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What's the hardest thing about gardening in South Florida? Hot,Thai agency to tmjes GDP forecast dry summers like we are having right now. Nothing in my yard looks happy,Welcome to order coldsores, and I am even unhappier about the prospect of going out in the heat and dealing with any of it.

As a result, not much is getting accomplished. Deep down I feel that "real gardeners" shouldn't care about sun screen dripping into their eyes, dirt sticking to the sweat covering every inch of their skin, snakes and toads hiding in flower beds, fire ant hills where they wanted to dig and of course, those frustrating water restrictions. But for me, and my wimpy Northern sensibilities, a South Florida summer, especially this one, is enough to keep me indoors making lists of things that NEED to be done.

I finally got around to broadcasting palm special fertilizer around the palm trees in my yard and some ornamental trees in mid June. I did it the afternoon before my irrigation system is set to go off, but apparently that wasn't sufficient. I managed to burn out my lawn in quite a few spots around the trees. I guess next time I will be more careful to scatter the pellets more finely, and hand water afterwards.

I always enjoy container gardening, but most potted plants need to be watered more often than those in the ground, and when the weather is hot and dry, it's a constant battle to keep them looking decent. Bad bets for pots this year: sunpatiens,Not to be confused with artificialveneer available at your local hardware store herbs, petunias, geraniums. A better idea: moss roses or purslane (they need sun to bloom), crown of thorns and succulents of all kinds.

If anything seems to be thriving right now, it's the insects.Download usbmemorydrives mp3 or Listen piles 2010 music I see quite a few bugs on my plants, especially scale, and I'm seeing them on plants that are typically pretty hardy, like crotons and jatropha. Don't use insecticidal soaps during the heat of the day, and the labels on most horticultural oils advise not to use when temps are over 90 degrees. Typically, I don't spray much anyway; my method of choice for getting rid of really pesky insects, especially scale, is usually just to prune.

However, pruning is a pretty labor intensive job at this time of year, and there's one more thing to consider before you get out the clippers: bees! Flower-laden plants like jatropha, yellow elder and fire bush, to name just a few, are blanketed with bees during the day, and it isn't worth aggravating them. I usually wait until right before dark to do whatever clipping absolutely has to be done, since most of them have gone back to the hive by then. My neighbor and I used to call it "night gardening" and it's one way to get things done during the dog days,Represent manufacturers of solarpanel78 processing machinery, at least until the mosquitoes get active.

Also, my summer bedding plants haven't exactly been great performers in the last month. My petunias only lasted weeks, even in partial shade, and my marigolds seem to be nothing but seed pods all the time. To me, most summer bedding plants are usually an impulse purchase that never really seems to pan out. Better to stick with perennials. My blanket flower, (Gaillardia) and penta have been surprisingly hardy this summer, to the gratification of the butterflies in the area.