Over the Hill

August 2014

Pickaway to Garden

By Paul J. Hang

 Over the Hill

August is a month that brings me a sense of being over the hill. By the end of the first week we will be at mid-summer, half way between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. By mid-month summer is waning. Days are getting shorter but not yet at an alarming rate. I get a feeling that we are sliding down hill, however slowly, towards September, October and the falling leaves of autumn. Although this is true, this time of year also seems like true summer. Warm days, misty mornings, dog days, meteors, tomatoes, pokeweed, milkweed, goldenrod, sumac, crabapples, watermelon and sweet corn all confirm that the season is at its height. I left out ragweed. It reminds millions of us that August has arrived. Ragweed is the culprit causing hay fever allergies, not goldenrod and not hay.

Some birds are beginning their migration south. Cicadas, crickets, and katydids begin their chorus not to be silenced until the frosts of fall. Although for some of us with tinnitus the chorus never ceases. August is a time of ripening. When we look at the fields and gardens this time of year we notice, as nature writer Edwin Way Teale observed, “…the number of plants that have produced their seeds outnumbers those that are still in bloom.”

Daylilies have had a great year. I have seen more blooms than ever and buds were numerous. Their season of bloom has also been long and colorful. Strange how some plants have their year and then go back to normal habits. Moisture, temperature, prevalence or absence of certain pests, the kind of winter and spring, all vary each year resulting in favorable conditions for some plants and not for others.

Need gardening advice? Call the Gardening Helpline 474-7534. Other resources are ohioline.osu.edu and, to read a weekly discussion of problems facing those of us who “grow things” check out bygl.osu.edu. Buckeye Yard and Garden Line (bygl) is a real education. You learn, for instance, that problems you may be having with certain plants are also being experienced by others. Experts discuss what to do. It is updated weekly.

Things to do in the garden:

Weed. Weed. Weed and maybe water if nature quits dumping on us. Pull all that crabgrass before it goes to seed. Take heart though, the first good frost will kill it.

Plant the seeds of green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage early in the month, carrots, lettuces, spinach, radishes, turnips, and kale mid-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. This true for corn, beans, cucumbers and bush squash plants after they cease bearing, Some plants you may want to leave alone for seeds for wintering birds and for visual winter interest such as coneflowers and ornamental grasses.

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. If all your perennials have stopped blooming plant some late blooming ones for next year such as black-eyed Susan’s, coreopsis, liatris and mallow.