Flowering Plants - Because of our long growing season, it is not too late to continue to seed summer annuals like zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, spider flower and others this month. There is plenty of time for these annuals to mature and produce flowers. Annual vines can also continue to be seeded this month. Remember to water these young plants during the dry, hot summer.
To keep annual plants looking neat and blooming well, remove spent blossoms and yellow foliage periodically. All the annuals listed above would benefit from this grooming. To fill those empty spaces in your borders purchase summer-flowering annual transplants in four-inch or quart pots from your favorite garden center. These may look small but will quickly fill the area. Good choices would be ageratum, marigolds, angelonias, calibrachoa, coleus, petunias, periwinkles and portulaca.
The garden is full of blooms now. Take the time to frequently cut a bouquet to bring inside and enjoy. The best time to cut flowers is in the early morning. When cutting flowers it is a good idea to take a bucket of water with you to put the cut stems in while you wander all over your yard trying to make up your mind what to cut next.
To keep those blooms coming for many bouquets, don't forget to deadhead (removal of spent blossoms. Cannas, coreopsis, and salvia are a few that will reward you with additional blooms if deadheaded.
Vegetables - The heat is on and vegetable plants have several different ways to deal with it. Most tomatoes stop setting fruit when daytime temperatures are above ninety four degrees. The fruit already on the plant will keep growing, but no new fruit will be formed. Bell peppers act the same way. Squash will continue to produce fruit until temperatures exceed ninety five and may produce fruit at higher temperatures if the mornings are cool. Sweet corn pollen can be damaged at ninety five, but can live at one hundred if the moisture levels are high. Southern peas stop pollinating at ninety eight to one hundred. Okra doesn't stop setting fruit until the temperatures exceed one hundred four. Most leafy greens just give up and die. Collards can survive one hundred degrees, but they will stop growing. Gardeners wanting cooking greens in the summer should plant Malabar spinach, Ceylon spinach, or one of the leafy amaranths. All vegetables require extra water during high temperatures.
Lawn Care - The heat of summer will quickly consume this moisture once we go a few days without a shower. We never know for sure if we will get adequate rainfall or not since the weather is constantly changing, therefore, we need to irrigate our lawns with a long-range purpose in mind. We can help our lawns tremendously as the summer heat intensifies by beginning pre-stress conditioning now. Pre-stress conditioning is accomplished by watering less frequently but very thorough when we do water... A good thorough deep watering allows the water to infiltrate down three or more inches into the soil to encourage grass roots to go deep into the soil and become more numerous. Daily light watering encourages roots to migrate close to the soil surface. Later in the summer as water becomes even more critical those lawns with a deep, large mass root system will be better prepared to forage much deeper for any available moisture. Schedule watering early enough in the day that allows the turf's leaf blades to dry before nightfall reduces an environment ideal for diseases to proliferate.
Preserve foods correctly to prevent botulism
Canning is an important, safe method of food preservation if done properly. The canning process involves placing foods in jars or cans and heating them to a temperature that destroys microorganisms that could be a health hazard or cause the food to spoil. Canning also inactivates enzymes that could cause the food to spoil. Air is driven from the jar or can during heating and as it cools a vacuum seal is formed. This vacuum seal prevents air from getting back into the product bringing with it microorganisms to re-contaminate the food. There are two safe ways of canning, depending on the type of food being canned. These are the boiling water canner method and the pressure canner method. The boiling water bath method is safe for fruits, tomatoes and pickles as well as jam, jellies and other preserves. In this method, jars of food are heated completely covered with boiling water.
Pressure canning is the only safe method of canning vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood. Jars of food are placed in 2 to 3 inches of water in a pressure canner which is heated to a temperature of at least 240 degrees F. This temperature can only be reached in a pressure canner.
Clostridium botulinum bacteria produces a very deadly toxin, botulism. Its vegetative cells are killed in a reasonable length of time at boiling temperatures, but its spores can withstand boiling. Under favorable conditions - low acidity and absence of air (such as in a sealed canning jar), the deadly botulinum toxin can be produced. Spores can be destroyed by canning food at a temperature of 240 degrees F or above for a specific period of time. This temperature can only be reached in a pressure canner.
Many old recipes call for processing low-acid foods in a boiling water bath canner - DO NOT use them and put your family and others at risk of food poisoning, or death, from botulism. This includes adding vinegar to green beans then processing them in a water bath - don't do it! Process them correctly to be sure the spores are killed.
If you need canning recipes, contact MSU Extension-Choctaw County at 285-6337 or go to www.soeasytopreserve.comhttp://www.soeasytopreserve.com>.
