Gardening Tips: Deadheading and Watering

Has this season’s weather seemed extreme to you? Good grief. One heat wave after another, then all the rain—it might have been enough to give my tomatoes a case of “the splits” and end-blossom blight.

On the other hand, cukes have been prolific breeders; the way squash usually behaves. I’d like to say I’ve been picking a lot of squash and zucchini. That’s not the case. The plants looked fabulous for a time; I harvested a couple of zucchini. Then another hot spell followed by torrential rains, and after all that drama, the zucchini got a virus of some sort. It got black mold on the leaves, which moved on to the heart of the plant. It finally gave up and died. Then whatever virus it had, suddenly found its way to the squash. Those plants died. By the way, this zucchini, before it bit the dust, was the best tasting I have ever had.

As it happened, a neighbor soon came by to ask if, perchance, I would like a zucchini. Would I? She showed me her healthy garden, and the aforementioned zucchini. They were as big as baseball bats! I took the smaller almost foot-long monster, and left her with the enormous zucchini that should be entered into a fair.

Gardening Tip: Keep deadheading and watering. Your perennials need you more than ever in the heat. Water deep, use a little fish or compost tea to boost container plants, and deadhead. All of this helps to keep the bloom on your flowers as we go through September.

The Lost Lady Bug Project: The number of ladybugs is, for some unknown reason, declining in the United States and North America. Contact The Lost Lady Bug Project to see how you can help in the hope that the phenomenon can be studied and better understood. Details and photo requirements can be found on the Lost Ladybug website.