Plant Answers

Primetime-News Article
By Calvin R. Finch, PhD, SAWS Water Resources Director, and Horticulturist
Saturday, May 28, 2007

“Garden Tasks in June”

Hot weather is here again. The aquifer is relatively high, but it can drop quickly if we use too much water on our landscapes.

Water the lawn before 10 in the morning or after 8 in the evening for most efficiency and to obey the law. Lawns with at least four inches of soil can perform well with once per week watering. The best plan is to follow the SIP watering recommendation every week. Visit the SAWS website at www.saws.org and click on Conservation to obtain more information and to enroll. The weekly e-mail watering recommendation is free and you do not have to be a SAWS customer. In 2006, 7000 homeowners participated (one half from outside the SAWS area). They saved 20% of their water on average and had green lawns.

If you do not want to participate in SIP, a good rule of thumb is .75 inch/week for St. Augustine and Zoysia in the sun, .50 inch for Bermuda in the sun or St. Augustine and Zoysia in the shade. Buffalo grass will stay green with a little less than .5 inch per week.

The tomatoes will do most of their production in early June and serious gardeners pull the plants at the end of the month. Such a strategy allows you to avoid severe spider mite and fungus build ups. The new tomatoes for autumn production can be planted after mid July. Peppers, eggplant, okra and southern peas will produce through the summer if you keep the fruit picked and they receive adequate water.

Roses decline in June and do not perk up again most years until August or September. Belinda’s Dream, Katy Road and some of the other tough roses may bloom in June if the temperatures are not too hot. Water your hybrid tea roses every week. Old fashioned or the tough modern rose may only require a deep watering every month. You can discontinue the insect and fungicide sprays until the autumn growth spurt begins.

Cosmos will bloom in four or five weeks if planted by seed. They will also reseed themselves and bloom continuously until cold weather. Use moss roses or purslane in hanging baskets and for a low growing bloom in the flower bed. Vinca and zinnias can be planted as transplants in full sun. In the shade begonias, coleus and caladiums provide good hot weather color.

Your established trees can easily live through the summer without supplemental watering, but irrigate trees planted this year whenever the soil under the mulch dries to one inch. Established trees in stressful situations (parking lots, construction sites, high traffic zones) should be watered once per month if we do not receive at least one inch of rain in the month.

The birds do not need seeds from our feeders in the summer, but water is very useful to them. A bird both rinsed and filled every day works well. Running water is especially attractive and will bring many species into your yard for easy viewing. Hummingbird feeders need to be rinsed and filled every week. The young of the season will show up at the feeders in June. Only the black chinned hummingbird nests in San Antonio and points west, but two other species migrate through in the Spring and Fall.

June is not the best month to plant shrubs, trees and perennials, but it is possible if you are careful about watering. There are some hot weather loving plants however that prosper even when planted this month. Lantanas, vitex, esperanza, poinciana and the blue salvias fit in that category. Use mulch on the soil over the root system to increase the success of summer planting. Add drip irrigation or a soaker hose and it is easy to keep them watered without using excessive water. The drip irrigation emitters regulate flow of water, but with a soaker hose it is important only to turn the spigot a ¼ to ½ turn to insure that the water just trickles out.