Labor Day in Southern California, so that means the Santa Clarita Valley only has another two months of summer! I shouldn’t complain (but what fun would THAT be) because it’s really been a fairly mild summer – we have not had the prolonged bouts of 115-degree weather, but it has gotten pretty warm some weeks.
Since it is still quite warm please be sure to complete your gardening chores in the cool of the morning or evening, drink plenty of fluids, and make sure to wear your sun protection. If you’re on a jobsite with me, you’ll hear me harping over and over again about sunscreen, hats, and water please take that to heart.
Continue to give your trees and shrubs infrequent deep watering while it’s still hot out. Every few weeks is good. If you have picked up a free WBIC you are ahead of the game, but deep watering with a hose or bubblers to your trees will pay off with healthy trees and deep roots.
Clean up those rose beds! Pick up old leaves, prune lightly and check for pests and diseases.
If you are planning to plant roses in the fall, this is a good time to order roses from catalogs. Since we are lucky enough to live in a rose loving climate, we also have some great resources right around the corner. Instead of ordering from catalogs you might want to peruse Otto & Sons’s Nursery out in Fillmore. It’s a great trip and Scott and his staff have an amazing array of beautiful plants. I NEVER can’t find what I’m looking for there. (A double negative is a positive!)
Check all your hanging baskets and potted designs clean them up (a little judicious pruning) and fertilize them now and they will last well into the cooler months.
Start thinking about your cool season vegetables, you can sow seeds if you are planning to start your veggies from “scratch”. Squash, green beans, cucumbers, and pumpkins can be started.
You can plant a second set of pepper and tomato plants to extend your harvest too. Green Thumb Nursery has a nice selection of cool season tomatoes right now (see my blog post about extending your tomato harvest). I just replaced two of my non-producing summer plants with brand new babies, I picked up a Stupice and a Glacier – both of which produce tomatoes quickly.
Once your summer blooming shrubs and vines have finished blooming, give them a good pruning.
You can plant fall and winter blooming perennials such as aloes, Echinacea (they last a long time) sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and clivia.
I hope this helps you keep your garden in tip top shape!
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