The Fourth of July is a time of patriotic celebration and is also a target date for starting transplants for a cool season vegetable garden. It is an unusual time of year to be thinking cool, yet the summer solstice is past, days are getting shorter and fall approaches though many hot days lie ahead. I start my seedlings in wooden flats filled with compost in which I seed cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. Recently, I have given up on the Brussels sprouts as they tend not to do well here. These winter veggies can be transplanted to the garden in late August-early September. Keep the flats watered and thin or transplant to other flats if the seedlings are too crowded.
Onion seeds can be started in a flat, about the 20th of August. Beets, kale, kohlrabi, carrots, chard, turnips, parsnips and lettuce can be directly seeded into the garden near the end of August. Sometimes using flats to start lettuce is a good defense against snail or slug attacks on vulnerable small lettuce seedlings that can happen when directly seeded in the garden.
If not done already, prop up those orchard trees that are weighty with fruit to avoid limbs breaking. July is a time for harvesting Gravenstein apples and other summer apples. In our hot climate, summer apples often soon leave the tree after ripening so pay attention and pick daily. You can refrigerate them for a few days until you have enough to make several batches of apple sauce or jelly.
It is a good time to do some summer pruning of apples and other fruit trees. Summer pruning reduces vigor. It will keep tree size manageable and will improve your crop for this year and next year too. There are videos on YouTube that will show you how to do it see:
Plan to begin harvesting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Peppers often sun scald in our hot climate so taking off some of the blossoms early to retard fruit development will encourage the plant to grow more foliage to shade the crop. Corn, zucchini and other summer squash need to be picked frequently. It is not too late to plant some beans, pumpkins, Hubbard squash, butternut squash and corn for fall harvest. Paste tomatoes such as Roma, San Marzano or Amish Paste are excellent canned for those soups, beans and stews next winter, and nothing beats the delicious sweetness of tomato juice canned from home grown tomatoes.
When blackberry harvest is over, it is time to prune out the floricanes and tie or direct the new primacanes in a vertical orientation and head them back at about 6 ft. If you have the trailing type, tie them to the wire horizontally.
If you remember to deadhead perennials such as coreopsis, dianthus, valerian and more blooms will be our reward. Pruning perennials is a complex task, so consult a good book on the subject such as “The Well-Tended Perennial Garden, Planting and Pruning Techniques” by Tracy DiSabato-Aust. This Fine Gardening article is helpful for deadheading perennials. Roses will bloom much more vigorously this fall if you deadhead the spring blooms, but remember to deadhead back to a 5-leaf leaflet just as you would when harvesting.
Dahlias need to be monitored for the appearance of spider mites. Water spray on the foliage to wash off dust and will help keep them in check, but if they persist, a spray of Safer soap or Neem oil will help control them. Thrips are also a problem for dahlias and weekly spraying with an insecticidal soap can help keep them under control. The Western Flower thrips is most likely the pest. They are yellow or brown and very hard to see even as adults as they are 1/20th of an inch long. Spraying daily with water also helps as thrips like dry conditions. Spinosad and Neem oil will also control them.
If you haven't already done it, mulching is in order for peppers, tomatoes, dahlias and landscape plants, to conserve moisture. For the vegetables use compost, for dahlias, use leaves or straw, and for the landscape plants, use wood chips or bark.
For lawns, mow high at 3 inches in July and August during summer heat and keep the blade sharp. If you haven't already adjusted your irrigation controller for hot summer higher irrigation needs, it is time to do so. September is time to dethatch, aerate and fertilize for cool season lawns of fescue or bluegrass.
Mid-September is a good time to sow California poppies and other wild flowers and time to plant annuals for winter color. Perennials such as dianthus, foxglove, coreopsis, geum, penstemon, phlox and yarrow planted in the fall will get their roots down better with winter weather. Or you can transplant to larger pots to let them grow larger before transplanting to the garden. It is also time to order fall bulbs to get top quality ones for fall planting. Plant daffodils for cheerful ones like these next spring! Happy gardening!
