CountryBrookFarms

How does your garden grow? It is interesting to talk to customers in our store about how their gardens are doing this season. As we all know, last summer was very dry and many gardens did not do very well.

With a couple of days of rain, the soil has gotten moist again. With all the rain we had in early spring, you would never have thought that we would ever have to water our plants the rest of the summer.

People often ask me how I come up with ideas for this weekly column. I tell people that when you get 6 people who come into the store with the same question concerning a problem in the garden, then I know it must be a widespread problem for many people. With that being said, this is what many people want to know this week.

Someone asked me last week if I had seen any Japanese beetles. So far, I have not seen any of these beetles. It could just mean that they are late in emerging from the soil. I would guess that, like last year, some people will be inundated with the beetles and some people will have few if any of the Japanese beetles.

Once the plants have all been planted, the questions begin to get asked at the garden center. Let me go over a few of the issues that have cropped up this past week.

So, how does your garden grow? I have had a chance to talk to a lot of customers this week and, in the process, to get some feedback on how their gardens are doing at this point in time. It would appear that some people are having good luck with their plants growing and other are having to deal with plants that are not growing too well.

The heat and humidity along with very strong sun has gotten many plants to grow at a rapid rate. This is the time where your plants are in need of being fertilized on a regular schedule.

OK, who left the heat on? In the past few years, we seem to have gone from late winter directly into the heat of summer. Heat and humidity has never been a favorite combination for me.

The extended cool and rainy weather looks to be followed by a heat wave early next week. This roller coaster weather will have some ramifications for our plants. Let’s try to figure out what can happen and see if there is anything you should be doing to protect your plants.