With the Summer weather so extreme (as far as heat and lack of rain goes), there are many things that home gardeners can do to help their gardens:
-Reduce the stress by supplying water using:-Gator bags (Treegator Original, $41.99 each) - waters a tree continuously for 5-9 hours
- Ooze tubes (Ooze tube Timed Release Watering System, $16.99) - fill every 2 weeks, dripper regulates flow so it can't over or underwater a tree
- Soaker hoses in a spiral over the root zone of a tree (Gilmour Soaker Hose, $29.99 for 50 feet)
Monitor the amount using a simple "calibration" technique - cat food cans lined up in the path of the sprinkler to measure the amount of time it takes to fill with ½ inch of water. Then you run the sprinkler 3 times per week to get the same amount as 1 ½ inch of rain.
There are still plants that look beautiful at this time of year, even in the heat. All these hydrangeas look gorgeous, so we can talk about some beautiful additions for the garden for this time of year.
- 'Pinky Winky' Hydrangea - panicled type 6'x6' 5G size is $49.99
- 'Little Lamb' Hydrangea - 6'x5' 5G size is $49.99
-'Great Star' Hydrangea - another panicled tupe 6-8'x6-8' 5G is $49.99 (Jennifer's favorite!)
-'Limelight' Hydrangea - another panicled type 6-8'x6'8' 5G is $49.99
-'Pink Diamond' Hydrangea - panicled type 6-8' x 5-6' 5G is $49.99
Most popular products this time of year:
-Root & Grow Plant Starter ($12.99 from Bonide) - (3-10-3 fertilizer with a rooting hormone and B1 for stress reduction) - great for newly planted plants and root stressed plants from too hot soil.
-Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower Insect killer, $9.99 - for Japanese Beetle control on Roses, flowers and flowering trees and shrubs.
-Bayer Advanced 3-in-1 Insect, Disease & Mite Control , $14.99 - for insect, disease and mite control. Systemic that stays in the plant for 30 days and does not wash off in the rain.
Tomato Tone by Espoma- 4# for$ 8.99. Dr. Earth Tomato, Vegetable. & Herb fertilizer - 4# fir$ 11.99
