Feeding plants in hot weather

It's scorching out there. I usually give all my plants a good feed with miracle grow on a Saturday. But a thought occurs. In very hot weather, the plants will be losing a lot of water through evaporation and whatever the fancy word is for breathing out through the leaves. Which potentially means any liquid feed will become concentrated.

Is this an issue? Today I've just given them plain water instead of their usual feed. Should I feed them later on their evening watering, or should they just get plain water for now?

 

I just carry on as normal, but don't let them dry out.
Within reason I always assume that plants, as long as they are hydrated, are growing faster the higher the temperature.
So extra water but I would still feed as normal, its only forecast to be exceptional for 2 days.

 

I was going to feed my tomatoes on Monday but have decided to put it off till Wednesday when the temps are forecast to be in the low 20C. I read on a tomato growing website a couple of years ago that you shouldn't feed tomatoes, & I suppose plants in general, when the temps are very high as this impedes the plants' ability to take up the necessary water. Therefore none of my plants will get their Monday "pick-me-up". They will have to wait till Wednesday & cooler temps! They may appreciate it all the more to help them get over the stress of the extremely high temps, possibly 40C or more, forecast for Monday & Tuesday next week.

 

We took the opportunity to weed the whole garden last weekend. Turn over the soil to expose their roots and let them bake to perfektion in the scorching sun. Same goes for the slugs and their eggs - I like them extra crispy .
All my other plants are rooted a lot deeper, so they should come out on top without a problem.

Unless this weather keeps on longer than a few days, it shouldn't really affect your garden though. You just have to be careful not to forget your potted plants. Keep them moist and dont put any dark pots in the direkt sunlight or the roots can get damaged as the pot heats to 50+°C

 

Been terribly hot all day here. We reached 38C according to the Met Office's app! But tomorrow they forecast 41C here!!!

As the sun was going down I happened to go into the kitchen & saw the sun like a fiery red ball just setting! Is that an omen for the heat we expect tomorrow???

 

End of the World as we know it

 

34 degrees C on the usually mild northeast coast according to my car. I believe it because this was at the end of my 45 minute drive home. The car usually reports unrealistic high temps if it's been standing in the sunshine, but drops rapidly once you get some airflow over it. Not today. 34 when I pulled up on my drive.

To put that into some perspective, I remember being a teenager about 30 years ago, and my friends and I heading out in shorts and no top, and being amazed that it was so hot. It was 18 degrees that day. I remember specifically because everyone was talking about how unusual 18 degrees was for our area.

 

You guys have a "feeding day"?
Mine get a good feeding when they are planted, and from then on, they are pretty much on their own. But since we live in a region with lots of agriculture and even more livestock, our groundwater somewhat counts as "liquid fertilizer" with all the residues contained in there...

 

I only feed pot plants really, very rarely do I feed an established plant growing in the garden.

 

I don't feed everything regularly. My regime looks a bit like this:

Fruit bearing plants in containers get fed weekly while they are actively growing, ie late spring to early autumn. They get an extra feed, so twice weekly when they're at their peak of activity, typically July and August.

Plants in the ground get far less. Typically whenever I feel like it's been a while, or if they look like they need it, for example if their leaves aren't their usual lush green.

The lawn gets a feed whenever I decide it looks like it's really struggling. I don't feed it very often because I actually don't want the grass to be too lush. I like the clover and daisies that come up in it, and I find if the grass is too strong the lawn flowers don't get a look in.

Trees and shrubs get nought. They fend for themselves. The only exception being if they start to visibly look starved.