Deadheading and other August Chores

 

Keeping your garden looking its best through the season requires regular maintenance. This involves removing fading and spent flowers, before they begin to form seed pods. In gardening terms it’s called deadheading, which simply means pruning off the old flowers. This keeps the garden neat and promotes additional blooms as well. Get in the habit of deadheading while you walk through your garden. It’s easy to carry a pair of light pruners with you as you make your rounds. As you spot a blossom beginning to fade snip it off. 

Working your garden everyday makes it easier to spot other common late summer problems, such as leaf diseases or insect damage. Powdery mildew on  squash, pumpkins and peonies or rust on roses and other ornamentals are often seen this time of the season. To reduce the damage from garden diseases, use an organic fungicide such as Sulfur, Neem or Bee Safe 3-in1. These multipurpose products will also help control Western Flower Thrip and spider mites. If you encounter a problem you're unsure of, bring us a sample. We'll figure out what it is and  come up with a solution that's best for your garden.  

Once the season is over, it’s important to do a thorough cleanup of the garden. Leaving vegetation in place will encourage mildews and other diseases as well as insects such as thrips to winter over and infect your garden next spring.   

Check your roses and continue to remove any spent blossoms. Mid-August is the time to feed your roses. Water each rose bush, then apply the fertilizer and water thoroughly. 

Continue to deadhead blooming perennials such as Hardy Hibiscus, Daylilies and Butterfly Bushes to encourage more blooms. Do the same for your container plants, including hanging baskets. Fertilize your baskets and containers every two weeks with ferti•lome 20-20-20.  

While you’re at it, take a hard look at your tomatoes and vegetables. Removing dead and diseased leaves on your tomato plants will put more energy into fruit production. Recognize common tomato problems such as blossom end rot (use ferti-lome Yield Booster to increase calcium levels) cracking (watch the watering) and yellow shoulders (heat, low Potassium levels, high soil pH). Heat, wind, uneven watering, poor soil, over fertilizing, insect damage can also cause tomato leaves to curl and twist. The best thing to do at this point is to maintain an even watering schedule and use ferti•lome Organic Tomato and Vegetable Food. 

 Tomatoes and peppers are starting to ripen now, so it’s important to keep up with the harvesting, which will encourage your plants to produce more. This is also the time to start planning for a second crop of cool weather vegetables. Beans, radishes, lettuce, kale, spinach and many more cool weather crops can be planted soon, for late season harvest. It’s beneficial to take pictures and keep a journal documenting what went well during the season. This will help when you make plans for the upcoming gardening season.  Time spent deadheading and pruning annuals and perennials will keep the garden colorful and fresh right to the end of the growing season.