Dealing with Heat: How to Protect Your Plants from the Summer Sun (Copy)
Written by Sterling Arnold,
Education Assistant
Summer is officially here, and with it comes longer days, blooming gardens, and rising temperatures. As we step into the heart of the growing season, our focus shifts to managing heat stress, maintaining vibrant blooms, and supporting pollinators. This month, we're exploring how to protect your plants from summer heat, water efficiently, plant for the season, and grow thriving gardens—even in containers!
Dealing with Heat: How to Protect Your Plants from the Summer Sun
As the sun intensifies, your garden can suffer from heat stress. To keep your plants healthy, start by watering early in the morning or late in the evening to minimize evaporation. Use mulch—2 to 3 inches of straw, bark, or compost—to retain soil moisture and regulate temperature. Provide shade for tender plants using garden fabric, shade cloth, or by moving potted plants out of direct sunlight. Avoid fertilizing during extreme heat, as it can further stress your plants. Look out for wilted leaves, crispy edges, or sun-scorched foliage, and act quickly to help them recover.
Smart Summer Watering
Efficient watering is key to a thriving summer garden. Instead of shallow daily watering, aim for deep watering a few times a week to encourage root growth. Consider drip irrigation or soaker hoses for consistent moisture delivery with less waste. Collect rainwater in barrels to hydrate your plants sustainably. Remember: watering early or late in the day keeps more moisture in the soil and reduces water loss to evaporation.
Summer Planting: What to Plant During the Summer Months
Believe it or not, summer is still a great time to sow! Heat-loving vegetables like beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, and okra thrive when planted in early summer. You can also start quick-growing crops like radishes and lettuce in partial shade. For blooms, consider marigolds, zinnias, cosmos, and sunflowers. These plants are not only heat-tolerant but also add vibrant color to your garden. Just be sure to water new plantings frequently until they’re established.
Pollinator Paradise: Supporting Bees & Butterflies
Pollinators are vital to a healthy garden. June is the perfect time to attract them with a variety of nectar-rich plants like coneflowers, bee balm, lavender, and milkweed. Choose native species when possible, and avoid using pesticides that can harm beneficial insects. Provide shallow dishes of water with pebbles for butterflies to land on. The more pollinators your garden supports, the more abundant your blooms and harvests will be.
Deadheading for Continuous Blooms
Keep your flowers blooming all summer by regularly deadheading—removing spent blooms from plants. This encourages the plant to produce more flowers instead of going to seed. Use clean, sharp scissors or pruners to snip faded blossoms just above a leaf node or bud. Deadheading is especially beneficial for annuals and many perennials, helping your garden stay colorful and lush throughout the season.
Container Gardening: Tips for Growing Plants in Pots
No garden space? No problem! Container gardening is perfect for patios, balconies, and small yards. Choose large containers with drainage holes and fill them with high-quality potting mix. Water containers more often than in-ground beds, as they dry out quickly in the summer heat. Use slow-release fertilizer or a diluted liquid feed every few weeks to keep plants nourished. Herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and flowers like petunias or geraniums do particularly well in containers. Group pots together to create humidity and a lush, layered look.
Shade Gardening
Do you have a backyard space shaded by surrounding trees or buildings? Shade gardening is a type of garden planted in areas that receive little to no direct sunlight, typically under trees, on the north side of buildings, or in other shaded locations, and this may be the answer for you. Very few edible plants grow well in shady conditions, so shade gardens may mostly be ornamental gardens. When planning to start a shade garden, first evaluate your backyard space. Is the area partially shaded, fully shaded, or dappled shaded? Once you’ve assessed the amount of shade, evaluate when there’s less light–e.x. Is it during the spring and fall due to lower angles of the sun? Shady spots are more prone to standing water since evaporation is slower, so keep an eye out for areas where water may pool or drain more slowly. Once you’ve evaluated your shade garden, you can pick out your shade plants depending on the range of shade you receive.
Partial Shade:
Amaranth, Arugula. Bok Choy, Collards, Kale, Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Spinach
Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Lemon Balm, Parsley
Choke cherry, currants, gooseberry
Heavy shade:
Mint, rhubarb
Note: Be mindful of the zone you are gardening in and continue to research what best fits your shade garden! With climate change increasingly damaging plants with record-high temperatures, more plants may survive in your shade gardens than you think!
When plants try to take over the yard!
When gardening, invasive plants are likely to take over; don’t fret, there is a way to prevent this! For the most effective method to minimize or diminish these species, various steps must be taken, which include prevention, early detection, and different control methods. To prevent the spread of invasive species, educate yourself and your neighbors about the risks associated with these species, prevent soil disturbance, keep tools clean to minimize the spread of seeds, and refrain from physically transporting or picking the species. Early detection allows you to hand pull plants that have not excessively taken over, spot spray herbicide on the invasive species, or even cover the invasive plants with mulch or other barriers to prevent light and stop them from growing. Using all of these methods can help you once again gain control of your yard.
Stay cool, stay hydrated, and enjoy every moment in your summer garden!
Happy Gardening!