My To-Do List . . .

We have a nice few days, where the temperature is suppose to be below 90', then it's back up to about 97'. The past two nights have been nice and cool, too--great sleeping weather! I haven't been planting any seeds because I am going to be in Idaho for a week and I didn't want to burden my husband with taking care of seedlings while I am gone--it's going to be hard enough for him to keep up with the watering of my producing vegetables! He is not a gardener, doesn't enjoy anything about gardening, but he is a good sport!

--water
--weed
--now is the time for the last summer pruning of dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees, cutting back half of the newest growth. This is also the time to trim the top any fruit trees you might want to bring back down to easier picking height. DO NOT TOP LANDSCAPE TREES!!! Fruit trees are not landscape trees--fruit trees are pruned for production. Do not remove much each year, only the new growth. If you drastically cut back your fruit trees, the result will be the same as landscape trees. This is what will happen if you top landscape trees:

"Topping won't work to keep trees small. After a deciduous tree is topped, its growth rate increases. It grows back rapidly in an attempt to replace its missing leaf area. It needs all of its leaves so that it can manufacture food for the trunk and roots. It won't slow down until it reaches about the same size it was before it was topped. It takes at maximum a few years before your tree returns to near its original size.

An exception to the grow-back-to-size rule comes if you damage a tree's health so it hasn't the strength to re-establish itself. It is, in effect, dying and will continue on a downward spiral for years. Topping can't make a significant size difference-not for long. The species or type of tree you have determines its size. A dogwood or Japanese maple may grow from 10 to 30 feet in its life, an oak or an ash from 10 to 90 feet. You can't "stop" trees with topping. If you succeed, you have killed them."

[From: Plant Amnesty]

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Planting by the stars:

Monday-Tuesday: Pisces–2nd best planting root crops; #1 planting above ground crops and transplanting above ground crops, trees, bushes, vines; good to weed
Wednesday-Thursday: Aries–very good planting root crops; not good planting above ground crops or transplants
Friday-Saturday: Taurus–#1 planting root crops; not good planting above ground crops; good for all transplants
Sunday-Monday: Gemini–2nd best planting root crops, above ground crops, and transplants