"Ugh! 90° F AGAIN! Didn't they say fall was here? This sure feels a lot like summer!" I heard that quite a bit this week. Last week they told us fall was here. Now we have this scenario playing out:
1. Watch the weather. Find a good weather source that you trust. They're not going to be 100 percent correct 100 percent of the time. And they need to be able to break it down for you so that it's easy to see how weather relates to everything. And I happen to have a friend who is a meteorologist in another state. One of the things he taught me was that it's easy for them to come up with a forecast that is accurate in the short term (usually a 3 or 5 day forecast) but it's harder to do a long term forecast (10 day forecast). He also said if a meteorologist can get an accurate 5 day forecast and their 10 day forecast is accurate 90 percent of the time and you understand them, they're doing great at their job. We have a meteorologist here who actually has a great record...I think he's in the 95 percent accuracy range...but I've noticed on his 10 day forecast, if he is uncertain as to what will happen, he will state that and give as many possibilities as he can and go into detail about each one. If he's off a little there I give him leeway there because he states the other possibilities. He's still very accurate and I appreciate the honesty and attention to detail.
2. Make use of shade. Any. Way. You. Can. I planted my brassicas under a shade tree. They'll get morning sun.
3. Water, water and more water. Spray the plants with water. It will act like an air conditioner. But be careful that you don't overrated. We will talk about that later.
4. Invest in shade cloth. Most plants cease to produce fruit when the temperature reaches 85° F. Shade cloth reduces the temperature by about 10°.
There are things we can do to protect from cold as well but that will be discussed in another post. In the meantime, happy gardening!
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