In the garden
• Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.
• Don't let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. That can encourage blossom-end rot. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week, a little more if they look droopy. Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.
• If your melons and squash aren't setting fruit, give the bees a hand. With a small, soft paintbrush, gather some pollen from male flowers, then brush it inside the female flowers, which have a tiny swelling at the base of their petals. (That's the embryo melon or squash.) Within days, that little swelling should start growing.
Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.
Around the house
Need a new room air conditioner? Americans now rate air conditioners as the No. 3 most essential household appliance, behind land-line phones and clothes dryers, and ahead of TV sets, home computers and microwaves, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. In Sacramento in July, air conditioners may move up to No. 1.
Choosing the right room air conditioner is a hot topic. Pick an air conditioner that can cool the room efficiently. That means a model that's not too big or too small to fit a room.
An oversize air conditioner will repeatedly start and stop, leaving the room feeling too cold and humid. A too-small air conditioner strains to cool the room while running too hard and wasting energy.
To find the right match, the first step is to calculate your room's needs, according to the makers of Friedrich air conditioners. Cooling capacity is measured in Btu (British thermal units). A small room (100 to 150 square feet) requires 5,000 Btu per hour. A 1,000-square-foot room needs 21,000 Btu per hour.
To calculate the right unit for your room, click on the air conditioner sizing guide offered by Friedrich at www.friedrich.com/support/sizingGuide.php . Or call a Friedrich consultant at (800) 541-6645.
Energy Star-rated air conditioners also can help you save on your electric bill. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District and Pacific Gas and Electric both offer a $50 rebate for efficient room air conditioners. For details, see www.smud.org or www.pge.com.
– Debbie Arrington
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