Love summer gardening
Summer is here with high temperatures daily in the 90s. Let’s garden … every day in Southwest Florida is perfect for gardening. Your routine in summer will probably include mornings and early evening, avoiding middays. Although I have and will continue into the late morning and early afternoon taking breaks every 10 minutes to rest and hydrate.
What to plant in summer: Annuals and bedding plants such as coleus, portulaca and vinca are the most heat tolerant annuals. Herbs … cumin, mint and basil. Bulbs … cannas thrive in the summer heat. Vegetables … southern peas, sweet potatoes and beans.
Palms love the hot rainy season so summer is a great time to plant. For your existing palms, never “hurricane” prune. Palms are able to withstand high winds that hurricanes bring, so pruning can seriously damage the palm. Only remove fronds that are completely brown. For all palm and tree pruning, hire and ISA certified arborist.
Don’t forget, in Cape Coral, our fertilizer black out is in effect from June 1 to Sept. 31. Fertilizers containing nitrogen or phosphorus are not permitted to be applied to ornamentals, a variety of plants and turf. Phosphorus can cause algae blooms, reduce clarity of our canals and waterways and can stress or kill fish.
Our Southwest Florida summers are fabulous and magical for many reasons …blue skies, beautiful sunrises and sunsets, humid warmth and rain. Our conditions are perfect to plant trees, palms, shrubs and flowers. We have Mother Nature’s sprinkler system and our gardens become established. Summer is perfect time for pruning. Some scrubs love a hard cutback (up to 50 percent) while others can only take a slight trim. Make sure to research your plant before trimming.
Cape Coral is in Zone 10A and we struggle with sandy soil. I always recommend mulch over our plantings not rocks or shells. Rocks and shells attract too much heat and burn the bottom of plants. Mulch helps to keep our sandy soil cooler along with preventing water loss through evaporation.
The summer season is a great time to work on curb appeal! It’s a fun time to start a gardening project. Take a picture of your project area. Make a plan, go shopping and then enjoy the process of digging, planting. Take a picture when your project is done. I have a picture of my current project which I call “Happiness to my front door”.
I’d like to leave you with a couple of inspirational summer quotes:
“Then followed that beautiful season … Summer … filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“A late Summer garden has a tranquility found no other time of year.” –William F. Longgood
Happy summer gardening!
Ann Block is Co-President of the Garden Club of Cape Coral. Visit www.gardenclubofcapecoral.com for more information.