The first weeks of July are when annual flowers like petunias, begonias and impatiens celebrate the summer and when perennial flowers that return year after year let go with a big bang of firecracker blooms. If you want to keep the floral fireworks coming, this is the week to tend to some maintenance issues.
Most important:
1. Deadhead or snip off the faded blooms from annuals and perennials to keep them flowering longer. Once you let a plant bloom and then go to seed, it figures its mission has been accomplished. The playboy party days of flamboyant flowering comes to an end and the party is over. Hanging fuchsia baskets, geraniums and marigolds are especially prone to early retirement if you let them slip into seedy relationships.
2. Fertilize now for more flowers. Roses, perennials and annuals that have finished up a first flash of blooms will reload and fire up with more flowers if given more fuel in the form of fertilizer.
A slow-release, organic plant food such as fish fertilizer will help all plants, but heavy-blooming annuals need more than just compost or fish fertilizer to put on a big show. Plants that grow in potting soil really need additional fertilizer that has all three major nutrients (what is called NPK, or nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium). Plant foods with these big three are called complete fertilizers. Many flowers and vegetables also respond quickly to the trace elements or minor nutrients like copper, boron and iron that are found in all-purpose plant foods. This is why all-purpose plant foods contain so many different nutrients — different plants have different needs.
Miracle Grow, Peter’s Professional Plant Food, Osmocote and Dynamite are examples of complete, all-purpose plant foods.
Warning — do not overfeed your plants! Read the label. Put on your glasses if you have to because you will need to read the fine print. Each brand of fertilizer has a recommended rate, and if you give more than is recommended you could overfeed and kill your plants. Yes, you also can overfeed using manure and other organic plant foods.
Do not fertilize when the soil is dry. Water first, then feed. Fertilizing a dry plant on a sunny day will cause indigestion as the plant takes in too much food too quickly.
Remember that plants absorb nutrients through their leaves as well as their roots. If you are using a water-soluble plant food (one you mix with water) pour it onto the foliage as well as the roots — but not while the sun is shining.
3. Offer plenty of water, but don’t drown your plants. Our crazy weather pattern means you cannot go by past performance when it comes to deciding when to water your plants. By July, your potted plants will have grown more roots so there is less room for water storage in the soil. The best way to water is with the finger-poke method. Insert your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle. If it is dry, add water until you see it leaking from the drainage hole.
4. Protect from pests. Cool, moist weather means slugs. Hot dry days encourage mites and aphid. The best defense against any problem is to notice it early. At the first sign of a nibbled leaf go on a bug hunt. Turn the foliage over and search for a small green worm. Look for the tell-tale slime of slugs or check beneath nearby rocks or pots for sow bugs and earwigs. The most efficient tool for summer pest control on your potted plants is a flashlight. Dress in camo gear and do some night maneuvers by flashing a light on your flowering plants after dark. You’ll be able to pinch out all your problem pests before they reproduce and get out of control.
5. Take time to enjoy. Host a garden party, bring cut flowers to the neighbors or a nursing home, take and e-mail pictures or set up an easel and try painting your garden. Summer means life, liberty and the pursuit of more plants!
Send questions for Marianne Binetti to P.O. Box 872, Enumclaw, WA 98022. For a personal reply, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. E-mail: mariannebinetti@comcast.net
