July is typically Iowa’s hottest month of the year, and while August will arrive later this week, it may be equally as steamy, which can mean trouble for Iowans with vegetable gardens and fruit crops.
Aaron Steil, a consumer horticulture specialist at the Iowa State University Extension, says we’ve had some very hot weeks already this summer and problems begin to develop when temperatures go above 90 during the day, and stay around 75 at night.
“When we start getting really warm, especially in the vegetable garden, we’re going to start to see things like slow ripening on tomatoes,” Steil says. “You may be looking at your garden and seeing all these green tomatoes and thinking that they’re being very slow to turn red, and that’s very possible in really hot weather.”…