The weather is conducive to gardening once again. I have to admit that some of my beds were so neglected, that they were nothing but crabgrass. I didn’t plant as many vegetables this year in my raised beds, and the weeds had free reign. Between extreme heat and traveling, I just ignored them. It is too late in the year to solarize these beds, so I am doing the next best thing—smothering them out. I cut the weeds back as close to the ground as possible
(pulling a few), then I wet the beds, and then covered them with black plastic.
Black plastic won’t generate enough heat to kill the weed seeds –of which there are now thousands to come back to haunt me for years, but it will smother out the weeds that are still alive. I will leave it covered for a few weeks, then, hoe, and plant some winter vegetables. Crabgrass
is a summer annual weed that is on its way out anyway, I am just speeding up the process. Solarization uses clear plastic to trap in the radiant heat,
generating enough heat to kill weed seeds and disease organisms. But you need 6-8 weeks of hot temperatures to achieve that, and so I am too late.
I edged all the beds, deadheaded and spent a full day deep watering. It is still very dry. I have noticed plants in yards that were trying to make a come-back that are now struggling. Don’t ignore your plants, or you may not have as many next year.
My summer annuals are still growing—some better than others. I am not replacing them just yet. I will wait until I get back from St. Louis, my last trip the end of the month. It is just too dry to try to get something new started. I am busy enough keeping what I have watered. I gave everything a shot of fertilizer and watered it in. The hibiscus are such a great investment. They still produce gorgeous blooms every week. The color is amazing.
Fall is definitely on the horizon, and there is so much work to be done in the garden. Now if we could just get a little rain!