Mid-summer Gardening

We're now in the middle of a typical South Florida summer. Hot days, hot nights, high humidity and plenty of rain. The good news is you don't have to water your garden and your plants are growing like gang-busters. The bad news is that the weeds, insects and fungi are also thriving. Plan on doing a lot of trimming and weeding over the next few weeks. Caterpillars are big problem this time of year. The best way to control them is to monitor your plants closely, try to catch them early and physically remove them. If you have to resort to chemicals, Sevin is a good all purpose caterpillar spray that is relatively safe to use. The trick is to find a chance to spray between rain storms. Your best bet is to do it in the morning before it gets too hot and when the insecticide will have a few hours in which to work before the afternoon thunderstorms start. Good luck.