Arrange and plant your garden herbs according to their water needs

Five things to do in the garden this week:

1. Plant hollyhock seeds. There are many tantalizing varieties of this old garden favorite from which to choose. Flowers are seen in every color except blue and may have frilled or saw-toothed margins and multiple layers of blooms so that they resemble roses, carnations, geraniums, dianthus or — in the case of the Chaters Double-Red variety – peonies. You can find these exotic hollyhocks at edenbrothers.com where their seeds sell for five or six dollars per packet. This is a reasonable price when you consider that all 18 varieties depicted are heirlooms, meaning that they grow true from seed, unlike hybrids whose offspring are unpredictable. All hollyhock varieties drop seeds that germinate in place so that, once planted, you will have them in your garden forever. Most varieties grow five or six feet tall, some reach eight feet, but varieties less than four feet tall at maturity are also available. 

2. Divide your summer herb-growing area according to types that demand a minimum of irrigation and those that require a more constant watering regime. Drought-tolerant herbs include common culinary sage, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, and lavender. Those that will demand regular water include basil, parsley, and cilantro. In the case of basil and parsley, removal of flowers will promote the leafy growth for which they were planted. Cilantro, on the other hand, will bolt or go to seed as weather warms and there is not much you can do to stall this process. The bonus with cilantro is that the seeds it drops will reliably sprout in place and parsley will sometimes do the same.

3. Prune evergreen hedges and shrubs into early summer but not beyond. The reason for this has to do with the scorching heat waves we often experience in July, August, and September. The exposed foliage of a freshly-pruned hedge — having been accustomed to living in the shade of the shoots that have just been removed — will fry on a day when the temperature reaches into the mid-90s or above, as happened on occasion during the last few summers. A eugenia hedge in my neighborhood had just been pruned when the heat surged. It suffered serious foliage burn which weakened the plant and invited the pestiferous eugenia psyllid to take up residence in the new leaves that emerged subsequently.

4. The window on planting corn is closing so make sure you plant yours by the end of the month. Since corn is wind-pollinated, it is advisable to plant at least four rows so that the wind, regardless of which direction it blows, will pollinate the plants. With fewer rows, pollination may be less than 100% and some ears will be less than full. Although corn is self-fertile, in small backyard plantings less than 5% of the kernels on any corn plant result from self-pollination, while the rest are the result of pollen that comes from another plant. If wind does not blow where you plant, shake the male tassels that develop at the top of your stalks so that the pollen will fall on the female silks below and pollination will occur. The same holds true for tomatoes since they rely on air movement —whether from wind or bumblebees buzzing around the flowers — for pollination. For this reason, some tomato growers shake flower-bearing stems once or twice a day.

5. Many summer vegetables need to be trained to grow up vertically or they will trail along the ground and crops will rot. Tomatoes, pole beans, cucumbers, and squashes can all be trellised. I have even seen cantaloupe trellised. I have found hardware cloth (metal wire mesh) stretched between metal stakes to be an excellent solution when it comes to keeping my cherry tomato plants upright. You can weave stems through the mesh or attach stems to the mesh with smooth, elastic, green garden tape.

Send your questions, comments, gardening predicaments and stories to joshua@perfectplants.com.