Watering, weeding and preparing for fall planting!
August is all about watering, weeding and preparing – the perfect combination to keep your garden blooming and beautiful.
August tips to maintain and prepare your garden:
- Ensure you weed as much as possible, continue to add mulch to suppress weeds and keep the soil cool and damp.
- Remembering to water your garden is key, especially in extremely hot temperatures. One thorough watering is sufficient; one inch per week is a good measure.
- Begin to sow vegetable seeds (i.e. spinach and some varieties of lettuce) for a fall harvest.
- Periodically pinch basil, mint, oregano and savory if they aren’t harvested weekly. Pinching keeps it from flowering and ensures you have a full, bushy-looking plant.
- Continue to pinch out, or cut off, side shoots from tall growing (indeterminate) tomatoes.
- Collect seeds that have matured but not fallen from the plant. Once they have completely dried, store them in airtight containers in a cool location.
- To get a jump on spring planting, early fall is a great time to sow grass seed, plant perennials, trees and shrubs.
Contributed by Carole Spraggett, Brampton Horticultural Society
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