VOA健康报道2024--Heat Can Be Good or Bad for Your Garden

Heat Can Be Good or Bad for Your Garden

Summer brings very high temperatures to many parts of the United States. That can be both good news and bad news for gardens and gardeners.

Jessica Damiano writes about gardening for the Associated Press. She keeps a garden in New York, where summer temperatures can reach 32 degrees Celsius¹.

Recently, Damiano repeated a difficult truth for gardeners: weather has a lot to do with success, but it is out of our control.

There are measures that plant lovers can take to ease the effects of hot summer weather. One measure is to spread a thick layer of mulch over plant roots. This can help keep plant roots cool and will preserve water, or moisture, in the soil. When watering plants, use a lot of water and let it soak deep into the ground. You can water your garden less often if you provide a few deep soaks regularly. Light watering causes roots to spread near the surface of the soil.

If there is too much sun for young plants, don't be afraid to give them shade. Damiano said she has been known to place an umbrella on the ground to protect tender plants from the sun.

The good news about heat

Heat is not all bad for a garden. Some plants love heat. Damiano grows a kind of tomato called Big Boy. The plant, she says, has grown quickly in the summer heat. Zucchini, a form of squash, also does well.

Heat can also keep harmful insects away. Cabbage, onion and corn maggots prefer cooler weather and struggle in the heat. So do cutworms, which can be especially destructive to gardens.

Damiano says some of her perennial² flowering plants have bloomed two weeks earlier than usual. For this reason, she decided³ to add late-blooming plants to her garden to ensure a good crop of flowers.

She reported that her hydrangea plants have never looked better. She has 12 of them, and they are blooming well. However, Damiano said that might not be the result of hot weather this summer. Instead, unusually heavy rains late last summer and fall may have helped buds to form. A smaller number of those buds were damaged by the mild winter weather. The result is a lot of blooms.

And the downside

Some plants suffer in the heat, including impatiens. The small flowers are not doing well.

But what Damiano dislikes are the creatures that become more active and numerous when temperatures rise.

Mosquitos are most active at sunrise and sunset, but they can bite at any time. Although heat theoretically slows their activity, hot conditions can help mosquitoes spread.

Damiano advises to prevent water from collecting in places around the garden or to put something called Bti in wet areas where mosquitos might lay eggs. Bti is a kind of bacteria that produces a substance poisonous to young mosquitos and a few other flying insects. It is natural, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says it is safe for people and most other insects and animals as well.

Ticks present another problem. The creatures bite people and spread disease. Cold weather kills them, but they do well in hot weather. Normally found in the eastern U.S. and on the Pacific coast, ticks appear to be spreading to new areas. The EPA even said, "Climate change has contributed to the expanded range of ticks."

Wearing long sleeves and pants and using special chemicals to keep ticks away can help protect against their bites.

Earwigs also like heat and humidity. They can make holes in plant leaves, Damiano said. But the "pincher bugs⁴" also eat aphids, which are enemies of the garden. So are thrips and spider mites⁵.

In addition to insects, heat and humidity are good conditions for slugs. These creatures have soft slimy bodies, and they eat plants.

Luckily, there are easy ways to control these garden problems. One is to spray soapy water onto soft-bodied insects like aphids, spider mites, thrips and whiteflies.

As for slugs, salt will kill them but is not good for garden soil. They do not like sharp surfaces, however, so adding crushed eggshells can be an effective control method. The eggshells break down and nourish the plants over time.

Words in This Story

garden -n. a place where plants are raised for their beauty or as food

mulch -n. usually organic material that is in small pieces and is used to cover the ground to prevent drying and enrich the soil

soak -v. to get very wet

tender -adj. very soft

maggot -n. the larval stage of flies and similar insects

perennial -adj. lasting⁶ for many years

bud -n. a growth on a plant from which a new branch or fruit will grow

mild -adj. not strong or sharp

contribute -v. to be involved in the cause of some outcome

range -n. the area where something is found or where it lives

1 Celsius   

adj.摄氏温度计的，摄氏的

参考例句：

• The temperature tonight will fall to seven degrees Celsius.今晚气温将下降到七摄氏度。
• The maximum temperature in July may be 36 degrees Celsius.七月份最高温度可能达到36摄氏度。

2 perennial   

adj.终年的；长久的

参考例句：

• I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
• There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。

3 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

4 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 mites   

n.（尤指令人怜悯的）小孩( mite的名词复数 )；一点点；一文钱；螨

参考例句：

• The only discovered animals are water bears, mites, microscopic rotifers. 能够发现的动物只有海蜘蛛、螨和微小的轮虫。 来自辞典例句
• Mites are frequently found on eggs. 螨会经常出现在蛋上。 来自辞典例句

6 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。