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| The Dog Days of Summer!! = = = = = = = = = = = = Dear Casual Gardener, It’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk. My garden is baking into a nice crispy brown mess filled with dead sticks. It’s all over!! Any advice for the dog days of summer? Signed, Hot as Heck on Hoy Street = = = = = = = = = = = = It’s hit us! You’re right – the “dog days of summer”! The only thing hotter than the sidewalk is my garden mascot, Harry the Pug. He refuses to garden with me during this time of the year. His outdoor experience includes a quick run to attend to business and then an even faster jog back inside where the air conditioning cools his chubby little body. The month of August has always presented a challenge for most gardeners. It begins the hot and dusty downhill slide into the Fall season. We struggle to keep the garden green this month. Your garden is hardier than you think and there are plenty of gardening tasks for August that will keep your flower and vegetable gardens going longer, as well as opportunities to get a head start on next year's garden. • Water! Water! Water! Water your garden beds at least once a week. Water very heavily in early morning or late evening so the moisture gets down deep to the root system. Water the roots, not the leaves and check your mulch – if you have shallow mulch you’ll have to water more. The mulch keeps your plants roots cool and dry and increases the chances for survival during drought. • If you’ve let your plants go to seed, now’s the time to pay attention to the rate of drying the seed pots are experiencing. If they are ready to harvest, cut the seed pods off and place upside down in small brown paper bags. The seeds will drop out into the bottom of the bag for storage and you can compost the dried plant. • Leave some seeds in the garden to self-sow – next year you’ll have an abundance of plants to share with your neighbors. • If you’re a vegetable gardener, perhaps you will be interested in planting a fall crop of peas or spinach. When the zucchini and melons are ready to harvest, so will your peas and spinach. • Pick herbs which might be ready to drop from the heat and dry them properly. Slower drying in a cool dark spot will help hold the flavor of the herbs • It’s a good idea to remove any diseased foliage that might have black spot or fungus now so they won’t get in with your fall leaves and grow through the Winter. Removing diseased leaves now assures you might have less issues next Spring. • Cut back your annuals by at least 1/3. It will revitalize them so they will continue to be florific through the Fall season. • Pull out those gardening catalogs and order Spring blooming bulbs for planting in the Fall. One of my favorite local sources for bulbs is www.tulipsnmore.com. My favorite bulb is either the Daffodil or the Allium. Both are animal resistant and very likely to naturalize or return yearly. Happy Summer Gardening! Please send your gardening questions for Shawna Coronado, The Casual Gardener to dearshawna@thecasualgardener.com or The Casual Gardener, P.O. Box 358, Warrenville, IL 60555. www.thecasualgardener.com |
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