August 2025
Pickaway to Garden
Volunteer
By Paul J. Hang
A volunteer
is someone who performs a task without pay. If you garden you are a volunteer,
unless you garden for someone else for pay. In the plant world a volunteer is a
plant that grows without having been intentionally sown or planted. Weeds come
to mind. Of course the old definition of a weed is a plant growing where you
don’t want it. But that can apply to real weeds like ragweed, poison ivy or
Canada thistle. Or, it can apply to plants we like and might want to keep.
I often hear
people mention their volunteer tomato plants. They are free but you don’t want to
let them grow where they came up if it is where you grew tomatoes the last couple
years. Diseases in the soil can carry over. We should rotate most crops. You
could dig them up and plant them elsewhere. However, you might be surprised at
what variety you get. If they came from the seed of a hybrid you won’t know
what traits it might have inherited.
Some of the
volunteers I get are trees, some I like, and some I don’t. Thanks to squirrels
I have to dig up about a dozen walnut trees every year. I like walnuts and
walnut trees but I don’t want them growing near my desirable plants and
vegetables. They produce a chemical, juglone that retards the growth of most
other plants, especially tomatoes. I also get Pin oak seedlings from the tree
across the road. I get Shingle oaks from who knows where. I only know of one
over a mile from “This ole Thistle Farm.” I get Mulberry and Hackberry trees. I
don’t want the Mulberry because they are weedy and they are almost always the
non-native White or one of its hybrids from the native and disappearing Red
Mulberry. I already have enough Hackberry, another rampant volunteer.
Nice trees I
might dig up to give away. Often I don’t see the volunteer trees until they
appear in or even above a shrub. If a sapling is straight I might leave it
until it is the right size to make a walking stick before I remove it. Don’t
get me started about Silver Maples. Learn to recognize their leaves. It might
be a Red or Sugar Maple. The other day I was admiring my late blooming Tardiva
hydrangea only to see a maroon Rose of Sharon, another prolific volunteer,
staring out at me among the white blooms.
If I see an
unfamiliar plant beginning to grow “out of place” I might let it grow until I
know what it is. Then, I decide whether to let it be, transplant it, or remove
it to be given away or put in the compost bin. I am a Master Gardener Volunteer
so I am not against volunteering. Volunteering can be a useful and good thing.
Many valuable things would not get done if it wasn’t for volunteers. Volunteering
is good for us. But just like with plants, you need to be discerning and choose
wisely. Know what you like and then go for it.
Big tomatoes
not ripening? I learned at the Midwest Native Plant Conference, the cause is
night time temperatures in the mid 70’s. Once our nights cool off they should
start to ripen.
Things to do in the garden:
August is
Tree Check month. Water if we don’t get at least an inch of rain each week.
Water at the base of the plant and do it in the morning. Water trees and shrubs
planted in the past two years or if they look distressed. If you see lichen on
your trees, rejoice it’s a sign of clean air.
You can still
have a fall garden. Plant healthy looking broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants
early in the month. Direct-seed beets, spinach, turnips, and snap peas
mid-month. Other vegetables that grow well in cool weather but should be
planted a little later are lettuce planted through August and September,
carrots and radishes in September. Count
the days before the average frost (mid-October), veggies that have that many days
to harvest can still be planted. Check the seed packet. Given our milder
winters don’t be afraid to experiment. Keep the seeds and soil moist for best
germination.
Harvest
vegetables and herbs in the morning for best results. Dig potatoes if the vines
have died. Harvest onions when the tops fall over and cure them in the sun for
a few days. Consider donating excess to the food pantry.
As plants die
back or stop producing in the vegetable garden remove them so bad insects and
disease don’t have a place to over-winter. Some landscape plants, such as
coneflowers and those with hollow stems, also native ornamental grasses, can be
left alone for insects and for seeds for wintering birds or for visual winter
interest. Put the debris of healthy plants in the compost bin, diseased plants
in the trash. Pull crabgrass and other weeds before they go to seed.
This is the
time to renovate or build a new lawn. Do your research at ohioline.osu.edu.
Start cuttings of coleus, begonias, geraniums and impatiens for growing indoors
this winter. Move houseplants to a shady spot to prepare them to move indoors. Disbud
and fertilize your dahlias for bigger blooms. Fertilize (side dress) peonies and
roses with a balanced fertilizer such as 10-10-10 or 12-12-12. Order garlic and
spring flowering bulbs, plant biennials. Divide, transplant or give away perennials
that are overgrown and plant new container grown ones. Add new mulch where
needed. Pull weeds before they go to seed.
Big tomatoes
not ripening? I learned at the Midwest Native Plant Conference, the cause is
night time temperatures in the mid 70’s. Once our nights cool off they should
start to ripen. 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 results in bigger
tomatoes and prevents those marble size tomatoes that never reach the table.
Experiment! Try this with melons and winter squash. Consider picking tomatoes
before they are completely ripe. They will ripen off the vine if they show a
blush of green on an otherwise red, purple or yellow tomato. Totally ripe
tomatoes still on the vine can burst with a glut of water from rain or the
hose, if we should be so lucky. They can also be sampled by birds and mammals.
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