Finally, it’s summer! Time for tomatoes and cucumbers, and summer fruits. Flowering ornamental plants slow down, but edibles kick into peak production.

It’s sunny out there

Protect your skin, your hair, your eyes from the sun’s ultraviolet rays anytime you are outside.

• Garden before 11 a.m. and after 4 p.m. Avoid the midday heat and sun.

• Cover your scalp and shade your face with a hat. Visors protect faces, but only a hat protects your scalp from sunburn.

• Short-sleeved T-shirts may be your garden standard, but long sleeves better protect you from the sun, especially long sleeves with an SPF rating.

• Remember to protect the tops of your feet and hands. These are two of the most exposed surfaces, yet we seldom think about protecting them. If you garden in open sandals, add a pair of socks. Wear hand protectors in place of gloves.

Lawn be gone

The sun is high in the sky, which makes this the best time to solarize. Solarizing superheats the upper 6 or so inches of soil. Those temperatures kill:

– Smaller plants like grass (lawn) as well as weedy annuals and perennials.

– Weed seeds in the soil.

– Problematic soil fungi and bacteria, including those that cause Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt, Phytophthora root rot and so on.

To solarize:

– Cut grass or weeds as short as you can.

– Water to saturate the soil, then turn off the irrigation.

– Cover the soil with CLEAR (not black) plastic.

– Let the soil “cook” for six to eight weeks.

Find detailed directions for soil solarization at tinyurl.com/killerrays.

Blooming now

• Blanket flower (Gaillardia)
• Bolivian sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia)
• Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia)
• Desert mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)
• Desert willow (Chilopsis linearis)
• Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa)
• Kangaroo paw (Anigozanthos)
• Marigolds (Tagetes)
• Naked ladies (Amaryllis belladonna)
• Peruvian lily (Alstroemeria)
• Pineapple lily (Eucomis)
• Roses
• Scented geraniums (Pelargonium)
• Tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis)
• Walking iris (Neomarica caerulea)
• Yellow bells (Tecoma stans)
• Zinnia

Irrigation tune-up

As temperatures heat up and the sun reaches higher in the sky, plants use more water. Despite last winter’s generous rainfall, we still need to manage water in our gardens.

• Inspect overhead irrigation systems. Fix leaks and broken heads, adjust sprays that land on sidewalks and streets.

– Switch from overhead spray or individual drip emitter systems to inline drip. Inline drip irrigation is the most efficient kind of irrigation and the only type to use with mulch. Drip lines sit between the soil and the mulch so water drips directly onto the soil and wets the roots.

– Check driplines. Install a flush valve onto each set of driplines, then flush the system to remove errant dirt and debris. Repair leaks.

– Adjust drip lines that may have shifted a bit. Use irrigation “staples” to hold lines in place.

– Drip irrigation releases water very slowly to the soil, which is a good thing. That slow drip is what helps the water percolate deep to the roots. Run times are long, though, an hour or two at a time, depending on how long it takes for your soil to saturate.

– Determine your garden’s summer irrigation schedule:

• How long to water: Run each zone according to its normal schedule. Stick your finger into the soil, dig down with a trowel, or use a soil probe to see how deep the water has penetrated. For trees and shrubs, water needs to penetrate 12 inches deep, 8 inches for perennials and vines, 6 inches for everything else. If the water is not as deep as it should be, run the irrigation again and again until you figure out how many minutes of run time gets water deep enough. Don’t be surprised if each zone needs a different run time.

– Run spray irrigation early in the morning so leaves dry before nightfall. Run inline drip at night when soil is coolest.

– Take control of the controller. Once you know how long, how often and when to water, use that information to set your irrigation controller. Lock the cover so others can’t change the schedule you set.

Mulch

• Mulch is critical for conserving water, improving soil texture, supporting beneficial microbes, moderating soil temperature and many other things. Cover your garden beds in 3 to 4 inches of mulch:

– Succulents: Mulch with stone or decomposed granite.

– Nonsucculent ornamental plants, fruiting trees, vines and shrubs: Mulch with coarse, wood-based mulch, not bark. Make sure any fresh wood chips are smaller than an inch, to avoid bringing deadly borers onto your property.

– Vegetables: Mulch with straw, not hay.

• DO NOT use weed cloth, weed fabric, landscape cloth, etc. beneath mulch. Weed cloth does not eliminate weeds. However, weed cloth keeps water and oxygen from reaching the soil. Soil becomes rock-hard and all the critically important soil microbiome dies. Ultimately, weed cloth breaks down, releasing microplastics into the environment and leaving a shredded mess you’ll need to remove.

• Do leave an area of soil bare for ground-dwelling native bees. They pollinate your garden!

Vegetables

• Plant another round of summer vegetables from seedlings now: tomato, pepper, eggplant, melons, etc.

• Plant okra. It thrives in the heat.

• Plant Halloween pumpkins.

• Give your children the gift of gardening. Dedicate a bed to each child and let them plant any flower or vegetable they choose. Let them take the lead on caring for their plants. It’s a wonderful way to strengthen family bonds as you encourage their creativity and curiosity about nature.

• Two ways to avoid powdery mildew on tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, pumpkin and melon leaves:

– First thing in the morning, give leaves a quick rinse to wash away mildew spores. Do it early, so leaves dry before the cool of night.

– Selectively remove branches to improve air circulation.

• Pruning vegetable plants does not increase their production. Leaves make the energy that supports flowering and fruiting. The more you prune away, the less energy — and less fruit — plants can make.

• Remove only the lowest branches of tomato plants to keep them from touching the ground. Leaves that touch soil are a pathway for infection by soil fungi and bacteria.

• Avoid transmitting diseases and infections by cleaning your tools and washing your hands as you move from one plant to the next.

• Concerned about curled plant leaves? In the heat, fast-growing plants often lose water faster than roots can replace it. In response, plants roll the edges of leaves to shade them from the intense sunlight. It is simply a response to environmental conditions and not a sign of pests or diseases. Usually, curled leaves relax by the next morning.

• White, green and yellow striped tomato hornworms are the caterpillars of sphinx moths! These hungry critters can strip a tomato plant of leaves almost overnight. Tiny black balls (that’s worm poop) are also evidence of the worm’s presence. Pick off the worms and drown them in a bucket of water or leave them in the open where birds can find and eat them.

• Problems with tomato pollination?

– For some tomato varieties, pollination stops when daytime temperatures are higher than 85 degrees and nights are higher than 75 degrees. Be patient until the weather changes.

– Tomato flowers are not honeybee-pollinated. Instead, bumblebees and other large bees do that job. As their beating wings vibrate, they inadvertently loosen pollen, which falls onto the female part of the flower. In their absence, you can mimic the process by holding the backside of an electric toothbrush very close to the backside of a tomato flower.

• Tomatoes, peppers or squash with soft, brown “bottoms” have blossom end rot, which happens with uneven watering. Solve the problem by keeping soil moist at all times. Mulch vegetable beds and containers with straw to help hold in the moisture.

• Harvest cucumbers, squashes, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers regularly to keep them producing longer.

• Winter squashes and pumpkins won’t ripen until the end of summer.

• If you prepared the soil with vegetable fertilizer and added some to the planting hole, you may not need to fertilize again. If you see evidence of nutrient deficiencies — leaf discoloration, stunted plants, etc. — then fertilize.

• Curly patterns in leaves of squash, pumpkins, melons and cucumbers are caused by leaf miners that burrow through the leaves. Don’t worry. Leaf miners don’t diminish production much. Besides, they are between the cell layers where pesticides can’t reach them.

• Got whiteflies or spider mites? Use a Bug Blaster hose end nozzle to rinse leaves both top and bottom every couple of days for two or three weeks. That interrupts their reproductive cycle so they disappear.

• Keep garden beds damp but not wet at all times. Use your fingers to monitor the moisture. Don’t bother with a moisture meter; learn how wet it should feel.

• Black plastic nursery pots heat up in the sunlight. If you have plants in these pots, paint the pots white, drape them in shade cloth or in burlap to keep the pots cool and the roots from cooking.

• Water fabric pots daily to keep the potting soil moist. I’ve seen gardeners place fabric pots in kiddie pools filled with a few inches of water. The water wicks up to the top to keep the soil moist at all times.

Fruit trees

• Harvest fruits as they ripen. Compost fallen fruits so they don’t attract fruit flies, giant green fruit beetles, rodents, etc.

• Fertilize and water citrus, avocado, mango, banana and other subtropical fruiting plants.

• Protect exposed trunks of citrus and avocado trees from sunburn by painting them with orchard paint or with a mixture of half water/half light-colored interior latex paint.

• Keep trees well mulched and well-watered from now through fall, when they drop their leaves.

Ornamental plants

• Plan, don’t plant. All plants go through transplant shock. Planting in the heat adds more stress, which translates to dead plants. Plan now to plant in October once the weather cools.

– Resist watering natives — even when they look dead. Many native plants “sleep” in the heat to conserve moisture and avoid the heat. That’s why chaparral-covered hillsides look brown this time of year.

– Deadly soil fungi are another reason to avoid watering established natives and drought-tolerant plants from South African and Australia such as Grevillea, protea, Melaleuca, Westringia, cone bush, etc. Wet, warm soils create the ideal growing conditions for Phytophthora fungi, which attack plant roots and kill them in the heat of summer. Keep soils dry, even if plants look “thirsty.” Watering makes it worse.

• Hold back on pruning and fertilizing. Both stimulate new growth; however, summer is the time for slow growth. Slow growth helps plants develop their drought tolerance.
• Use a sharp spray of water to rinse leaves of dust, dirt, aphids, white flies and spider mites, whose presence is evident by tiny webs on leaves and stems.

– Plant spring-blooming bulbs that are dormant now. Shop for Calochortus, Watsonia (bugle lily), species Gladiolus, species Tulips (not high chill tulips), Sparaxis (harlequin flower), and others. Plant into full sun, in a place that gets no irrigation. Watch for new leaves to sprout starting in October.

Container and houseplants

• Avoid fungus gnats by adding a layer of small gravel over the soil surface. That puts a physical layer between the gnats and the soil where they nibble on fungus and lay their eggs. A sprinkle of Mosquito Bits insecticide granules helps.

• White crusts on soil or pots? That’s all the salts from our high mineral water. Time to repot into fresh potting mix. Wash the old potting mix off the plants’ roots. Scrub the pots to remove the salty crust, then replant using fresh potting mix (NOT planting mix, dirt, peat moss, etc.).

• To water small and medium-size pots, set them in a basin filled with a few inches of water and some plant food (follow directions for potted plants). Let them sit until the water wicks up to the surface of the pot. Then move them out of the water so the excess drains away.

• Send your houseplants on summer vacation outside under the eaves, the branches of a shady tree, or a shaded patio. Hose them down to spray off leaf pests. Let the native predators pick off scale, mealy bugs, thrips, etc.

Sterman is a garden designer, journalist and the host of “A Growing Passion” on public television. She runs Nan Sterman’s Garden School at waterwisegardener.com.