Bow Wow

August 2012

Pickaway to Garden

By Paul J. Hang

Bow Wow

The dog days of summer are upon us, growling and biting, sometimes snarling, always tagging along, dogging us. Dog days are named for the star Sirius which is the brightest star, visible in the night sky in winter and in the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog. Sirius is in conjunction with the Sun from July 3 through August 11. Sirius rises and sets with the sun this time of year. Ancients believed it added heat to the sun. Therefore, they believed, the dog days are the hottest muggiest most uncomfortable days of the year.

August is the height of summer; there are more plants that have gone to seed than there are plants in flower. Even though the summer is only half over, I get the sense that the game is over. Things seem to be winding down. August usually brings one of those cool days when I get the feeling that autumn is just around the corner. However what with this "warming thing" I wonder if August will be able to fulfill that role or if in the future I'll have to wait for September or even October to be the harbinger of fall. Ann Swinger in "Beyond the Aspen Grove" said "part of each season is contained in every other," Which confirms my experience of sensing fall in summer, winter in fall, spring in winter and so on. August has always been one of those months for me. It brings a sense of fleeting good times, a feeling of urgency to experience the summer before it is too late.

August is a time of butterflies, dragonflies, fruit flies and houseflies. We see the ripening of all kinds of plants. They are producing fruits, flowers and seeds. The daylily blooms are already gone. Yarrow's blooms are browning. Sunflowers are drooping prematurely. We are way ahead of where we normally are in August.

All this heat and drought is stressing us and all the plants: crops, flowers, shrubs, trees and even some weeds. Newly planted lawns, trees and shrubs need our special attention. Water deeply weekly but not frequently lightly. Stressed plants are an invitation to all manner of insect pests and diseases. If you see trouble, investigate to see if the problem is caused by the weather or by a pest. If a pest, take appropriate steps. Determine what the pest is and then determine what is the best action to take, if any. Contact www.ohioline.osu.edu or call the OSU Extension Master Gardener Helpline 474-7534 for assistance.

This "warming thing" is predicted to continue. Not just for this summer but for the future. It will change the way we live and garden in ways we can only begin to guess. To the extent that we are the cause we can think of it as fouling our nest. There are things we can do before it is too late. Those things will take a lot of changes in the way we live. Once the drought breaks and the weather cools will we forget the urgency to do something? I hope not.

The Romans used to sacrifice a brown dog to try and keep the temperature down during the dog days, seriously. I need to see a man about a dog.

Things to do in the garden:

Water and weed. Water and weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Pull all that crabgrass before it goes to seed. Take heart though the first good frost will kill it.

Plant the seeds of carrots, lettuces, spinach, radishes, turnips, and kale mid-month, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage early in the month for a fall garden.

As plants die back clean up the debris so bad insects and disease don’t have a place to over- winter.

Want to have a new garden next year? Now is a good time to prepare the site. Cover the area with black plastic, thick cover of newspaper or even old carpet. Anything that will block the sun will leave bare earth come spring.

Disbud your mums and dahlias for bigger blooms and fertilize. Side dress (fertilize) peonies with a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 12-12-12.

By the end of the month consider disbudding your tomato plants. Remove the growing tips of each branch and pinch out all the blossoms that bloom. It takes six weeks from blossom to fruit. This practice will give bigger tomatoes and prevent all those marble size tomatoes that the frost gets and never reach the table. If you’re not sure about this, try it on some of your plants and compare to those that you leave alone. Experiment! Try this also with melons and winter squash.

It is time to plant biennials and order bulbs for fall planting and blooms next year.

This is a good time to look at plants at their full maturity. Assess their look, their height, their spread, their color and texture. Do you like where they are? If not, think about moving them as soon as they begin to go dormant. If they are annuals, make a note for next year to plant them in another spot in the garden.

Keep cool.