Looking After Vegetables in the Summer Heat Articles | Gardening

By: Deena Leane Kevins

Everyone knows that a fair amount of sunshine is good for many kinds of vegetables but you can have too much of a good thing and excessive exposure to the summer heat can cause serious damage to your vegetable crop. While many kinds of vegetables seem to thrive fine through the hot days of summer, there are others that just do not seem to do well in this season despite your very best efforts to water and care for them.

If you live in one of those areas of the world where it is common to have long and hot summers, the first thing you should taken into consideration when deciding which vegetables to plant is how well do they fare in the heat. As a good rule of thumb to follow the vegetables that originate from warmer climates usually do best in the hot summer. For example, cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes and peppers are well known for thriving in the summer months providing you ensure that they have a consistent supply of moisture. At the other end of the spectrum, lettuce and peas often do poorly in very warm and sunny climates.

If you are not sure which vegetables are most sensitive to summer heat and which thrive, you can find an abundance of information in local libraries and online. Since each area of the world has its own particular climatic conditions, it is very important that you consult information specific to your location. For example, the government of Queensland in Australia has a very useful online guide to the kind of vegetables that grow well in the Australian summer. You will learn from here that the heads of broccoli are damaged by excessive heat, while asparagus is a very tolerant crop (see <A target="_new" href="http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/horticulture/5171.html">http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/horticulture/5171.html</a>).

When you are planting vegetables at the height of the summer you also need to approach this task differently than if you were planting during the rainy season. Suppose for example that you want to plant lettuce - one of the vegetables that does not do so well in warm weather. You are well advised to sow the seeds more thickly than you do in colder months. Also, it is recommended to water the soil before planting, and if possible do the planting or transplanting later in the day when the sun is no longer at its strongest. It is also a good idea to put up some temporary shading for the young seedlings to help them through these months. [http://www.landscapegardeningtips.info/]Landscape Gardening Tips - Gardening is fast becoming the most popular pastime around the world, and with the current economic problems more people are starting to grow their own fruit and vegetables to save money. There is nothing more satisfying than eating fruit and vegetables that taste like they should!

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