Here comes the sun, for now

Jill Severn

Photo by Anna Schlecht

Here comes the sun – but apparently only for a few days, so get it while it’s hot. Forecasters are predicting a cooler than normal July.

Will they be right? And what about August and September?

If we get an un-summer with mostly cloudy days, we might end up with more of what we’ve had already: record-breaking rain and record-breaking weeds. Damp ground makes every weed seed sprout, and they just keep coming.

Still, it’s also possible we’ll have another 109-degree heat wave before the summer is over.

Uncertainty reigns

Gardeners just have to hedge our bets and accept that gardening is always a gamble.

Cool, rainy weather means bumper crops of peas and a longer season for lettuce. (Most varieties of lettuce are likely to go to seed and become bitter the minute it gets hot.) But cool weather slows down tomatoes, peppers, basil, eggplant, melons and other sun lovers, making yields smaller and later.

Still, even if those heat-lovers are less productive this year, fewer and later ripe tomatoes are vastly better than no tomatoes. The same is true for all those other delicious heat-seeking crops that are divine when fresh from the garden.

With an eye on this weekend’s weather forecast, I have harvested as much lettuce as will keep in my refrigerator for a week or so. The chickens also got a bonanza of greens. In its place, I will plant seeds of more heat-tolerant leafy stuff like chard, collard greens and, yes, kale. And I might plant some oak leaf lettuce, which is more heat resistant, but makes boring salads compared to butter lettuce or romaine.

Place your bets

If you want to place a bigger bet on a cool summer, it’s not too late to plant more broccoli, cabbage, or brussels sprouts from started plants. I had a good fall broccoli crop from plants I put in the ground late last July, in the space freed up when I harvested garlic. And they are less intolerant of heat, if it comes to that, than lettuce.

Bush beans are a good bet in any weather. They do well under either hot sun or cooling clouds. They grow fast and produce abundant crops right up until frost. Planting a few seeds every couple of weeks until mid-July keeps them coming, and harvesting them when they are young and tender prolongs their productive life and improves their flavor and texture.

For flowers, the advantage of cooler weather is that they bloom longer; in hot weather they might be earlier, but with some exceptions, their period of bloom is likely to be more intense but shorter.

So no matter what the weather does, don’t despair. In every garden year, there are successes, shortcomings, and failures – and all are relative. Total catastrophe is unlikely.

How to prevent catastrophe

The surefire way to prevent catastrophe is to pay attention to our gardens’ need for water. It can be surprising just how quickly the ground dries out, especially if you garden in light, sandy soil. People who garden in heavy clay soils have the comfort of knowing that for all the downsides of that, clay soil’s redeeming virtue is that it doesn’t dry out so quickly.

And here’s some advice: If you want to know whether your soil needs water, stick your finger in it. (OK, one exemption: If you just had your nails done, use a trowel.) Though there are moisture-measuring instruments, nothing is as reliable as your own hands, eyes, and common sense. You can procrastinate on many garden tasks, but watering is not one of them. Get your fingers dirty early and often; watering when it’s needed is best way to improve the odds on all the bets you’ve placed.

Jill Severn writes from her home in Olympia, where she grows vegetables, flowers and a small flock of chickens. She loves conversation among gardeners. Start one by emailing her at  jill@theJOLTnews.com