Summer’s here and the weather’s warming up. Help your San Diego garden thrive and look beautiful all summer long.
Hot Colors for Summer
Yellows, oranges, reds and vibrant pinks look great in bright, summer sun. There are many ways you can incorporate them into your San Diego garden. If you’re worried about things looking too hot, balance them with cool colors like blue, purple or white. Try framing them with foliage. Green works great, and silver or gray is perfect for unifying and separating hot colors. Try dusty miller, lamb’s ear, hen and chicks or bush germander for great silver-gray plants.
You can mix annuals, perennials and bulbs in your bright, summer garden. Cosmos, marigolds, zinnias and petunias are just a few of the annuals that will work well. The list of brilliant perennials is long, and Gloriosa daisy ‘Indian Summer,’ yarrow ‘Coronation Gold,’ many varieties of daylily, and pelargoniums are a few you can add. Try cannas, crocosmias, dahlias and begonias which are bulbs and tubers that flower in yellow, orange, red and bright pinks.
Water and Mulch San Diego Gardens
As summer weather warms up, plants need more water. When the top four inches of soil in the root zone of your plants starts to dry, it’s time to water. Water deeply on occasion to leach salt from the root zone.
If you haven’t mulched recently, this is a good time to do so. The mulch will help keep your plants’ roots cool and hold moisture in the soil. Organic mulch will also add nutrients to your soil as it decomposes. It will take a layer of at least two inches to discourage weeds, three to four inches works better. Keep the mulch away from the trunks of trees and shrubs. Piling mulch against the trunk can cause rot and other issues.
Plant and Feed Summer Vegetables
Set out transplants of cucumbers, eggplant, melons, peppers and tomatoes. Sow seeds of beans, corn, cucumbers, New Zealand spinach, pumpkins and squash. Use a nitrogen fertilizer on these crops to promote growth. Feed the corn when it is six inches tall and again when it hits 24 inches. Fertilize cucumbers, melons, pumpkins and squash when they begin to produce runners. Eggplant, peppers and tomatoes should be fed when they begin to bloom and again after one month. Feed beans one month after planting or when runners start to climb.
San Diego Garden Tips Source
A lot of information for San Diego Gardening Tips comes from the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County. They are a great resource for all of your gardening needs including planting, pests, vegetables, and water use. They even have a free hotline where you can get your home gardening and pest control problems answered.