Hello again, Westside Gardeners.
It is hot and sultry outside as I put my thoughts together after a busy week. We are entering the dog days of summer.
Yes, days are getting shorter, but the hot weather doesn’t diminish, and we can notice a little more humidity.
The continuous extreme heat is weathering and stressing our landscaped gardens. This time of year, we must be patient and not get overworked by all this.
Plant material can take several months to recover. Extremely sunburned plants and trees may not rebound from heat and drought, and as I mentioned before, we must water deeply.
I advise you to skip fertilization, avoid pruning, and provide temporary shade and mulch, mulch and mulch!
With all this said, my mind is on autumn. It has cooler, shorter days, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s the best time to install plants and trees.
I hope what I’ve written is informative and easy to understand. I try to lay a foundation and emphasize nature and environmental conservation in my articles. I love giving tips and a wealth of sound advice from my 45 years of experience.
I hope to help garden enthusiasts plan more attractive gardens, try their hands at growing new plant and vegetable species, and consider special maintenance measures when they grow traditional varieties.
Meanwhile, more emphasis has been placed on how contributing to maintaining the diversity of our native fauna and flora can be made in the smallest gardens.
Employing the correct measures at the right time can improve fruiting and fully optimize plant growth and flowering, yielding a richer harvest and greatly enhancing the enjoyment of our plant life and gardens.
Accordingly, attaining beautiful and bountiful gardens and enjoying our plants remains the central focus.
Take the time to walk your landscaped garden and notice what is doing well and what you can remove. You can also hire a landscape designer or a licensed California landscape contractor to help you.
A professional can show and help you with necessary work that can be simplified to manage and represent a minor outlay for considerable pleasure and enjoyment. Happy gardening!
Mark Koehler of Los Banos is an arborist and master gardener who has degrees in landscape architecture and landscape horticulture from UC Berkeley and Northeastern University. Please send any questions or comments to markgardenguru@gmail.com.
