In the Calendar this Month
The Summer Months: Swizzle or Tonic
It's summer. Yay! I think this is a swizzle year. Last year I was satisfied with the simplicity of a nice dark rum and tonic with a slice of lime. Now that summer had arrived this year, a Meyers and tonic just doesn't seem to be working for me. If I'm not going to have the hot summer sun beating down on the back of my neck while I yank weeds from the garden, I might as well enjoy a nice rum swizzle and pretend it's more festive than it really is outside. Goslings Black Seal + Bitters + Lemon + Pineapple Juice + Orange Juice + Grenadine = summer even if the weather will not cooperate.
Too Much Rain and Problems in the Garden
With all the rain spring can bring, there is not always a lot of time spent outside enjoying the weather but it can make your gardens thick and lush. When the rain does pull back, I become vigilant for fungal problems popping up on the lower leaves of plants closer to the wet ground. Pluck them off and clear the ground of old vegetation to keep any problems from spreading up the plants. My north facing lawn also somestimes will start to develop some brown patch from all the excess water and not enough sun to dry out between them. This time of year I will brew up a batch of compost tea and apply it to the lawn. It gives the lawn a boost adn those brown patches disappear and my lawn is thick and green once again.
Gardens Grow
Summer is the time to enjoy your hard work but remain vigilant. My favorite part of gardening isn't actually the harvest but watching vegetables come to life and monitoring their progress as they grow. Every morning before heading to the office I stop by my gardens and inspect the young fruits or vegetables. I look for new ones just making their way into the garden and see to any of their needs. This also gives me a couple of minutes to scan the garden quickly for any new weeds popping up and I can pluck them out before they get started. Then when I come home at night, I visit the garden once more with the same routine and take note of any plants that may need special attention when the weekend arrives. These couple of minutes every morning and evening allow me to perform routine maintenance like watering, weeding and thinning little by little everyday so when the weekend comes these tasks are much less and I can concentrate on feeding and even enjoying early summer harvesting. My daughter always gets to taste the first harvest from each plant. The peas hardly ever even make it into the house! This time in the morning, literally less than 5 minutes before jumping in my car, is a great time to deadhead spent flowers, and pinch back eggplants and chrysanthemums to encourage branching.
Just giving this couple of minutes in the morning with the watering, weeding, feeding, thinning, and cultivating, even if just a couple of times a week, come July, the garden will be in all its glory. By keeping the weeds in check, your flowers and vegetables will fill in and grow lush and thick. In July, the heart of the summer, maintain your vigilance with pests and intervene early by handpicking or using organic sprays like neem oil. Take care though not to spray where bees come to visit. Ingesting neem oil can be deadly to bees.
One More Time
While you are enjoying your existing plants and early harvests, now is the time to plant another round of fast-maturing string beans and lettuces, and sow seeds for fall harvests such as cole crops, peas and carrots to keep the harvest going through the summer and fall.
I Fought the Lawn
The summer months are the hardest on northeast lawns and with proper mowing and watering the organic lawn will remain a thick carpet of green throughout the summer. Northeast lawns consist of cool season grasses and summer stresses and dormancy are natural. Raising mower blades and properly watering the lawn will help to reduce these stresses and keep the lawn healthy and beautiful throughout the hot summer weeks. Here they come and they are coming fast� weeds! Start controlling weeds now by pulling them as they start.
Water, water everywhere� Enough already!
Proper watering only when needed is most important. As a society of convenience most of us have spent a decent chunk of change on irrigation systems for our yards. When I leave for work in the morning most of the houses in my development have their sprinkler systems running practically every day. If they are not running off of wells you can imagine the expense but even if they are it's wasteful and not necessary. I only water my lawn once a week all summer long. I water on Sundays for 2 hours in each spot which gets my lawn an inch of water a week. During very hot, dry periods I will split it into 2 waterings that week. But with just my Sunday watering, my lawn is just as green and full as everyone else. The major benefit though is that during periods of drought with water restrictions my lawn, with its deep root systems from the weekly deep watering keeps its green lushness longer than my neighbors and bounces back faster. Now everyone's lawn watering needs are site specific, influenced by soil type/drainage/sun/shade and will need different amounts of watering. Don't' get me wrong, I'm not anti-irrigation systems, they just don't need to be used daily.
The Mowing Method
The other important aspect of keeping your lawn healthy during the stressful summer months is your method of mowing. It is important to (1) mow high and (2) mow with sharp mower blades. My lawn is thick, high and lush instead of scalped down to the ground. I don't mean high like my wife's late entomologist uncle's lawn was where all the neighbor's wanted to burn his forest of a lawn down the ground. By high, I mean 3 inches high and not scalped down to a golf fairway. Keeping your grass high accomplishes a couple of things. It helps to shade out weeds and protect against drought. Keep the blades sharp to give your lawn a nice clean cut and also avoid cutting off more than one third of the height of a grass blade at a time to avoid damaging the plant.
Swizzle While You Work
Now, I should say while you are working, keep water by your side so you don't dehydrate, and you should but after the work is done, sit back with a tall cool rum swizzle and enjoy your landscape. Its summer, you worked hard all year, don't forget to enjoy it.
Check out the full calendar, available here, for tips and tasks to perform in the garden every weekend of every month in the year.