Most gardeners look forward to a bit of summer rain, the farmers certainly need it, but in recent summers this rain comes hard and fast and damages a lot of young flowering plants. It is worth trying to erect some shade covering over vulnerable plants to break up the downpour. The saturation of the soil …Read More about Summer showers
Summer
Summer salad
While heatwaves in summer provide plenty of ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, summer salads often lack fresh lettuce leaves. Lettuce are cool weather crops, best either side of summer, but, with a little effort summer salad can be produced in super hot gardens. Last year’s heatwave was broken by some rainy weather, better for lettuce, so …Read More about Summer salad
Preparing for summer
This April was the warmest on record in Belgium and authorities are already warning of a heatwave and drought in the summer. With temperatures already high it is difficult to get small plants started in the garden. Plants should be started outdoors in the shade where possible and where possible shade cover should be created …Read More about Preparing for summer
August: Hot August nights
Too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Too much heat and too much sun is not good for plants. During heatwaves photosynthesis slows down and will stop altogether when temperatures rise to around 35C. Thus the garden is full of green tomatoes and semi mature fruits which will ripen when the temperatures …Read More about August: Hot August nights
July: Summer extremes
A bit of rain is always welcome at this time of summer but violent thunderstorms along with extreme heat can be quite difficult. Young plants are easily damaged in heavy downpours and tomato flowers can be knocked off. Following on from disturbed conditions last month most the garden crops are behind in their development compared …Read More about July: Summer extremes
June: Summertime
The transition from spring to summer has been a bumpy one this year. While June last year was very dry and very warm this year has seen thunder storms, torrential rains and blustery winds. This can be difficult for new young plants with rain damage to leaves but even more so by creating the perfect …Read More about June: Summertime