August is a lazy month, much more conducive to sitting in the shade of a tree than toiling in the garden.
But to reap the fruits of our earlier labors, we must keep pace with the season’s changes and the ever-shifting phases of plant growth. Even in the sizzling heat, the green leaves are working overtime; there are no strikes in these factories of life.
Watering
Unless your section has had ample rain, moisture reserves in the soil are now depleted. August is usually dry hut providentially so, for now we approach harvest time. The sap, which traveled up the plants in the spring, is now descending for storage purposes. Vegetables from successive sowings, annuals, bulbs like dahlias and gladiolus, all require a constant supply of water. So, too, do chrysanthemums and roses, in order to bloom abundantly in the fall.
Soil-soaking, cultivation and mulches are in order. Where a mulch is not used, keep up shallow surface cultivation.
When to water is always a controversial question. If you expect sharply cooler nights in late August, water in the morning. With an overnight drop in temperature, damp foliage invites mildew and other fungus diseases. Dousing plants with cold water in the heat of midday is not a good practice. If watering is required during the day, apply water to the soil in a slow stream.
Vegetables
Early celery is ready now. If you like it blanched, use strong paper or the ready-made collars around the stems. Tie the stems together first and cover only as much as you require at any one time. If covered too long, the stems may spoil.
If the tops are yellowing, onions are now ready to dig. Spread them out to dry, then store in a cool place. Pleat or interlace the tops of about two dozen together and hang them up, rather than pile them deeply in boxes.
When you pick corn depends on your personal preference. The milk or cream stage is preferred by some; others prefer the later stage. It is better to learn to tell ripeness by touch without stripping the husk ears left stripped lose their flavor and value. Continue to hill up later-sown rows of corn against windstorms.
If you allow your tomato plants to ramble, put hay or straw underneath them to keep the fruit off the ground. Plants which have been trained up to one or two stems must be kept free of suckers which start at the ground line. Side shoots should also be removed. Mulching and plenty of water for your tomato plants this month will reduce a tendency toward blossom-end rot.
In some sections it is still possible to put in another sowing of snap beans. Another crop of spinach can still go in. The seed will germinate better if soaked a day or more in water. Looseleaf lettuce, early radishes and early turnips can be sown. Mustard and cress (pepper grass) make excellent fall greens that grow quickly. Chinese cabbage and endive can be put in now, too. Vegetables sown in July will need thinning now. Do this before the seedlings get too large.
Cover Crops
Where crops have been removed, sow a cover crop. Not only will this use up available nutrients but it will add valuable humus to the garden next year. Rye (2 to 4 pounds per 1,000 square feet) is generally used in northern sections. It can be sown as late as November. For increasing the nitrogen content in the soil, a legume is a better crop. In the milder sections, Long Island, New Jersey and farther south, sow crimson clover (not red clover). Although this is an annual, if sown in August it germinates rapidly and survives the winter. Use 1/2 pound of seed per 1,000 square feet. For a bulky crop for next spring, mix 2 pounds of rosen rye, a winter variety, with the clover.
Seed Sowing
Pansies, forget-me-nots and delphiniums should be sown now for next year. Pansies are the most difficult to germinate. A shaded coldframe is best, or if you do not have one, a seed flat. You must keep the soil evenly moist, shaded and cool. Use a mixture of soil, sand and leafmold well moistened a day or two before sowing and sprinkled with 1 teaspoonful of liquid nitrate of soda in a gallon of water. Broadcast the seed; as soon as it germinates. remove the covering. Good seed should always be your first concern.
Set out madonna lily bulbs now. Cover the crown with only about 3 incites of soil. To keep rodents away, pack a mixture of sand and crushed glass around the bulbs. Seedlings of many perennials sown last month are now ready for transplanting. See the July Pointers for suggestions on handling them.
Pruning Berries
Raspberry and blackberry canes which have borne fruit should now be removed to facilitate the growth of next year’s canes. Do not prune the everbearing kinds; you will lose the late crop.
Lawn Care
Watering and cutting, with the blade height at at least 2 inches, are the ever-present lawn chores. Crabgrass, now in its prime, is already setting seed to be scattered for next year’s crop. To eradicate it, destroy the crabgrass before it goes to seed.
Chrysanthemums
If you buy young pot plants now, set them out in rows in vacant spots in the vegetable garden. They can he lifted in late September and either potted up for indoors or placed in beds outside. The azaleamums or so-called cushion mums are now corning into bloom. Feed and water them liberally during their flowering period.
Propagation
Geraniums, roses, hydrangeas and other flowering shrubs, as well as clematis. wistaria. abelia, buddleis, Japanese holly, pachysandra and ivy, can be rooted now, using pure, well-packed sand. Azaleas, pieris, mahonia. Berberis verruculosa and cotoneaster do best when potted in a mixture of 1/2 peatmoss and 1/2 sand.
Cuttings need moisture and shade. A coldframe in which the glass has been – whitewashed is excellent.
by P McKenny – 62845
