If your garden is anything like mine, you are probably busy watering, staking, checking for bugs and diseases, harvesting veggies and fruits and bouquets of flowers, and planting — at least those are the things that we all should be doing in August if we want to call ourselves gardeners.
I don’t think anyone ever manages to accomplish all the gardening chores they set out to do, but we should at least give it the old college try. Just for fun, here are some of the things I have been doing in my garden.
Whacked-back the Shasta daisies. I like to cut them all the way to the ground once the blooms fade, but some folks prefer to leave a foot of old stems. Either way, give them a little food and they should put on a nice little mound of new growth, which will help fill the void for the rest of the summer.
Cut off the Hosta blooms. Depending on the variety, I will either let them bloom and cut them off as soon as they fade, or nip them in the bud before they get up over the foliage. Some types are actually fragrant and a few are colorful. I have been told that hummingbirds like them, but I have yet to see one visit them in my garden.
Staked up a few ornamental grasses. Some varieties of grasses just want to flop in my garden, especially after a little rain like we had a few weeks ago. I drive one stake in the ground (close to the base), tie a string around the clump and to the stake to help support the plant. Keep it loose and natural for the best appearance.
Clipped back wisteria. Most vines appreciate a summer trim, except summer-bloomers like trumpet vine. Kiwi, akebia and for sure wisteria need to have about half of the new growth removed now. In late winter, you can cut that new growth back half way again.
Sheared the Magic Carpet spiraea and the Walker’s Low catmint. Both of these plants, one a shrub and the other a perennial, will re-bloom in the fall if sheared back now — or better yet, last month. Always throw down some fertilizer after pruning to support new growth.
Removed water sprouts on the Ruby Daze crabapple. Water sprouts — sometimes called suckers — are common in both flowering and fruiting trees, especially pears, apples and plums. They are the vigorous vertical shoots that clutter up the insides of the tree and, if removed this time of year, will heal over faster than in winter and tend not to produce quite as many the following year.
Picked the last of the peas and hardly put a dent in the zucchini. For some reason peas were really late this year. I have heard that from several gardeners, myself included. My tomatoes are also late, but I think it is partly due to the fact that my beds only get the afternoon sun (but that is the only location available). Maybe next year I will build a cloche over those beds to hurry things along. Stay tuned to see if it really happens!
Planted some helianthus. Well, I have to practice what I preach, don’t I? I actually had to remove a penstemon Husker’s Red to make room for them. Shockingly, I have run out of room in my new garden. Maybe Mother Nature will create some new space for me next spring.
A snip here and a clip there will keep the garden looking fabulous this time of year. Keep moving those hoses, tying up the floppers and harvesting the veggies, and start thinking about a fall crop (I always put in some broccoli). Reapply fertilizer, especially to the containers where plants are crammed together with a limited amount of soil.
And, most important, take time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. A gardener’s work is never done, but that doesn’t mean we can’t rest and admire our handy work.
Free class
The next free gardening class at Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville will be “Fabulous Fall Grasses & Perennials” at 10 a.m. Aug. 26. For more information, go to www.sunnysidenursery.net/classes.
Steve Smith represents Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville and can be reached at sunnysidenursery@msn.com.
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