Early June: On watering

If you planted seeds two weeks ago in anticipation of rain, they have germinated. Much of my summer garden is planted with seeds: summer and winter squash, beans, basil, dill, zinnias, cucumbers, sunflowers, etc. They germinated but they have tiny root systems and are vulnerable to dry, windy conditions. They get coddled, later in the summer they will get tough love, now that means watering and mulching to keep them alive until the next rain. Do not let them wilt, water as needed and mulch if possible. Leaves saved from last fall are now surrounding squash and tomato plants, when the leaf supply runs out anything that will cover the soil and slowly decompose works. Trimmings from iris and peonies are mulching the potatoes (attractive while the peony flowers are fresh), also using the large leaves of rhubarb and horseradish. Avoid grass clippings and weeding discards since they may contain weed seeds or herbicides. Mulch helps keep soil moisture and discourages weeds. If you planted perennials this spring, trees or shrubs, they are particularly vulnerable to dry windy conditions since they have not acclimated to their new homes and do not have the root system to support their upper mass. It is better to do a thorough soaking once a week than more frequent light waterings. Light waterings encourage roots to grow at the soil surface while deep waterings encourage the roots to grow deeper. For trees the recommended watering is five gallons/inch diameter plus five gallons for the first two years. Perennials also benefit from mulching properly, no mulch within about 3-4 inches of the trunk, then about 2-4 inches of mulch around the base. Commercial mulches can be used, if you have a shredder machine you can make your own mulch, or free mulch is available at the brush recycling center on River Road. The garden progresses, no longer harvesting asparagus and picked the last of the spinach as it is bolting. Peas are flowering and strawberries are ripening. It looks to be a small strawberry crop since the first flowers were hit with frost and only later flowers are making berries. Lots of rhubarb, stalks are used now until frost for muffins, pie, stewed rhubarb, apple rhubarb crisp and bluebarb crisp. Mowing the vigorously growing lawn alerts me to other yard chores. Dead heading (removing the flower) from peony encourages buds to flower. Pruning needs to be done on spring flowering shrubs like lilac, forsythia and quince. Low branches that impede mowing progress need to be removed. The mower cannot get too close to tree bases and my mowing pattern leaves unmowed patches around the many features (additional planting beds, shrubs, new plantings) so the string trimmer is used to tidy those areas. Try to not touch the tree trunk with the string because it can cut the bark. A pleasant aspect of mowing is noticing that all the trees I have planted are growing! I was sure they were planted far enough apart, but they are starting to share air space, it's lovely. Enjoy this beautiful time of year. Susan Carty is professor emerita at Heidelberg University.