QUESTION: My tomatoes have seen their last day, so I will be cleaning those out. Can you send me a list of what can take the summer heat?
ANSWER: Why yes, here it is, your own personal list! And I promise to share it with you, but only if you promise to grow at least five of these in your summer garden!
Eggplants love hot weather, particularly Asian eggplants and eggplants developed for the South.(Italian eggplant varieties don’t seem to like our high night temperatures so well)
Basil is at heart a tropical herb, and I use it perhaps more than any other vegetable during summer.
I can’t tell you why some people don’t know any better, but I just CRAVE okra, raw, steamed, fried, however you can cook it. And okra craves hot summer nights.
We’re just beginning to discover South American and Caribbean peppers — not the Mexican annuum peppers that most folks grow, but the peppers that have Capsicum baccatum or Capsicum chinense in their background. These peppers from WAY south of the border grow vigorously through our hot summer nights. The most famous of these peppers is, perhaps, the habanero, but don’t panic, because there are many, many mild South American peppers, ranging from Puerto Rican “no-burn“ to the so-called Christmas bell. Some of my favorites are the “no heat“ version of the classic St. Augustine datil pepper and the St. Lucia seasoning pepper. You won’t find these peppers at the big box stores, of course, but they are available as seeds and sometimes as seedlings over the Internet.
There are many fine varieties of beans for this time of year, but let’s get you started with butter beans and pole beans. Just make sure you DON’T get those little “bush“ varieties — they can’t take the heat. Get started with old Southern pole beans like Rattlesnake bean (it’s delicious!) or big growing traditional Southern butter beans like Florida speckled, Christmas speckled and willow leaf.
Southern peas, field peas, cow peas, crowder peas, lady peas, black eyed peas, pink-eyed purple hulls — these old Southern favorites were made for hot weather.
My Dad is obsessed with his yard-long beans, which he produces by the bushel this time of year.
This is fine with me, because then we all get to eat bushels of them.
Can you believe hibiscus? Yes, the hibiscus called roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) has DELICIOUS leaves that resemble a cross between lettuce, rhubarb, cranberries and citrus, and the base of the flowers is used to make the famous Red Zinger tea. I love the distinctive sweet and sour leaves in salads, stuffed in sandwiches. They mix beautifully with fruits. Not a plant anyone in the aisle at Walmart can point you to, but you can find the seeds on the Internet.
If you hurry, you’ll still have time to get a good crop of sweet potatoes, the classic Alabama hot weather plant.
¡¤No reason you couldn’t start another crop or two of corn as summer progresses. Corn that matures in late September or October will be particularly good. You’ll just have to spend a little more time looking out for corn ear worms and the like.
You still have time to get a great harvest of winter squash varieties.
Yellow crookneck “Summer“ squash is mush in most coastal gardens. But you can get much better summer squash flavor by growing hard-stemmed varieties or more vigorous tropical vining varietie ssuch as tromboncino or calabaza squash. These vining squash produce giant fruit if you let them, but you shouldn’t. Pick them and cook them when young, tender and less than 12 inches long.
A lot of folks don’t know this, but right now may be the best time of year to plant watermelons, for harvest in October. Wait a few more weeks, and plant muskmelons and canteloupes for harvest in fall.
Those dry fall days really bring out the sweetness and flavor of melons.
I’ll admit, I’m still reserving judgment on Malabar spinach, but a lot of people really love it. Give it a try, and tell me what you think.
Thai okra or is not a true okra, but has a similar flavor, and is crisper like a cucumber.
Asian cucumbers require more preparation than American cucumbers, but take the heat much better.
By the end of summer, in August and September, there’s a whole nuther list of vegetables I’ll start planting, so stay tuned.
QUESTION: I have planted perennials from a hanging basket around a fountain. I planted with potting soil and watered well. Subsequently the plants have died. Also I planted vincas from individual containers in a flat. Also planted with potting soil. They appeared very healthy when planted but died a couple weeks later. Also well watered. I’ve been told that pine straw will kill any plant. I mulched with pine straw. Maybe that’s my problem?
ANSWER: Pine straw is in no way deadly to plants. Not sure where you heard that, but it’s absolute nonsense. Pine straw mulch is great for plants.
Constantly wet soil is, however, very deadly to many plants, particularly plants like Madagascar periwinkle (or vinca, as some folks call it). Constantly wet soil kills plants by 1. Reducing the percentage of oxygen in the soil, and roots can’t live without oxygen (and plants can’t live long without roots!); and 2. Promoting the development of the water-loving bacteria, fungi and molds that cause root rots. So, as you can see, I’m suspicious (based on the scant information I have on hand) that the soil around your fountain is not only infected with these root-rotting creatures, but it is also creating prime conditions for them to thrive.
Will it help if you throw out all your soil and start over? No. Not unless you improve the drainage in the soil and change your watering schedule to benefit the plants rather than the root-rotting molds and bacteria. Once you do that, the infections may subside to the point that you can even grow susceptible plants like Madagascar periwinkle.
How do you improve the soil? Simply by adding organic matter, in the form of fine textured pine bark mulch (pine bark that has been sieved so that most pieces are no bigger than your fingernail).
Just lay three or four inches of pine bark on top of the ground, and plant right in it. Because of the unusually open structure of this material, it will add a deep zone that’s ultra-rich in oxygen, even if you have a tendency to over water. Do NOT, I warn you, try to do this with sand or peat or that useless stuff masquerading as topsoil, as it will only make things worse. Because the molds and bacteria may still be active in your soil, and because the splash from your fountains is likely a constant source of moisture, I’d also try plants that have a little more tolerance for moist soils and root rots, such as dwarf hibiscus in the Hibiscus moscheutos group (they’re often sold as “Disco Belle“ or “Southern Belle“ hybrids.) These hibiscus are native to wetlands and have a fair to middlin tolerance for over watering (please don’t confuse these with the commonly sold tropical hibiscus, which are much taller and have no tolerance for wet feet).