DibbleBy midsummer the work shifts from planting to keeping things going. Watering, mulch, picking and a weekly walk through the beds cover most of it.
Water deeply, at the soil
A common rule of thumb is about an inch of water a week from rain and watering together, and more in sandy soil or a heat wave. Water in the morning at the base of the plants, so the leaves stay dry and less water evaporates. A deep soaking once or twice a week grows deeper roots than a daily sprinkle. To see how much you gave, set a straight-sided can in the spray.
Pots and grow bags dry out fastest. In hot spells they may need water every day.
Mulch over damp soil
Two to three inches of straw or shredded leaves holds moisture and keeps weeds down. Spread grass clippings no thicker than a quarter inch and let each layer dry first, and only use clippings from a lawn that has not been treated with herbicide. Put mulch down after a soaking rain or a deep watering, when the soil is damp.
Handle the heat
Leaves that wilt in the afternoon and recover by evening are normal. Dropped flowers are the bigger worry. Tomato blossoms drop when days run above about 90°F or nights stay above about 75°F, and peppers drop flowers in extreme heat as well. Keep watering evenly and fruit will set again when the weather eases.
A shade cloth over lettuce, spinach and other cool-season crops slows bolting. Brown, sunken spots on the bottom of tomatoes and peppers, called blossom end rot, usually come from uneven watering that interrupts calcium moving into the fruit. A soil test shows whether calcium or pH is low.
Keep picking
Zucchini, beans and cucumbers slow down once fruit is left to ripen on the plant, so check them every day or two in peak weeks. Zucchini taste best picked small. Herbs such as basil slow down once they flower, so pinch the buds off.
Sow ahead for fall
Midsummer is when the fall garden starts. In zones 3 to 10, beets, carrots, kale, cabbage and broccoli all have a planting window that opens in July or August. In the warmer zones the brassicas start as seeds indoors or in a shaded bed, and the transplants go out from late summer into fall. Count back from your first fall frost to find the last safe sowing date. The summer planting season page lists what fits each zone, with July and August laid out month by month, and the succession planting schedule gives last sowing dates by crop.
Check for pests, and weed while they are small
Turn leaves over once a week and look for eggs and aphids. Pick larger insects such as tomato hornworms by hand, and knock aphids off with a strong spray of water. Leave any hornworm with small white cocoons on its back alone, because those are parasitic wasps. Weeds are easiest to pull as seedlings, and a hoe run across the surface on a dry day takes out a bed in minutes.
