Anchorage Daily News

A week of 70-degree days without rain preceded by a few weeks of darn good weather can make you think you are, indeed, in Heaven. I am betting some of your plants are not quite as happy.

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Gardening calendar (7/9/09)

WATER: It is really dry.

NURSERIES: Look for sales.

COMPOST PILES: How is yours doing? Turn and add some new supplies to it.

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For starters, raspberries, the usually dependable fruit here in Southcentral, need water, especially since they are forming fruit. Do water yours this week. Make sure they get one to two inches.

Next, many yards are beginning to suffer under what continues to be an extremely heavy aphid honeydew drop. There isn't much you can do with regard to the aphids on your trees, unfortunately, but it is important to keep them well watered so they can stand up to the stress of both the unusual heat and the assault of aphids. A hard spray of cold water could help some of the perennials and annuals that have also attracted more than their fair share of these bugs.

Lawns, particularly those that receive the spray of honeydew, should be watered but not cut. The honeydew on a cut lawn is an invitation for a brown, burned lawn at best.

In fact, when it is dry like this, don't mow the lawn at all. If you must, make sure you have a sharp blade and water immediately. It is best, however, If you simply use the heat and dryness as an excuse for not mowing at all.

Do continue to water your lawns if you want them to stay green.

In the Lower 48, the advice is to water in the morning so the grass dries off by night. Here we have a dew at night, and the lawn really needs the drink in mid-afternoon. An inch per watering when it is hot and dry and up to two inches a week would make sense if this weather keeps up.

Obviously, you should make sure that the roots of your vegetable garden plants are not dry. A sprinkler system is really a must and you need to at least check to see if your crops need water in the morning and the early evening. If they don't, they don't, and you have wasted a few minutes of time. If they do need water and you didn't check, you end up wasting the entire season.

I've mentioned thinning the crops before, but when it is dry it is even more important as these extra seedlings compete for water. Thin and eat the gleanings. Beets and carrots won't replant all that well but lettuces can be thinned by pulling, and the "pullings" can be replanted. I think it makes more sense to eat them and start more by seed.

Radishes should be ready to harvest, and I wouldn't wait another day as they don't taste better when they are bigger. Pull them and then plant another row, only this time plant a few seeds at a time instead of all at once.

Potatoes should be sprouting. They need to be 'hilled," which is nothing more than building a "soil pile" (like a sand castle) around each plant so only a few inches remain out of the soil. The potatoes grow in the hilled area.

Fuchsia are really cool weather plants and often poop out in the heat unless they are watered daily and the spent blossoms are removed by hand before they set seed. Tuberous begonias thrive on humidity, so make sure they get water as well as deadheading. Another plant that might need deadheading before seeds develop are Oriental poppies. These are pretty much finishing their blooming period now and can become a huge nuisance because of the number of seeds produced.

Finally, dahlias are no doubt going through a spurt of growth right now, developing flowers. Staking, it goes without saying, is a must for the big ones. This time of year, add some compost laced with soybean meal to help replenish supplies to the soil herd. In general add some kelp and or fish meal to flower beds. And keep mulches applied. They hold in water.

Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. You can reach him at teamingwithmicrobes.com or by calling 274-5297 during "The Garden Party" radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KBYR AM-700.

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