| For the Jacksonville Florida Times-Union USA TODAY NETWORK
Summer is officially here and it’s time for increased humidity, afternoon storms and much more problems with plant stress, insects and diseases. The last week of May gave us a foretaste of the dog days of summer, with temperatures in three digits. Don’t expect there to be a little break as this month gets us at the height of the heat.
Here are some tips on how to best manage your garden through June:
Feel the heat
Throughout the summer, understand that some plants may thrive while others may wither. For annual flowers that need cooler weather, like petunias, remember to replace them with heat-tolerant species like Impatiens, Coleus, and Salvia. This also applies to vegetables, as many spring fruits such as pumpkins, cucumbers and tomatoes will often come to an end in the coming months.
In fact, the only traditional garden plants that do well over the summer are okra, sweet potatoes, and peas from the south. However, there are other alternative crops such as tropical spinach, ginger, amaranth, calabaza, and chayote that can be planted in June.
For perennials, shrubs and trees, you should consider irrigation if we have prolonged dry spells. Be sure to provide enough water when they are replanted. If species continue to struggle in a particular location year after year, consider transplanting them to an area that suits their needs or replacing them with a different species that will better suit your garden.
Protect yourself
Gardening has many benefits and is used for improving mental and physical health. However, Florida summer can really weigh you down if you don’t protect yourself. Be sure to wear sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher with UVA and UVB protection and clothing to cover as much skin as possible. Hats, long sleeves and long pants are best and don’t forget to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes. The heat itself is your enemy too, with adequate exposure. So drink plenty of water, take plenty of breaks, and work early in the morning or in the evening when the temperatures are lower. Make sure to get in and out of the heat when you feel sick.
Main time for perennials
June is often a peak time for flowering in the garden, and perennials are great choices for adding a big pop of color. With the benefit of coming back year after year, these species are more useful than annual species, and there are so many excellent varieties to choose from that they suit the characteristics of your yard and your desired shapes and colors. Many are also preferred host and food plants for pollinators.
If you have some early bloomers that are starting to drop flowers and fade out for the season this month, cut them back by about a third and it may spur more blooms.
Things to plant in June
Vegetables: Okra, southern peas (black-eyed, powder, etc.), sweet potatoes, boniato, ginger, roselle, tropical spinach, amaranth, calabaza, long squash, loofah, papaya, passion fruit, pigeon pea, seminole squash, and chayote.
Yearbooks: Celosia, Coleus, Crossandra, Exacum, Impatiens, Nicotiana, Ornamental Pepper, Portulaca, Salvia, Torenia, Periwinkle and Zinnia.
Herbs: Basil, Mexican tarragon and rosemary.
Onions, tubers or rhizomes: Aztec lily, gladiolus, kaffir lily, African lily, spider lily, scarborough lily and walking iris.
Wayne Hobbs is an environmental horticultural consultant in Clay County.
