rooting and blooming. The third number is Potassium, which plays a key role in overall plant development.
All three numbers are important, and using a fertilizer designed for the plants you are growing will give you the best results. Tomatoes, peppers and other fruiting crops need fertilizers with a high middle number to promote rooting and blooming, such as 5-7-3 or 4-5-6. The presence of an OMRI seal on the package is your assurance the product has been certified organic according to the Organic Material Review Board.
Beyond basic ingredients, fertilizer effectiveness is determined by several factors, including soil pH, soil structure, and soil microbiome. If you have questions, stop in and let’s have a conversation about which fertilizer is best for your vegetable garden.
While you’re tending your warm weather crops, don’t forget to harvest the lettuce, spinach and other cool season crops as they ripen.
Tomatoes, (pepper) other crops that didn’t survive the spring can be replaced now with healthy transplants. From seeds, you can plant beets, radishes, and carrots.
The season also brings changes in pest activity. June’s warmth can accelerate the lifecycle of insects and diseases. This means your pest monitoring and organic treatments will need to ramp up as well.
Weeds are very opportunistic, seemingly springing up overnight. It’s very important to keep them from going to seed.
The same is true of insect pests and diseases. Knowing what you’re dealing with is the first step to effective control. Bring a sample of the problem to our Diagnostic Center. We’ll identify it and recommend a solution.
Healthy plants need less water, fertilizer, and pest control than stressed plants. By keeping on top of tasks — such as weeding, thinning, pruning and monitoring pests — your garden will be more productive this year.
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