For those of you dealing with this extreme heat - what your garden will need

[NewHendoLib]

Sometimes on a hot day I walk out in my garden and wonder how the plants can take it. Typically they can - but when we are seeing 90s and 100s, for long periods of time, there are some things we need to do so that the garden gives us what we hope for.

Don't skimp on watering! This is especially true if you are gardening in containers, straw bales or raised beds. If the plants are looking wilted during the day, they are stressed - and stressed plants will not be happy plants. This is the primary cause of blossom end rot on tomatoes and peppers. Stressed plants won't take up calcium properly, leading to the small but growing dark spot on your precious tomatoes. It is literally impossible to OVER water if you are in containers or straw bales - they drain so well.

The other issue is that large fruited tomatoes don't self pollinate well in temps at 90 or above - especially when really humid - this leads to blossom drop and reduces how many tomatoes you will harvest. Go out in the morning and gently flick the open flowers - and repeat in the evening. This can help the pollen flow from the anthers to the pistil and lead to successful pollination.

Mostly - keep yourself well hydrated! My daughter lives in Olalla WA and we've been talking about the heat she is experiencing and how to keep her garden happy.

Stay safe and good luck!

[BobTheSubgenius]

1. Thank you for looking out for our plants. We have hundreds and keeping up these days is a struggle.

[The Roux Comes First]

2. I Find Early-morning Watering is a Lot Easier on Me

And rumor has it that the plants generally prefer it too.

[NewHendoLib]

6. early watering is indeed preferable - but in mid afternoon when the plants are visibly

wilting a booster is appreciated!

[TalenaGor]

3. checking in from parkland/tacoma -115 tomorrow? whut?

[alittlelark]

4. A product called 'Cloud Cover' is excellent protection.

Here in the high desert we get 3-4 weeks of 90+ DRY weather before the monsoons hit. Spraying cloud cover reduces transpiration dramatically. It's pretty cheap as well.

[NewHendoLib]

5. thanks for the suggestion - sounds really useful!

[Major Nikon]

7. I live in Texas and specifically designed my raised beds with this in mind

At the bottom of my beds is a layer of gravel, and then sand on top of that. Next is a layer of mulch and topsoil after that. I dug a trench between my beds and the spigot, installed some PVC pipes with a garden hose inside. After planting I lay out my soaker hose and place mulch over everything. When the temperature rises above 100F I will water 3 times per day and just enough to keep everything healthy with a simple timer on the spigot.

[lark]

8. Nice, thanks for the advice.

WE live in NE FL, where it is HOT and are often watering our tomatoes twice a day because they are wilting so bad. They aren't even flowering anymore, just too hot I guess. Of course we've also had tons of rain last week (we didn't water then) and maybe it was too much for them? The peppers are doing good still, but not the tomatoes. Guess peppers are better adapted to handling heat?

I will try flicking the buds if I see anymore showing up.

[Botany]

9. Watering stuff .... I'm a real life expert on this stuff

Do not overhead water from 9AM to about 7:30PM. Water droplets on the leaves in the sunlight
can act like a magnifying glass and burn the leaf tissue. If you have to water during the daylight
hours water at the base of plant. Most nozzles have a surge setting that will pulse water at ground
level.

The best time to water is in the mornings before it gets too hot. This helps the plants to stay hydrated
during the day and the plant will have less water and heat stress. If you can't do it in the AM water
after 7:30 PM.

Containers need to be watered every day. Water the container until you see standing water almost to
the top of the container. Let that water work its way down into the planter and then water 1 more time.

Newly planted trees and shrubs should be watered every 7 to 10 days at a slow drip for at least 1/2 an hour
to 1 hour. Unless we are in drought stop watering in early Sept. and then water those trees or shrubs
sometime around thanksgiving (unless the ground is soaked or we have a snow pack) @ a drip for about
1 hour.

Mulch helps but stay away from the black mulch because it can cook the plants. I like double or triple processed
hardwood mulch that is made from bark.

When in doubt always plant a native plant. Almost all plants will show some kind of wilting in this heat and that
is normal and the plants will snap out of when given enough water.

Just planted materials especially annuals and perennials that haven't had a chance to develop enough roots to
bring in water and they can die in one day if they dry out. And if you see a plant in severe water stress get water
to it asap just make sure that you get the water to the base of the plant and try to avoid the leaves.

When planting and if possible try to work some kind of compost into the soil this gives the soil structure which allows
water to be more available to the plants and helps to fix atmospheric carbon too.

[NewHendoLib]

10. all great advice. thx!!!

[Botany]

11. In the words of Bob Weir

When I was a young man I needed good luck,
But I'm a little bit older now and I know my stuff.