Summer Gardening Tasks

I am just getting ready to thin the fruit on the Peach and Apricot.
I am a little late but still can get the weight down on the limbs to avoid breakage. Looks like some propping with 2×4’s is in order too.

Summer in the garden is an easy time. Just a bit of weeding and a lot of watering (or spot watering with the irrigation system).
If you have a vegetable garden or fruit trees then it is keeping up with the produce-yum.

Just a reminder to keep an eye on your fruiting plants- including vegetables to check for heavy areas and thin out the numbers. Citrus don’t usually need this but if the limbs are long and leggy sometimes the branches on the citrus can break too.

The fruit trees that are in the most danger are peaches, apples, nectarines, persimmons and
apricots. Plums and pears self thin for the most part.
Heavy branches may need propping and I usually thin fruit down to be spaced evenly on the branches rather than in bunches. I want to be greedy and leave more but that has lead to breakage in the past.

Other garden tasks include: keeping up with snail bait and or patrol, dead heading (removing dead flower heads), deep watering trees (once per month in the summer and early fall) and
lawn fertilizing (and of course mowing!). For other parts of the garden use a slow release fertilizer that works for 6 months. I usually apply this in the spring and fall. Watch for yellowing or leaves that have green viens and yellow leaves. This is a sign of iron deficiency and the liquid iron or chelated iron formulas are best for this.

Enjoy the long, warm days and evenings. Keeping a nice garden and patio area really pays off in the summer!