Gardening Calendar - August Gardening Tips_03
Monday, August 25th, 2008
Hi folks welcome to “The Phil The Gardener Show”
In this episode we are going to continue to give you some more “To Do s”
Fertilizing Your Trees and Shrubs
You shouldn’t fertilize your trees and shrubs at this time. Like pruning, fertilizing acts as a stimulus and you should wait until autumn is really here. You can start fertilizing your shrubs and trees in late September or early October. At that time the soil temperature is still warm and the roots are still growing, but the weather is cool enough to not encourage massive top growth.
Mulching
If you’re mulching to cover your perennials don’t start yet. It can be great for protecting them from the freezes, but you need to wait until you have a couple of cold snaps. I know you say freezes Ha! it is still hot, but never you fear, the cold is coming.
In some parts of the country where young shrubs and young trees need the roots protected from the heat, you can put down what we call a top dressing or a bark mulch. This will protect the shallow roots from the sun and it helps to conserve moisture, keeps the weeds and grass from germinating also. A couple inches of bark mulch, or three to 4 inches of oak leaves, pine straw, pine bark, or leaf mold will help in your quest to grow healthy plants.
Japanese Beetles and White Grubs
The optimal time to control White Grubs and Japanese Beetles is late August or early September. Use a soil insecticide, while the slugs are still small and close to the surface. You can use diazinon, if you can get it in your part of the country. Diazinon must be watered in well. If Diazinon is not available check with your local garden shop or write to me and I’ll see what is available for you to use.
Plan for your bulbs.
Go ahead and add some compost or leaf mold into your soil of the beds now to prepare for planting bulbs in October.
Order your spring flowering bulbs for fall planting now.
You can order Dutch Iris, Daffodils, Narcissus, Amaryllis, Tulips, and Hyacinth.
Cool Season Vegetables
Plant some cool season vegetables like broccoli, brussels, sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, beet, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, radishes, and English peas.
Plant mums for September bloom and fall color.
Plant asters, Celosia, Marigolds, and Zinnia to replace any faded annuals you’ve got.
For planting flower seeds you could plant Calendula, Columbine, English Daisy, Forget-me-not, Pansies, Violets, and Sweet Williams.
Fertilize
Schedule a two week feeding for your mums with a complete fertilizer and make sure you water them thoroughly until the buds show color.
Check your acid loving plants like Azalea, Camellias, and Gardenias if they’re showing any signs of chlorosis, which would be a yellowing of the leaves. Giving them a treatment of iron chelate should help them to regain their color.
Lawn Care
Give your lawn about 1 inch of water a week and cut the grass a little higher at two and a half to three inches high. This helps to shade the roots and preserve moisture. If you can, use a mulching mower and spread the clippings on your lawn. If possible mow a little more frequently.
Now I have given you some more tips for your gardens, it’s your turn to git ‘er done!
Gardening Calendar - August Gardening Tips_02
Monday, August 18th, 2008In the last episode, we talked about water conservation and watering your lawn. Your container plants and hanging baskets need to be checked everyday on hot days and every other day on moderate summer days.
Don’t just check the surface of the soil surface press your finger an inch or two into the soil and check the root zone to make sure there’s enough moisture.
Your plants need to be watered thoroughly but do not over water them.
In another episode we talked about dividing Agapanthus. You can use these same tips and methods to divide your day lilies.
If you’re starting fall perennials from seed, sow them directly into the soil in your garden. You can you start planting them in August or September.
August is a great time to plant your fall blooming crocus. This will give them an extra week or two of flowers after your main garden plants finish blooming for the year.
Prune your summer blooming shrubs, after they’ve finished flowering and remove any diseased or dead branches.
Your gardens appearance will really improve if you just take a few minutes and pinch off the old dead flowers from your Zinnias, Marigolds, and other annuals, this goes the same for your perennials.
If you can pinch the blooms off as soon as they die back it will encourage the plants to produce more flowers. Once they’ve gone to seed, flower production will drastically reduce or stop.
For your fall vegetable garden, now’s the time to get started planting. You can plant your seeds or starter plants directly into the garden.
Beets, carrots, green onions, lettuce, radishes, and spinach are some of the most popular vegetables to grow in your winter garden.
As you continue through August you need to be vigilant in watching for snails, slugs, and bugs.
Now I have given you some more garden tasks for August.
Sprinklers Garden and Lawn
Monday, August 11th, 2008Your main task in August is going to be weeds and watering. These should be on the short list. Make sure you keep on top of your weeds. Weeds will suck the water out of the ground and and rob it from your plants.
Weeds can make a nice landscape look unsightly. In the past few months there have been a lot of homes that have been foreclosed on. When people move away and either abandon their home or are pushed out by the banks. The first thing that starts to suffer is their landscape.
The water gets shut off and the landscape starts to die. This takes a toll on the whole neighborhood, because only 1 yard looking bad in a neighborhood will detract from a nice area. Multiply this by hundreds for the current times, and you will see that whole neighborhoods are looking really sad.
A lot of areas in the country are in a drought situation now. There hasn’t been any rain to speak of this summer. It is a big turnaround from just a few short months ago when there were devastating floods.
Water conservation is going to be a priority for the coming year. As long as you deep water. This will help you keep water around the root zone where the plants need it.
Shallow short waterings do not help the plants it is a waste of water. The cycles need to be long enough to allow water to penetrate the soil. Of course water runoff will not grow concrete.
Some areas require you to only water on certain days. The agencies will cite homeowners and businesses who choose not to follow their guidelines. Check with your local agency for your water days.
Broken sprinklers are another problem, and will waste a lot of water. Also sprinklers out of adjustment will not water properly and again, will waste water.
If you are on a water ration, and you can not keep enough water on your grass to keep the green. Yes, it will turn brown, but never fear. During the heat and dry at times, grass will go through a dormancy as soon as water is reapplied your grass will come back. The only problem is the weeds have a tendency to do well even when the grass is gone dormant.
