Here we are in August and we may be thinking that the gardening season is over. No Way!
There are still many summer gardening tasks we need to achieve this month. When the heat is on I definitely keep the hardest gardening to the early mornings or evenings. I also like to make a list of the things I want to accomplish each month.
So here’s the Grower Coach’s list of the top five summer gardening tips for the month of August:
1) August is Iris dividing month. It’s time to reduce your old overgrown Irises and rejuvenate for next year. Reduce your Irises to a clump of healthy roots about 18 inches in diameter and add a bit of compost for good luck!
2) Slugs lay a lot of eggs in the month of July so there are usually a lot of baby slugs around the garden so it’s time to make an attack on slugs by setting your favorite slug traps and setting out some safe slug bait around plants that they like. This will reduce populations for next year!
3) Pull out your Crabgrass! Crabgrass is a weedy annual grass that sprouts in the spring and lays unseen until August where it suddenly appears in lawns everywhere. It lays out flat pressing down the surrounding turfgrass and sends out its reddish seed stalks looking crab-like in the lawn. As soon as you can learn what it looks like in your lawn you can set out a program of picking out the easily removed grasses a bit each day. The goal is to not let them go to seed. 4) Cutting off your bleeding hearts. The bleeding hearts are one of the best old fashioned garden plants and will often keep blooming to July. If you haven’t already done so you should cut them to the ground and if large old plants divide them and replant in areas that could use some of that long-lasting colour!
5) When you water, water well! Once the heat of summer comes on, it’s the time that your prized plants need a little extra attention. Newly planted plants will not appreciate the hot summer sun and would prefer to be kept moist throughout the hot days. Hand water plants slowly directly into their roots and let soak then come back and water again to be sure the water is getting into the root system. New planting may need water daily in the summer months so keep an eye on the newbies. Older plants need less frequent watering and are better at surviving drought so focus on your edibles and newbie’s and all will thrive into the fall.
