Summer is here, and things should be growing in area gardens, growing like gangbusters. Except there are a few things that might get in the way: It might get very hot very fast, which was a feature of early June. And even when the plants are not very active, the bugs sure can be.

We take up these and other early-summer gardening issues in a new edition of Garden For Life. Grace Florjancic, who coordinates the Master Gardener program in Jackson County, returns for more answers to our questions about how to make things grow well, and what to do when they don't.