Gardening tips offered

The Tulsa Garden Center provided these gardening survival tips to make it through the pits--hot summer days--of the gardening calendar.

Proper watering is your landscape's best defense against hot summer days. Daily sprinklings encourage undesirable shallow, heat- exposed roots. Instead, water deeply several times a week.

Fertilize annuals about every 10 days to two weeks. However, never fertilize when the soil is dried out. Water first to avoid burning the roots.

Early August is the time to give roses a serious pruning. Cut back by one-quarter to one-third to ready them for their fall dis0play.

The zinnia is the heat-lovingest of all summer flora. Plant the seeds in early July and as late as early August. Because zinnias love the heat, germination occurs in a few days and the plants will be ready to bloom in a month.

To get the most out of your herb garden, don't let your plants flower. Nipping off tips makes for long-lived, bushier plants. This is particularly true of basil.