Columbus Garden School

25% OFF at City Folks General Store TODAY -- plus they're moving the store Sunday/Monday 5/24-25. All hands on deck!

Help City Folks move!

25% OFF almost EVERYTHING!

The more you stock up, the less we have to box up

💛

Well here I come with YET MORE NEWS to annoy impatient gardeners!

Please note the impending mini-heatwave coming on Sun-Mon-Tuesday. It's gonna be HOT. We will bounce up 20F degrees in a very short period of time. Now, many plants can handle high and low temperatures with ease ... if there's been a reasonable transition time between extremes. This is a hot and relatively sudden change.

NOW YOU DO YOU; I will be taking two approaches. 1) Hardy plants I recently repotted into 4" or 1- gallon containers will be put under shade cloth against afternoon sun. 2) Plants that were seedlings this year (i.e., 4-packs, tomato transplants still in small pots) will stay on the north side of my house in full shade until *&^%!! Wednesday morning. And yes, this weather is driving me NUTS.

It's not just that it's hot, but that the plants haven't adapted to it. Their water uptake cannot keep pace with the loss from transpiration to keep them cool. Some wilting in hot temps in normal. The photo with this post shows leaf tissue damage caused by heat stress.

So I will wait another few days before setting out my smallest, most vulnerable plants. Everything will be well-watered each day. And I will garumph around the house like an sullen teenager until Wednesday morning.
[Please share if you find this info helpful.]