JW: It's hot outside. What do we do in the garden-- or what shouldn't we do-- in this heat? I'm Judy Wagley. This is “From the Ground Up!” My guest today is Bevin Cohen from Small House Farm in Sanford, Michigan. Help!
BC: Judy, I am here to help!
JW: Thanks. It's hot. What should we do? Or what shouldn't we do?
BC: There's a list of things that we should and shouldn't do in the garden, but I think that the most important thing is, of course we want to talk about the garden, but we gotta take care of ourselves too while we're out there working. We want to make sure we stay hydrated. That's important. The garden can't thrive without a healthy gardener, right? So make sure you're staying in the shade as often as you can and drink plenty of water.
JW: Maybe a hat?
BC: That's a great idea, yeah.
JW: So that's taking care of us. What about our plants? They're looking a little…ugh…
BC: Well, we gotta make sure we keep them well-watered, too, right? And when we water the plants is just as important as how often we water the plants. We want to make sure that they're getting at least a good inch of water, you know, every week. So we want to make sure we're watering them correctly, doing it in the morning is important. You don't want to water them in the peak of the day and the peak of the heat. A lot of that water is going to evaporate. That's not good for the plants, and with many of our plants watering them in the evening can sometimes make them more susceptible to diseases, right? So water them early in the morning, get up, have your cup of coffee, your cup of tea, whatever you like, and then get out there and water that garden. Right away.
JW: And as far as the plants go, what are some things we shouldn't do?
BC: Well, you want to make sure that you don't water from overhead. You don't want them sitting there with wet leaves in the peak of the sun, you know, cause the water is gonna magnify the sun. It's gonna scorch those plants. They don't like that at all. You also want to think about the types of plants that you're out there growing. As much as we want to go out there and grow some lettuce or some peas or something like that--they are not going to thrive in this heat. They're not going to enjoy it at all. So we're going to want to wait and plant some seeds a little bit later. So we can have a nice fall harvest as well.
JW: So when it's really hot outside, we can be inside planning the next stage of our garden!
BC: Absolutely. Spend some time inside, have some iced tea, and start planting those seeds indoors where it's nice and cool. For sure!
JW: When you need to provide your garden with a bit of shade, how do you go about doing that?
BC: Well, you know, there's actually some really nice shade cloth products that you can purchase and they work really, really well for providing a little bit of shade, breaking that sun up is kind of nice, and in some places I have actually gone out with my 10 by 10 pop-up tent and pop that up right in the middle of the garden to cast some shade.
JW: Gardeners are very enterprising, aren't they?
BC: Absolutely. We got to find what's going to work and then get it to work right.
JW: Yes! Any other advice for these hot summer days?
BC: Well, let's make the most of it right? We don't have to spend all day out in the garden anyways. Maybe go down to the river, go for a swim, do that sort of thing. Enjoy the summer a lot. Cause you know here in Michigan, winter is right around the corner, so let's soak up that sunshine!
JW: I like that idea. I like the way you think!
BC: Well, thanks. You know, I've lived in Michigan my whole life. I've learned to embrace the moment while we got it.
JW: Bevin Cohen from Small House Farm in Sanford, Michigan. Thanks for joining me today for “From the Ground Up!” And stay cool!
BC: Stay cool, Judy!
