Summer is here and we have had temperatures soaring into the 100’s.

I have had a hard time tolerating this heat and can only imagine how difficult it must be for our plants. It is imperative that you check your garden beds and pots daily to see if your plants are getting enough water.

Look for signs that your plants need to drink. Signs to look out for are wilting, browning or crispy leaves. If you see these signs then water slowly so that it will soak into the root ball. Early morning is the best time to water since it gives the plant plenty of time for absorption before the hottest part of the day arrives. Be sure to mulch to keep the soil cool and moist.

Potted plants will be the most vulnerable to hot weather. Those in the sun may need to be watered twice a day or simply moved into the shade especially if temps exceed 110 degrees. Placing saucers beneath these pots to hold extra water might be necessary but be sure to remove these as soon as possible when the temperatures return to their average levels. Full sun plants will be fine sitting in the shade for a few days.

Never transplant or divide during a heat wave. Even avoid planting smaller plants as those in six-packs. Keep these in the shade until the severe heat leaves-check them twice a day or more to see if they need additional watering.

Never use a sprinkler during the hottest part of the day since most of the water will evaporate and it could scorch the already stressed

plants.

Never fertilize when it is hot. It is best to wait until it is cooler to prevent fertilizer burn.

As for the vegetable garden, most vegetables should be established by now to withstand the heat. Consistent watering is essential however to prevent long term damage such as tomato and pepper blossom end rot. Inconsistent watering also causes tomatoes to crack and leafy vegetables to bolt.

Work in your gardens during the cool mornings only and keep yourself as hydrated as your plants!

Red Bluff Garden Club is affiliated with Cascade District Garden Club, California Garden Clubs, Inc., Pacific Region Garden Clubs, and National Garden Clubs, Inc.

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WALSALL, UNITED KINGDOM — (Marketwired) — 07/11/13 — Glorious sunshine, the smell of barbeques and warm nights all signify one thing; summer is officially here at last! With the rising temperatures it becomes more important to try and save water as we do sometimes experience water shortages in the UK. With this in mind we’ve created HomeServe Handy Hints to help you save water.

By making some minor changes you could not only help to reduce your bills, but also become more environmentally friendly too! So read on to find out more with our latest Handy Hints.

Saving water in and around your home

--  Don't leave your taps running - Do you leave the water running when you
    brush your teeth? Most people do, but by simply turning off the tap
    whilst you clean your teeth you could save a significant amount of water
    across the year. By making this small change you could help to make a
    positive difference to your water bill.  
    
--  Be sensible with your settings - All appliances have different washing
    settings so try to use the most efficient settings available. Another
    top tip to avoid water waste is to ensure your dishwasher or washing
    machine is full before use so that you get value for money with each
    wash. 
    
--  Think of alternative uses for your used water - When you give your pet
    fresh water, don't throw the old water away. Try using it instead to
    water your trees, plants or shrubs. 
    
                                                                            
Saving water in your garden                                                 

--  No butts about it - Consider investing in a water butt for your garden.
    Apart from the cost to purchase it, collecting the water is free and it
    can be used to water your plants and shrubs to help keep your garden
    looking lovely. 
    
--  Grab a bucket and sponge - When cleaning your car why not reach for a
    bucket and sponge and do it yourself? It may take a little longer than
    using a car wash but by choosing to clean your car this way you'll avoid
    a car wash that invariably uses more water. 
    

HomeServe also offers boiler cover insurance as well as insurance for plumbing, drains, electrical wiring and gas central heating.

Important information regarding HomeServe help and advice

HomeServe try to make the home advice as useful and reliable as possible. However, the purpose of HomeServe help and advice content is to provide homeowners and private landlords with general guidance and useful tips only. It doesn’t necessarily deal with every important topic or cover every aspect of the topics with which it deals and might not be relevant or appropriate in all circumstances. It is not designed to provide professional advice or financial advice and should not be relied on as such. The full disclaimer regarding HomeServe help and advice can be found on the website at the following page: http://www.homeserve.com/help-advice/disclaimer.

Contacts:
HomeServe
Famena Nawaz
+44-(0)-1902-609106
famena.nawaz@homeserve.com

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For a time many years back, I would become nervous every time I went out to my garden to weed. The weeds were so few that I feared something was wrong with the soil.

True, I had taken deliberate steps to create this condition, but initially it was hard to believe that results could so well bear out theory.

The first step in creating this “weedless” condition was to stop turning over or tilling the ground.

Buried in every soil are countless dormant weed seeds just waiting to be awakened by exposure to light and/or air. Not tilling — whether with a shovel, garden fork or rototiller — keeps those seeds buried and dormant.

Added bonuses to the no-till approach are preservation of valuable soil humus (organic matter), earlier planting in spring, more efficient water use and, of course, not having to go through the trouble of tilling.

KEEP THE SOIL INTACT AND COVERED

I now take great pains to avoid disturbing the layering that naturally develops over time in any soil.

I clean up old marigold plants, tomato vines and other spent plants during and at the end of the growing season by just jerking them out of the ground, coaxing out plants with large roots, such as corn, by first cutting around their main roots with a garden knife.

I also enrich the soil from the top down, spreading fertilizers and compost or other organic materials right on the surface. Most of a plant’s feeder roots — the roots that benefit most from organic

materials and fertilizers — grow near the surface anyway. And near or on the surface is where organic materials can also do the most good offering protection from the pounding of raindrops and the summer sun.

Still, there are always those weeds that arrive in the garden as seeds hitchhiking in with the wind or dropped by birds. Each year, I smother them by spreading a thin, weed-free mulch over the soil. The mulch of choice depends on the look I want, the plants and the soil.

Poor soil and hungrier plants demand the most nourishing mulch. So every year, compost gets slathered an inch thick over the ground where vegetables grow.

Buckwheat hulls, straw or wood chips are adequate and attractive for most flowers.

DON’T WALK ON MY BED!

Of course, you can’t just stop tilling, throw mulch on the ground and garden as usual. Walking on the soil and rolling a wheelbarrow, garden cart or tractor over it compacts the soil; tillage is then needed to aerate it.

The way to avoid compaction in the first place is to lay out the garden with permanent areas for plants and for traffic. Trafficked areas also need to be mulched, in this case with some lean, weed-free material such as wood chips, gravel or straw.

Planted areas in my vegetable garden consist of rectangular beds 3 feet wide surrounded by 18-inch-wide paths. Beds in my flower garden are more free-form or have stepping stones.

Planted areas in a vegetable garden don’t need to be raised beds, however; they can be laid out flat on the ground.

A big advantage of bed planting is that you can pack more plants into less space. Instead of planting carrots with 18 inches between rows, four or five rows can be planted with only a few inches between them. (That 18 inches is to let you walk between the rows for planting, weeding and harvesting. With a 3-foot-wide bed, you can do all that from the paths.)

Also, different vegetables, flowers, or vegetables and flowers can be grown together in beds.

DRIP THAT WATER

Changing watering technique was the final step on my road to “weedlessness.” Not all plants need regular watering, but for those that do, drip irrigation is the way to go.

Drip irrigation puts water near garden plants, so none is wasted or promoting weed growth in the areas between plants or in paths.

This is not to say that with the above four steps — drip irrigation, mulching, keeping traffic off planted areas, and not tilling — weeds never appear. They do. But weed problems do not.

What few large weeds do appear get yanked out of the soil, roots and all, coaxed out, if necessary, with a garden knife or trowel at their roots.

Colonies of small weeds are quickly done in with a “winged weeder,” colinear hoe or some other hoe with a sharp blade that can be slid along parallel to and just a fraction of an inch below the soil surface.

Also important in keeping a garden weed-free is to search regularly for them. With the above four steps, this activity is pared down to nothing more than a few pleasant minutes per week.

For more information online, visit http://leereich.blogspot.com and http://leereich.com.