Late summer/Early fall: It ain’t over yet!

Well it feels like the season is almost over, but summer doesn’t actually end until September 22. And there still lots to do; not only active growing maintenance, but moving and dividing perennials, preparing for fall, and planting for late fall harvest and for harvesting in the next season. This summer has been very challenging with the lack of rain and the hot, hot, hot weather. In years past, my pool garden would be at it’s peak now, and it’s past it’s prime. The peony is on the way out and some of my specimens are suffering due to lack of rain. There’s a water ban in the area so I can only water once a day on odd days. It just isn’t enough I’m afraid, but I think that things will bounce back next year. As a gardener, you always hope that next season will be better than the current one!

Continuing Active Maintenance
Watering the pots and urns (by hand/watering can) still needs to be done daily if you want to keep the plants from perishing. Every week I still spray neem on specimens, but at this point only on the Hostas, the butterfly bush and the lettuce. It’s been dry so the slugs are far less than usual. I was talking with folks at the local garden center in my town about dealing with fungus and they recommended trying Serenade. They said that organic fungus prevention is key and that it’s better than neem at controlling fungus. So next year I’ll be trying that for fungus control, and continue to use the neem for insect control (it works well repelling the slugs on the hosta, for example).

In addition to weekly neem spraying, I try and deadhead what I have time to. This keeps the garden neat looking and promotes continued bloom. I finally got around to deadheading much of the Rudbeckia I have in my gardens and it certainly looks better. I’m hoping they’ll continue their bloom for a couple of weeks more.

Finally, I’m continuing to use Neptunes Harvest foliar feed on the veggie garden and on the pots & urns. The pots & urns surely have the nutrients depleted at this point and the foliar feed really gives them a boost.

The one thing that I have done to prepare for fall/winter is to stop deadheading the rose bushes. Deadheading after labor day encourages new growth that can’t sufficiently harden off before winter onset. So even if the bushes are blooming, I let the flowers fade (and it is one less thing for me to worry about, right?).

What didn’t do so well this season
This was the hottest summer that I can remember since I was a kid. But the heat is great for growing things, so why did some things not do so well? Lack of rain. Even with watering as much as possible (within the water ban restrictions of course), it just wasn’t enough for some things. In past summers, I would water roughly the same, but it was augmented by more rainfall. That makes the difference I think.

In the flower garden
Last year I reduced the size of one area where I grow Rudbeckia (it was overtaking the area, so…). That area didn’t have flowers as tall as usual. Hopefully next year will be better since I won’t touch that area this year. I have several large areas of pink perenial mums that usually grow 2+ feet. But this year the one area isn’t very tall at all (less than a foot). This was the first year that I pinched it back every week in June. Usually pinching causes less leggy growth and more flowers, but in the past when I’ve done nothing it’s grown taller, needed staking and was breathtaking in it’s abundance of blooms. I think I’ll do the same next year!

I have a beautiful False Indigo (Baptisia Autralis) specimen on the side of the house. Year after year it has bloomed profusely and retained a lovely shape throughout the season. This year it developed a rust like appearance on the leaves that I believe is directly attributable to the lack of rain. Even though there’s a soaker hose along the area, it just isn’t enough. So when I do my daily watering of the and pots (using a watering can), I started watering it and new leaves are coming in. It should be fine next season, but I’ll be on the lookout early on for similar issues (especially if we have another hot, dry season).

The area under the tree in the pool garden didn’t do well either, except for the Hosta and Euphorbia The Coral Bells (Heuchera) and Lady’s Mantle did not flourish. Those specimens didn’t do so well last year either, but are worse this year. I suspect it’s due to the tree. So I’m giving up on everything but Hosta in that area, since that seems to do well. I’ve moved the Coral Bells and Lady’s Mantle specimens to different locations (in the same and different gardens). And I split a variegated Hosta in another garden and moved it under the tree. We’ll see how the area does next season. Note that Euphorbia generally likes full sun, but it does ok where it is (dappled shade) and is so lovely in spring that I can’t bring myself to move it (yet…).

And the Butterfly Bush in the pool garden continues to have it’’s leaves marred by some insect and neem doesn’t do the job. I’ll have to consult with the garden center and/or the Garden Guys to see if there is something that can be done organically.

In the veggie garden
In general, the veggie garden has done well this year. I do keep it watered which is a must. But there are a couple of vegetables that I grew that haven’t done as well as I like. This is the 3rd year that I grew broccoli (from seedlings, rather than seed). I can’t seem to get them to develop the big first set of heads. I tend to get smaller initial heads than tons of small shoots all season long. Certainly not enough for more than 1 or 2 servings. I’ll have to ask someone more expert than me what I’m not doing right (I mean, plenty of sun and fertilizer, so???). Or simply ditch the crop and grow something else!

Another crop I’ve had less than desired performance is sweet red peppers. I try them every year and every year I’m disappointed. The fruit rot before they get red. And this year I have smaller than average fruit. I rotate the crop so I’m not sure why. I’ve decided that next year I’ll try sweet green peppers and see if they do better (and if not, ditch this crop too!).

The morning glory specimens that I grew from seed are just producing blooms in the last couple of weeks. In areas where I planted them in the past, I got ‘volunteers’ (they reseeded themselves), which is fine, but the plants I grew from seed and planted failed to flourish in some cases. Not sure why, plenty of fertilizer, water, and sun. So, I think that next year, in key places I’ll just plant Mandavilla which I’ll purchase – these will produce blooms earlier in the season. And then I’ll let the volunteers appear again next year !

Oh the lawn!
Well, I don’t water my lawn on the theory that the grass goes dormant in summer and comes back. I’d rather preserve water use for the gardens. But, this August has been tough. The crab grass has proliferated (even with timely application of Corn Gluten in April). And there are brown areas that don’t look like they are coming back. This is my 3rd season 100% organic in the lawn and I was hoping for fewer weeds (sigh). Be that as it may, I will continue with organic lawn care because I truly don’t want toxic chemicals in my lawn (see SafeLawns.org for more info on how these chemicals effect our health and the world around us). And truth be told, it looks great until August. I believe if I keep at it, the lawn will work itself out. And I do have beneficial weeds like clover. I love clover because it stays green, short and takes nitrogen from the air and puts it back into the soil. Clover indicates that the soil is healthy.

Even with these issues and problems this season, lots of things thrived. I have 2 Rose of Sharon bushes that have been blooming for over 2 months. The Pink Eyes Garden Phlox is doing wonderful and still blooming – well over a month. The fountain grass looks great. I have tons of birds in my garden each morning; it could be the sunflower I planted in the vegetable garden. Lots of things are doing well too.

In the Vegetable Garden
The lettuce did really well this year. I didn’t have to buy it all summer. I planted for a fall crop a few weeks back, so hopefully I’ll have a few weeks with my own lettuce once it grows big enough. The snow peas, well past now, produced over 4 pounds of peas this year. And I had about 3 pounds of green beans, which are waning now. I’ve been harvesting several zucchini a week (I stopped the squash vine borer in it’s tracks with garlic spray, surgery (cut it out), and pyrtherin). And I’ve had some eggplant, with about 4 more coming in. Oh, and the Jalapeno peppers were a big success, not to mention the tomatoes (luckily, no blight this year!). I only planted 3 cucumber plants (I’m the only one who likes it in my family!), and they are producing a few a week, which is enough. And I can’t tell you how much basil I’ve harvested; I have enough pesto until next year I think!

So for next year, I plan to rotate the crops of course, but I thought to also plant garlic this fall. I use a lot of it and perhaps I can freeze or can it instead of buying whole heads and the convenience pre-chopped bottles of it. Also, I’m going to learn about asparagus. If it’s easy and doesn’t take too much room, I might grow that too. So we’ll see. Seed starting will begin, at the latest, in February, so we already have to start thinking about next season.

Move and Divide
The time to move and divide perennials is upon us. You can move and divide any time from mid-August through September. The only rules are never to move/divide plants in bloom. And there are some trees and bushes that should only be moved when dormant and preferably in the springtime. These are blueberry bushes, Rose of Sharon, Hydrangea, to name a few. I already moved and divided some Hosta, Heuchera, and Lady’s Mantle. The garden centers have sales on now for perennials and even if the choices aren’t as lush as in the spring, you can get some bargains. For example I bought 2 more Russian Sage plants and a Banana Cream Shasta daisy for 1/3 to 1/2 off. I moved a couple of Yarrow out of the pool garden, and placed the new plants in select locations. When the Russian Sage matures it will provide drought tolerant color and foliage throughout the summer and fall. It’s easy care too and you only need to cut it down to about 1 foot and fertilize in the spring. We’ll see how the daisy does; it’s supposed to bloom all summer and I hope it will do well. I also bought a Twist n’ Shout lacecap hydrangea and put it where the Montauk Daisy was (it never did well in part sun/shade near the pool garden tree). We’ll see how that does; right now it looks a little sad, but I’m hoping it’ll do well. It’s supposed to take full sun, but if it’s too much I’ll have to move it closer to the tree with more shade. We’ll see!

Overseed the Lawn
Late August to early September is also the time to overseed the lawn. If you have a seeder machine (which slices the soil and seeds) or a core aerator (which makes small holes to aerate the soil), you can use that (after core aeration, you’ll have to apply the seed). I don’t have either and simply take a large bag of seed, put it in my rotary spreader, and seed the entire lawn. Rain would help (and it feels like the season is almost over, but summer doesn’t actually end until September 22. And there still lots to do; not only active growing maintenance, but moving and dividing perennials, preparing for fall, and planting for late fall harvest and for harvesting in the next season. This summer has been very challenging with the lack of rain and the hot, hot, hot weather. In years past, my pool garden would be at it’s peak now, and it’s past it’s prime. The peony is on the way out and some of my specimens are suffering due to lack of rain. There’s a water ban in the area so I can only water once a day on odd days. It just isn’t enough I’m afraid, but I think that things will bounce back next year. As a gardener, you always hope that next season will be better than the current one!

Plant those spring/summer bulbs!
Don’t forget that fall bulb planting is nearly here. I ordered a bunch of crocus bulbs and plan to put them in varous ‘drifts’ in the gardens. I’m also trying some late bloom Alliums to fill in the color in the pool garden in late June. Lets hope they do well 🙂

Anyway, as you can see there’s still lots to do in the garden. Activity will continue through the fall as we prepare for winter.

Happy Gardening!
Susan