Cooler temperatures good for yards and gardens

A cool change over Labor Day weekend doesn't spell death for your garden.

For most of us, not only did the sudden cooldown not hurt our yards and gardens, it might actually do them some good. Red Butte Garden greenhouse coordinator Brad Coleman says, "Actually, you'll see your yards green up a little bit more, be a little bit more lush, as there's more humidity in the air, as there's more available water to the plants. And then also, slower growth, less evapo-transpiration, which is basically - it's like what we do when we sweat. Same thing that plants do, but when it's not as hot, there's less stress for those plants. So it's a great time for your plants over the next month, month and a half to kind of rebound from that hot, extreme temperatures that we get."

So, do you still need to water or should you cut back? Coleman says, "You can reduce the amount of water that you use, especially after the rains that we received. I know most areas, some areas got an inch, inch and a half of rain. I would hold back on watering almost everything for about a week and then just kind of watch it, watch the weather, watch the temperatures. You'll be watering at least a third less than you were before, if not more."

And what should you do as we head into fall? He says, "Plants tend to kick into a different gear, they slow down a bit and then again, like I said, they start to put all of their energy into sugar reserves. So if you're waiting for your harvest or your crop to finalize and you're going to harvest your tomatoes and any other varieties of plants and vegetables, it is a good time just to wait and let them ripen fully, and they'll taste a lot better."

But for those of you in Park City and on other high ground, Coleman says, "Just to be safe, I would say over the next probably couple of nights, make sure you cover with a sheet the vegetables and tender annuals."

Coleman says we've got four to six more weeks to enjoy the yard.

E-mail: bbruce@ksl.com

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