Cool It

 

June 2025

Pickaway to Garden

Cool It

By Paul Hang

Did you ever say this to someone? Cool it, meaning to calm down, don’t heat up the situation, let cooler heads prevail. I am not talking politics, although that would be good advice. Not just about their rhetoric but about climate related legislation. It seems our weather has been pretty cool this spring. I don’t know when you will be reading this so you may be sweltering from the heat, but as I write this it was 62 degrees this morning. It has been this way, with a few exceptions, all spring. For gardeners this has required adaptations. We wish we had planted more cool weather crops. Our warm weather crops, like tomatoes and salvia, are languishing, waiting on the heat. I have been tempted to plant more cool weather plants, like lettuces and radishes, but afraid that, by the time they are up, it will have turned hot and they will bolt.

Benjamin Franklin said, “Some people are weather-wise, but most are otherwise.” As gardeners, we should be weather-wise. We soon learn that most plants need about one inch of rainfall a week. But how do we know if that has happened in our garden? Rainfall can be pretty spotty. I can have a downpour but just across the street it is sprinkling or not raining at all. Rainfall reports are for the location where the rain gauge is located.

Most people notice the weather, how could we not? It is all around us. I am not typical. My job in the U.S. Air Force was as a Weather Observer. I received training in what to look for, clouds winds, haze, fog, etc. I learned how to report conditions and how to launch weather balloons and report the data received. If you too are not part of the “otherwise, “ or, even if you are, you might be interested in a group called CoCoRaHS (The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network).

CoCoRaHS, Is a non-profit, community based, network of volunteers who measure and report rain, hail and snow in their backyards. It only takes a few minutes to check the rain gauge and report your observations. If you have an interest in weather and would like to help your local community, as well as scientists and others interested in precipitation this is for you. You participate in real citizen science. It is educational and will help you be a better gardener. You can get more information at www.cocorahs.org.

Still interested in our local weather? Attend the Pickaway County Master Gardener Volunteer’s Founders Day Celebration. Dr. Aaron B. Wilson Asst. Professor-Ag Weather and Climate Field Specialist, Department of Extension-CFAES; The Ohio State University, will present, “Weather and Climate Conversations.” This will be held Wednesday June 25^th at 6 PM. Bring a chair and join us at the Starkey Pavilion MVCH Park, 1230 Pontius Rd., Circleville, Ohio. It’s FREE.

Come at 5pm and discover the world of Eastern Bluebirds at the park, their habitat, behavior and conservancy. As always, call the helpline at the Pickaway County Extension office at 740-474-7534 with your gardening questions. Or, go to www.Pickaway.osu.edu, click on "Ask an expert."  

Things to do in the garden:

To avoid the wilting of cucumber and melon vines cover the new plants with row cover material until the plants flower. Then remove the cover so that the pollinators can do their work. Use row covers on all vegetable plants that do not need to be pollinated: cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, onions and root crops are examples. We eat them before they flower and go to seed, thus no need for them to be pollinated. I have begun to do this on more vegetables and it keeps most pests away. Mulch vegetables in mid-month after the soil has warmed up. You can fertilize all vegetables, corn two times, this month.

Weed and thin plants. Crowding plants more than is recommended results in all the plants doing poorly. Water deeply (not a little each day) one inch per week all summer.  Apply the water to the base of the plants rather than on the foliage. If you use a sprinkler, water early in the day so the foliage can dry before nightfall. Wet foliage overnight encourages fungal diseases to develop.

Remove seed heads from perennials. Don’t allow fancy hybrids to ripen and self-sow as their offspring will not come true. Deadhead flowers for more blooms. Iris can be divided and replanted after blooming. Pinch back mums once they are 4 to 6 inches tall. Continue to pinch back until mid-July. If your daffodils or other bulb plants didn’t bloom well it could be because they are now growing in the shade of larger grown trees or shrubs. Or, perhaps they are too crowded? Once the foliage turns yellow you can dig up the bulbs and divide and/or move them.

Fruit trees often shed small fruits in early summer called June Drop. Thin after this occurs. Thin apples to one fruit per cluster and one fruit every four to eight inches. Other tree fruit can be thinned a little less. This will cause bigger fruit. Don’t thin cherries. Pick up all fallen fruit. Only compost fallen fruit if you have a “hot” heap. Otherwise dispose of diseased fruit in the trash.

If you notice a “volunteer” tomato plant in your garden, yank it out or transplant it. Good gardeners, like good farmers, rotate their crops. A volunteer growing in last year’s tomato area allows disease to accumulate in that spot. Mulch under tomatoes keeps the soil from splashing up on the fruits. Soil on the leaves and fruits promotes disease. If you don’t stake, trellis or cage your tomatoes and let them sprawl on the ground, mulch will keep the fruit off the bare ground. Mulch also keeps the ground from drying out, suppresses weeds and moderates the soil temperature. Several layers of newspaper topped with organic mulch, leaves, untreated grass clippings, coarse compost, shredded bark etc. should do the trick. Never let your tomatoes wilt. Uneven watering causes blossom end rot.

Water your roses well but hold off on the geraniums. They will bloom best when kept somewhat dry. Roses sprouting from below the graft should be replaced. Peonies should be fertilized after they finish blooming. Newly planted trees and bushes should be watered well each week for the first two years if the weather turns dry. Give them a good soaking. Don’t give them a booster feeding of fertilizer this year. Force those young roots to search for food by stretching out into the soil. Mow the lawn high, 3-4 inches, it crowds out weeds and needs less water, and mowing.