Tim's advice: While the summer is warming up, everything is in full bloom | Lifestyle

With the arrival of July 4, the plants are really growing. We have some vegetable plants in large containers. The cucumber plant tripled in size during the heat wave. Nothing like a 90-degree time to grow the plants.

During the summer months, you should cut the grbad differently than in the spring. In the spring, the grbad grows so fast that you want to cut the grbad to a shorter length.

In summer, you want the grbad blades to be longer after cutting the grbad. It would be advantageous to have the trimmer set to allow the cut grbad to have about 3 inches in length. The longer grbad strands will actually shade the soil, reducing the loss of moisture from the sun that dries the soil. The longer grbad blades will also help control weeds.

Your lawn may need a fertilizer application to help keep you growing during the summer months. An organic fertilizer for the lawn is the preferred method because the fertilizer will slowly release for a period of up to eight weeks.

If you have a watering ban, Mother Nature may need to provide water to grow the grbad. Otherwise, your lawn will need about an inch of water a week during the summer months.

It is best to water between 6 and 8 hours, which will allow the grbad to absorb the water before the heat of the day. If you water between midnight and 5 am, the grbad shoots will stay wet during the night and you will greatly increase the chances of your lawn developing a fungal disease. If you water in the morning or in the afternoon, you will lose a lot of water before the water reaches the ground.

Warm weather has caused a considerable increase in the insect population. The rose bushes were hit by a tiny caterpillar that caused a lot of damage to the leaves.

If you see a small white butterfly fluttering around your vegetable garden, be on the lookout for a green caterpillar feeding on broccoli and other related species. plants. The giant butterfly that lays eggs on your tomato plants will have blessed you with little green caterpillars that hatch from these eggs. The tiny caterpillars turn into tomato horn that will devour many leaves of your tomato plants.

The purpose of this whole warning is to have your plants checked at least once a week for any signs of insect damage. It is much easier to control an insect problem if you catch the problem at an early stage. If you wait until the problem is at a later stage, you run the risk of losing your plants.

With problem insects, fungal diseases develop during the summer months. The wet leaves during the night are an invitation to the fast growth of fungal diseases.

You should not water your plants at night, and if you must do so, never water the leaves of the plant. It does not cool the plant; the plant does not absorb water through the leaves. The wet leaves just create a perfect environment for the growth of fungal diseases. If you have to water at night to save the plants, just water the soil around the plant.

It is always best to water your plants in the morning. The plants will absorb more water in the morning, which will allow the plant to survive the heat of the day. Just be sure to water enough to thoroughly wet the soil. This is extremely important if you grow plants in containers. If the soil in the container is not wet from top to bottom, your plants will suffer from a lack of water.

Well, that's all for this week. I'll talk to you next week

Tim Lamprey is the owner of Harbor Garden Center on Route 1 in Salisbury. Do you have questions for Tim? Send them to [email protected], and he will answer them in the next columns.