August 2021
August brings us into the late summer garden. We have had quite a hot spell here in New England these last few weeks, but today, my windows are open, letting in the cool morning air. There is a distinct scent, a feeling to the air, a whispering of the changing of the seasons. And it reminds me to be grateful for all of these moments, seasons and bits of weather in the garden. The last few mornings I swam in the marsh near my home at sunrise, it has been right around high tide and the water was like glass. The water, was in fact, warmer than the air, but the coolness, the dew coating the long blades of marsh grass, the sun just coming up over the marsh before me, it was all loveliness. But there was a sort of solemness in it as well, a reminder of the turning from summer to fall, the late summer season.
August is a weighty month, many of the fruit and flowers , perennials, annual and veg are at their height, there is a semi wild fullness to the garden. In short, it is a glorious month. The zinnias, dahlias, sunflowers, scarlet runner beans, cannas, ect, are all putting forward their very best display.
But at the same time, despite all the fullness of August, it is clearly an end of sorts. The plants have been growing all spring and summer now, and the demands of that growth can start to show. While we still have warm days, even scorching days, the nights are beginning to be cooler and the days are shortening rapidly. The harvest in the veg garden is a chore to keep up with, but at the same time, the garden can begin to look and feel tired from all that growing.
I find I employ two strategies at this time in the garden, one is to put some energy back into the garden, there is much you can do to set the garden up to continue going strong well into October. And the second, is to embrace that plants going out, dying back, or setting their seed and is beauty in its own right.
But if you are looking to bring some fresh life to your garden, weeding, fertilizing, touching up mulch and adding some later season perennial or annual flowers / veg can bring fresh life to a garden. I tend to do this mostly to areas of high traffic or places we like to linger, or where we walk or sit every day. Which I think in general is a good strategy, start with making one area the most beautiful, and pick an area that you don’t have to go out of your way to enjoy, something right on your main routes, or a favorite site spot.
Jobs for the Garden
Moving Perennials
While moving plants in the spring is absolutely less stressful for the plant, there is an advantage to moving plants now. The plants are up, bigger, and you don’t have to imagine how one will look next to the other, you can already see them at their full height and even in flower. So if you feel your garden could use some small or major adjustments, now is a nice time to make them. However, if you dig up and move plants there are a few things you can do to ease the transplant stress. Use a transplanting shovel if you have one and try and get as big of a root ball as you can. After you have finished moving and transplanting, cut the plants back some, so there is less growth for the now disturbed roots to support. Make sure you give them a good water right after planting and keep watering them regularly for the rest of the season. I also like to fertilize them a little after transplanting, and usually just the one time, but sometimes a couple of times, to give them access to more nutrients as they settle in to their new home.
Dahlias
Our dahlias have been exquisite, I think they had a bit slower start this year, but they have exploded with growth over the last month and are simply stunning. I grew probably too many this year, if that is indeed at all possible, I have big dinner plate varieties, medium to small ball shaped blooms, and a large quantity of single flowers, all of which I started from seed. While I simply adore the large more intricate dahlias, it is these single flower dahlias that have really won me over this year. I started so many from seed in part because I love them and could not resisting buying a packet here and there (this year I grew my old favorite, Bishop Child, with two other new to me varieties, Triple Wren’s bloomquist mix and Floret Farmer’s discovering dahlia mix). Part of my initial reasoning is that I would try them out and save only the tubers of those from seed I like best, but of course, I love them all, and so now I am beginning to work through how I will make the time and spaces to get these all stored properly when frost comes! So, if you always wanted to try dahlias, but have been nervous to do so, buy yourself some seed for next year and grow by seed and then try over wintering your tubers, you will spend less than $5 on a packet and will end up with 10+ dahlias.
But for now, if you have dahlia’s it is important to stay on top of deadheading them, as that will encourage them to keep the display going. I try and do so daily, but given the quantity I have, that is not always possible, but dead head as often as you can.
You can tell if a flower has gone out or opening by the shape of the bud. A more cone shaped bud means a flower has gone out, a flatish rounded bud is one that is opening. When you cut blooms, whether to bring in the house or to dead, cut a long stem, back down to the next side shoot because you are trying to keep a good form for the plant and keep it from getting too tall and then toppling over.
It is also a good idea to feed them regularly. Dahlias in the ground could easily be feed once a month, but twice a month would be better, to keep the plant healthy and flowering strongly. However if you grow them in a pot, consider doing it more regularly, I aim for once a week, but sometime it is once every two weeks. To help myself remember when I fertilized last, I note it in my planner, but I also try to do it on Friday….Feeding Friday, which helps me remember.
Tomatoes
August and tomatoes feel synonymous, can one exist without the other? Eating a handful of cherry tomatoes, plucked from their stem in the warm afternoon sunshine is one of those small joys steeped in vivid sensual experiences. The smell of the leaves as they brush across your hands, the light breeze, which is like a breath of fresh air, the warm sun on bare arms and legs, the tomatoes themselves, warm to the touch from a day in the sun, sweet, juice bursting with each bite, and possibly even dribbling down your chin or squirting onto you shirt. Our tomatoes have a feeling of a jungle about them, it is an exploration to find the treasure.
Enough of my waxing over my tomatoes….There are a number of things you can do this month to help your plants continue to produce and ripen over the rest of the growing season.
Firstly, remove all the lower leaves, your plants don’t need them, and doing so increases sunlight to the fruit (which improves ripening), improves ventilations and reduces the amount of disease pressure that comes as a result of airflow and moisture.
Don’t over water, unless is has been really hot. Watering heavily now will cause fruit to split, and if you do water, it is better to do so with a can at their base, to avoid soaking the leaves and fruit. And if you have the time and energy to do so, they will also benefit from a weekly feeding of fish and seaweed fertilizer, however I often do not get to such an ideal feeding schedule, and you know what, I always have lots of delicious tomatoes, so don’t fret.
Sow fall veggies
Now is a good time to sow fall veggies that will grow and develop quickly and are well suited to growing in cooler temperatures. Fall salad crops, turnips, radishes all can grow quickly and will benefit from cooler weather.
These can either be sown in plugs and then planted out in a few weeks, or can be direct sowed. Or if you have a greenhouse, you can plant the green in there, and thus extend your harvest even later into the fall and early wiinter.
Prune Lavender and other Herbs
As your lavender finishes it flowering, now is the time to give it a good hair cut. Ideally immediately as flowers fade, to give it the most time to put on new growth before winter. This keeps lavender (but also oregano, thyme, sage, etc. from going leggy).
You want to cut it back hard to a good shape, but make sure there is a good bit of green growth on each stem, as it is not likely to grow back on a bare stem. The growth that will happen between this pruning and winter will be the basis for next years display.
Order Bulbs
If you haven’t done so, go and order your bulbs to plant later this fall. It is a good idea to order a little ahead, specially if you have any particular varieties in mind. I have typically order from Van Engelen, but this year, in addition to order with them, I also decided to order from Colorblends, but there are many places to order from. I personally don’t plant bulbs until after first frost, so typically sometime in November (which is also when I plant garlic). And I would say, if you can, order more not less, although it might seem like a lot, my experience is that hundreds of bulbs added each year is an absolute game changer for the spring and early summer garden.
