You’re not alone. The end of July is the hottest part of the growing season and our five day forecast is less than encouraging. High heat and humidity can really deal a blow to healthy lawns and gardens. Your flowers, grass, even your established trees may be having a hard time dealing with the high temps and drought conditions.

This afternoon, I got the skinny from Mary McGuire Lerman with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. She says it’s time to give our thirsty trees and shrubs a nice long drink. Healthy plants help keep a house — and the overheated gardeners hiding inside — nice and cool during these tough weather conditions. (Check out the latest Dirt on Gardening podcast for more information.)

How are you going to help out your plants? Do you have special tricks you use to help your plants beat the heat?

My tomatoes are tough. My peppers are even tougher.

Saturday, I forced myself to wake up early. Ninety-five degrees with 60% humidity, the forecast looked grim. I had about an hour to move the planters into the shade and give the garden a good soak. The morning was so hot and humid, when I returned to the house for a little breakfast, I too was soaked — not by the garden hose, but by my own sweat.

By Saturday afternoon, my planters had started to wilt, but my tomatoes and peppers were thriving. Bees and butterflies were busily pollinating the little yellow and white flowers. They seemed inspired by our subtropical clime. I however was inspired to seek out air conditioning. I gave the planters another soak, wished them bon chance! and braved the crowds at our local super-sized cineplex. While I watched Ratatouille with fidgety five year-olds, my tomatoes and peppers soaked up the sun.

The movie was a foodie’s (and an animation geek’s) dream. From the texture of chopped leeks to the light reflecting off a tomato, I could almost smell and taste the culinary creations. Funny, how those who love to cook also love to garden…

By Sunday morning, my planters had bounced back and my garden had doubled in size. Bell peppers, frying peppers, cherry tomatoes and slicers — the once little green nubs now resembled actual produce. Still green, but closer to turning red and yellow by the minute.

I made some coffee and flipped through some cookbooks. My lazy morning turned into a lazy afternoon. The planters were wilting again, but the sky was turning gray and the air was heavy with the scent of rain.

“Ah… Just in time…”

It started to sprinkle. Then thunder. Then lightning. THEN HAIL - HOLY HAIL!

Panicked, I ran around the yard. Pebbles of ice pelted my face, my house, my planters and my garden.

“How do I protect my veggies? Do I need a tarp? Should I build a lean-to?”

I ran in and out of the garage, overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. Like many gardeners before me, I soon realized that there was nothing I could do but wait out the storm. Soaked with rain and sweat, I walked back to the house defeated.

As soon as the sky cleared, I ran out of the house to assess the damage. A few shredded leaves clung to their stems, a couple of green tomatoes had fallen to the ground, and that was that. The garden had taken it on the chin and looked no worse for wear.

I had a lot more respect for my plants. They are way tougher than I’ll ever be.

Gad zooks! It’s supposed to be a hot one this weekend, with temps topping 90. You can seek shelter in air-conditioned comfort, take an ice bath or hide out in a movie theater watching “Transformers” over and over, but what can your plants do? Here are some ways to help your garden beat the heat:

Water. Early morning is best, because there’s less loss to evaporation. But if you can’t water early, water in the evening, once it’s cooled off a bit. (Nighttime watering isn’t the best because it can encourage plant pests and diseases.) And remember, water thoroughly rather than often. Set the sprinkler or soaker hose and leave it go for a while. Watering with a watering can will likely leave your plants thirsty.

Mulch. If you haven’t mulched already, add an inch or two of organic material (hay, straw, shredded leaves, partially completed compost, etc.) to your garden beds, around trees and shrubs, even in your containers. Mulch helps hold soil moisture in and keep soil temperatures down.

Move. Your potted plants, that is. Group containers together in the shade, at least during the hottest part of the day. That will help keep them from wilting.

Be nice to your grass. Continue to water your grass at least once a week, even if it’s starting to turn brown. If you give up and stop watering completely, you can permanently damage the little grass plants. If your grass is drying out and browning, stay off it as much as you can.

Keep chemicals at bay. Plants (including grass plants) are likely to be stressed by the hot, dry weather, so it’s not the best time to fertilize or treat for insects. Wait until the weather cools.

Don’t panic. At the end of a really hot, dry day your plants may look wilted, but they’ll likely survive. Just water when they’re dry — and wait for cooler weather.

What do you do for your plants when it’s this hot?

This week’s storms blew some branches down in my Minneapolis yard and knocked over a couple of pots. No biggie. But some gardens really took a beating. Hail shredded plants, high winds snapped branches and toppled whole trees. How did your yard fare? Send us your snapshots and sob stories. (We gardeners love to commiserate, you know.)

What can you do about the damage? Well, it sorta depends on how big a hit your garden took. Plants have wonderful regenerative powers. And it’s still early in the season, which will help some plants recover. Here’s what you can do:

Assess the mess. Get in the garden and inspect your plants. Nip off broken stems and any leaves that are badly shredded. Plenty of perennials will survive if even just a bit of foliage is still standing. (True, they won’t look so hot, but they’ll probably make it.) If your annuals and veggies took a hard hit, you may be better off buying new. We’ve got a short growing season and most of us are too impatient to wait for mashed impatiens to come around.

Get damaged trees trimmed. If you have trees with broken branches, call an aborist to cut them off. (Don’t go all DIY on this, unless you’ve had LOTS of experience with ladders and chain saws and (911.)

Get undamaged trees trimmed. Even if your trees fared well, you may want to call an aborist and ask about getting your trees trimmed. A good trim will help them fare better in next week’s storm.

Have a swell Memorial Day weekend!

From GG reader Laura:
help! my garden was badly damaged in yesterday’s hail storm! is there any hope for the flattened seedlings?

I sent Laura some post-storm sympathy. She sent me her list of casualties and a few photos:

“i had sugar snap peas, carrots, onions, radishes, and lettuce. the peas were maybe 3-4 inches tall, everything else was only sprouted an inch or two and now is wiped flat. i also had transplanted my tomatoes because the temps were being so nice. they seem to have survived with broken branches. my day lilies also took a bad beating from the hail.”

Hail, high winds, and heavy rains are disasterous for us gardeners. Is there anything Laura can do? Will these damaged plants survive?