August 2018 gardening advice

by Jennifer Fairfield

I can’t say that I’m sorry to see July end. I may not have mentioned it before, but I really don’t like the super-hot weather, and last month was just a little too much for me. It was also a little too much for many of the plants in our gardens. Are you wondering why your tomato plants stopped putting out new fruit and the tomatoes you did have weren’t ripening? Blame it on the heat. When temps go over 85° for extended periods, tomato plants slow down production and ripening. With the slight cool-down we’ve been getting the last week or so, you should be seeing better production from your plants now, as long as it doesn’t heat up too much again. And we finally got some real rain! Of course, that was after I spent the day moving the sprinklers around my flower beds yesterday (after all the promises of rain this summer, I didn’t believe it was really going to happen). So my flowers, shrubs, and grasses are really well watered – for now.!

There are all kinds of things to do in the garden in August, especially watering.

I’m guessing you’re probably as tired as I am of dragging hoses, sprinklers, and watering cans around. We finally got some relief, but mostly, we’ve just been getting quick little showers. Those little bits we got every now and then aren’t nearly enough. Everything needs at least an inch of water every week, and when the temps go really high, they need even more. Mother Nature hasn’t been doing her part this year, so was up to us to make sure that everything stayed hydrated. This included our vegetable gardens, our flower beds, our trees, and our shrubs – oh yeah, and all of our plants in containers.

Unless we keep seeing regular rains, if you haven’t been watering your trees, you should really consider doing so – even those that have been in the ground for a long time may be feeling the stress of the prolonged lack of rain at this point. You may not see that stress right away – it may even take a year or two to really show up – but it will show up, and it could take a long time for your trees to recover, if they ever do. Providing a good drink on a regular basis until we start to get regular rains again could make all the difference to your trees. Aside from watering, …

Deadhead your annual flowers in beds and containers to ensure continuous blooms. Perennials that bloom at this time of year should also generally be deadheaded regularly.

Harvesting is the major activity of vegetable gardening in August. I love going out to my garden every morning to see what I might be able to have for dinner that night. Isn’t it amazing how zucchini can grow from just a tiny little fruit to a baseball bat seemingly overnight? Be sure to stay on top of picking at this time. Many of your vegetable plants, including zucchini, cucumbers, and beans will stop producing if you don’t keep harvesting.

August is also the time to put some “succession” plants in your veggie garden. Beets, radishes, lettuces, spinach, Swiss chard, kale, and peas all can be planted in August for harvest into the early fall. Take a look at the seed packet for the “days to maturity” to determine how late you can plant and still harvest before frost (and some things, like kale, are even better after a light frost). To figure out your safe planting timeframe, just count backwards from your average first date of frost (usually early October for our area). So, if your packet says that the days to maturity is 45 and it takes 5 to 10 days to germinate, then you need to make sure that you have your seeds in by about August 10th.

The lack of rain this summer has not been an entirely bad thing for gardeners. Mostly, we have not had as much disease pressure as we often do at this point, because many of the diseases we generally deal with need moisture to get going. However, high humidity and heavy dew can also allow these diseases to start, and high heat and low humidity are good for other diseases. In other words, don’t get complacent. Treat your garden with fungicide on a regular basis in order to prevent diseases. It’s best to take a proactive approach in order to keep diseases from destroying your plants before you can get a good harvest.

What’s bugging your garden these days? In my gardens, Japanese beetles are really driving me nuts – I spend a portion of every day dunking them in a bucket of soapy water in an effort to minimize the damage they are trying to do to the showy tick trefoil and rose mallow that appear to be their favorite things in my flower beds this year. The other issue I’ve had to deal with is a plague of aphids on my asters. I didn’t realize they were there until there were a whole lot of them, and they’ve really done some damage. Grasshoppers, cabbage worms, and slugs are the biggest issues in the veggie garden. I’ve also seen a few squash bugs and cucumber beetles recently. Controlling them is important, not just because they eat your hard work, but because they also transmit infection from diseased plants they’ve visited to your otherwise healthy plants. There are a number of options available for pest control, including some organic choices that are very effective. The thing to keep in mind is that, if you are using any kind of product to kill insects, you also run the risk of killing bees. So target your spraying carefully – don’t spray so much that it is dripping off plants, and don’t spray when it’s breezy – and avoid spraying when bees are around.

Keep your birdbaths cleaned out and filled – the lack of water affects the birds in our area as much as our plants. Your birdbath may be the only nearby source of water for them when it’s dry.

Same thing goes for your hummingbird feeders – keep them clean and filled so as not to promote bacteria, and to provide food and water for the hummers.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.