Weathering the weather

Posted on June 2, 2015 Updated on June 2, 2015

What stresses out your plants more than bugs and disease combined? In my experience it has been weather.

Plants each have their own ideal zone to grow in and their needs change as they begin to flower, produce fruit and eventually begin to die. In a greenhouse environment it is easy to control light, wind, water and sometimes even temperature but that all changes the moment you hand the care of your plants over to Mother Nature.

During an ideal spring you would plant your garden while the temperatures hovered near the mid 70’s. As time went on the temperature would meander towards the 90’s within a month or so. Steady spring rains would water your garden and your plants would rejoice and grow beautifully. This is not a typical spring.

This spring I have seen temperatures ranging from the mid-60s to the mid-90s sometimes in the same day. Here in Virginia we have had heavy thunderstorms and a few days of good soaking rain followed by hotter temperatures and weeks of dryness. This is enough to confuse any plant. Plants rely on the temperature of the air and soil, the amount of sunshine and the length of the day to tell them when to bloom and produce fruit.

As a result many plants are suffering the effects of this hot spring. You will likely see your plants doing weird things such as tomato leaf curl. Ordinarily this would be an immediate concern as bugs and disease can cause your tomato leaves to curl up tightly. However it can also be a reaction to bizarre weather. Other things you may see your plants doing include growing long tall lanky, turning yellow, wilting or even just dying. Most of my herbs this spring have already bolted because of the heat and begun to bloom.

But what can you do? The answer is, be patient. Remember that plants and Mother Nature have been doing this dance for longer than we have been around. You can do things to support your plants, creating shade will help. Consistent watering is very helpful even on days when there are thunderstorms. However you must be careful not to over water because that will kill your plants too. For herbs that are bolting you can trim the long flowering stalk or simply trim the flower buds off of the top. They will still bloom but it can buy you a few weeks to harvest what you can. Remember it is only spring, you can plant more!

This time of year there are plenty of starter plants still available at local greenhouses. There is absolutely nothing wrong with replacing a plant that is not going to make it. The other thing you can do is plant more seeds. I have one type of pepper that will not start in the greenhouse for whatever reason but as soon as I put the seeds in the dirt outside they seem to grow like there is no tomorrow.

Backyard gardeners (myself included) do not always remember to plant in succession, we tend to be stuck on the plants we have. What I mean by planting in succession is starting squash plants this week then starting more next week and then a few more the following week. What this does is provide you with several plants at different stages of development. The benefit to this is a prolonged harvest and a little more of a buffer should Mother Nature decide to wreak havoc on your garden.

Spring is generally a beautiful, magical time filled with flowers and odd bugs. This spring has been beautiful but it has also been filled with dry hot days, heavy thunderstorms and days with cooler temperatures. While your garden is likely showing the effects of the weather there is generally no need to be concerned. Consistent watering, shade, patience, diligent trimming and sometimes replacing dying plants are all things that you can do to help your garden be healthy and survive this strange spring weather that we are having.

Happy Gardening.