HOT, PARCHED, EXHAUSTED. That’s a three-word portrait of me and the backyard each most Augusts, together with this one, and it was in 2022, although 2023 (like 2021) was nearer to sodden in my area. Proper now I’d love some rain, however the storms maintain passing me by to the north and south.
We should push again the place we are able to, so it helps to think about the August chores nearly like a type of spot cleansing. We will’t repair every part, turning brown leaves inexperienced once more, or stitching up holes, however we are able to make some headway.
It’s all only a headstart on fall cleanup, actually, one floppy, yellowing or crispy piece of plant at a time. I’m teasing out the uglies (or the besieged, if we’re speaking troubled tomatoes or sickly squash), and planning for fall-planting alternatives (together with within the vegetable backyard) as I am going.
I’m not giving up, and never only for aesthetic causes. Sure, I can trick the attention to make a fresher-looking backyard with focused trimming, deadheading, edging, and mulching, however doing so additionally reduces alternatives for pests and ailments; it’s win-win. Nothing a slug or a fungus likes greater than a declining, overgrown mess. Out, out now with not simply weeds, however something that has seen higher days, too.
IN THE NORTHEAST, the place I backyard, mid-August by way of mid-September can also be prime lawn-repair time. After that, many favourite spring bulbs go into the bottom in autumn, too—that means I’d higher get my orders in now, hoping they nonetheless have inventory. I’m eyeing massive, previous clumps of sure perennials and eager about the place divisions may go subsequent month, if common rain and hospitable temperatures invite transplanting, or including new issues.
backyard elsewhere? regional hyperlinks
THE ORGANIC-GARDENING strategy and the how-to ideas I supply apply most wherever–pruning a rose or sowing a tomato seed is comparable, wherever the rose or tomato could develop. However the when will not be the identical. To regulate timing: My backyard is in Zone 5B, within the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA) space, the place frost can persist effectively into Might and return in October. You might want subsequent month’s chores, or final month’s (the archive is right here). For extra Zone-specific recommendation, I’ve rounded up hyperlinks to calendars and checklists from across the nation (and the U.Ok.). However learn on first, as a result of I’m betting there’s one thing right here for you, wherever you could dig, weed, or prune.
pests, and extra pests
ONE YEAR I used to be knee-deep in rabbits; the following yr it was voles. In 2020, I had eight woodchucks (in 2018 I had a private better of 10). I haven’t had any this yr, and solely two in 2023, however bunnies galore each years. Want a 101 on “nuisance wildlife” management? Ohio State’s Marne Titchenell shared her skilled recommendation. (If deer is your concern, Marne and I talked about that on this interview, and I like to recommend a model of fencing to match your scenario.)
JAPANESE BEETLES? The adults by now are subsiding, or no less than focusing their energies on actions aside from chewing leaves. If beetles are nonetheless in proof, handpick every morning and once more late day, drowning them. We will’t remove them; we have now to handle them. Take into account a organic (non-toxic) management to cut back overwintering grub inhabitants with nematodes or one other strategy coated in this authorities bulletin for householders (pdf). I did a “New York Instances” backyard column on the beetles in 2021 with the most recent data, too. Don’t waste cash on traps, which solely appeal to extra from close by yards. Effectively-watered lawns in July are prime breeding grounds for egg-laying females, so take into consideration that subsequent yr and again off on the water and let the turf go semi-dormant. Good observe environmentally, too, in our more and more dry world.
WITH OTHER OBVIOUS pests like tomato (or tobacco) hornworms, or squash bugs, Colorado potato beetles or imported cabbage worms, I do the identical: handpick early every morning. I’ll do a really severe fall cleanup with these crops, eradicating all particles to a distance to restrict overwintering potentialities. I compost it away from the vegetable backyard. It’s all a headstart on a scrupulous fall pest-control routine.
MAKING MORE HABITAT for “pure enemies” (the so-called “good bugs”) is essential to the larger image of a wholesome, manageable backyard. Right here is how. Or possibly you simply need extra butterflies, as an example? Or to maintain extra species of bees, for pollination, or study what helps our many native bumblebee species.
SPEAKING OF BUTTERFLIES, how good are your butterfly ID abilities? Get assist from the grasp, Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg.
ARE SLUGS AND SNAILS your concern? Some techniques.
weeding and watering
GARDENS IN MY ZONE want common water from you or the heavens, and the final yr or two by no means appear to get the pure type on a daily schedule. At all times some excessive. Verify your rain gauge. Soak beds deeply within the root zone; don’t spritz with a sprayer such as you’re washing the automobile. Containers, particularly smallish ones in solar, want every day consideration, however don’t waste valuable sources on the garden, which is able to bounce again when cooler, moister days return. Younger and previous woody crops want it extra, as an example, and something lately transplanted, after all.
MAKE A PASS by way of every backyard mattress every week. Weeds are usually not simply ugly however steal moisture, vitamins and light-weight. High up mulch the place wanted (or possibly you want a layer or cardboard or newsprint first?). First: Establish your opponents, and the techniques and timing for finest management. A few of my high tales to assist:
SOME WEEDS are literally finest focused late summer time and fall, together with bindweed, the dreaded Japanese knotweed, ragweed, Ailanthus, curly dock and extra. Right here’s find out how to combat them now.
OBSERVE WHILE WEEDING: Make notes, to plan for fall transforming of drawback spots–areas that appear to ask weeds to sow with abandon, just like the driveway, or different gravel surfaces, or cracks between pavers. (Together with pearlwort and liverwort, and noticed spurge.) Once more, determination time: To solarize (lay down clear plastic sheeting, and use summer time warmth and solar to cook dinner the weeds to demise)? Or to spray? I say no to chemical herbicides, so there are sheets of plastic right here and there, and the scuffle hoe (or Dutch hoe) is getting a exercise, too.
timber & shrubs
NO MORE FERTILIZER! Selling mushy development isn’t good after July, when it’s time for woody crops to start out shifting towards the hardening-off section of their cycle. No extra feeding till late winter or earliest spring.
TREES ARE ESPECIALLY weak to drought, notably the oldest and the youngest (these planted in the previous couple of years). Water deeply—once more, utilizing valuable water for these necessary crops, not the garden.
ALWAYS be looking out for useless, broken, diseased wooden and prune them out as found. Ditto with suckers and water sprouts, however August isn’t a month for rejuvenation or different beauty pruning. The pruning FAQ web page could assist.
greens, fruit & herbs
SEND IN SOIL SAMPLES for testing when you’re seeing poor ends in some beds. Contact your native cooperative extension on find out how to pattern, or learn this how-to with Joe Lamp’l.
CONTINUE SOWING carrots, beets, radishes, lettuce, arugula, dill, spinach, turnips, if like me you’re up North (I’m in Zone 5B). I re-sow kale, too, for consuming younger in fall. If soil is baking scorching, I domesticate evenly, moisten effectively and shade it beneath hoops with Reemay of shade material clothes-pinned on to chill it down first. Even peas can nonetheless go in—although not for full-grown pods, however to chop and eat a number of inches tall, as pea shoot salad. Extra on find out how to get an prolonged harvest in each area….
…OR GO FOR 365-DAY greens, even up North, with this year-round strategy from Niki Jabbour, who grows 30 crops to reap November by way of March in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our newest dialog outlined her high ideas.
KEEP ASPARAGUS effectively weeded and watered, too. Let asparagus ferns develop until laborious frost, when they’re absolutely browned—and even go away them up until spring cleanup.
GARLIC needs to be curing in an ethereal, sheltered place. Learn all about rising garlic, and storing your harvest–and order bulbs now for October-ish planting.
HAVING TOMATO, CUKE OR SQUASH TROUBLES? There’s a variety of attainable issues with tomatoes, however who may backyard with out them? It’s not all “blight,” this plant pathologist explains. In case your concern is cucumbers or summer time squash, begin right here. Peppers may be tough in some seasons; pepper ideas and recipes and storage ideas.
AS AREAS COME EMPTY from harvest, construct vegetable-garden soil by sowing cowl crops. These “inexperienced manures” might be turned beneath to enhance soil tilth and fertility. Don’t sow in areas reserved for fall-planted garlic, or the place you propose to develop crops for November-through-March harvest, like this.
I FREEZE MANY HERBS, together with parsley, rosemary and chives, or make them into pestos to freeze as effectively. Right here’s how. All my canning, freezing and in any other case preserving articles are at this hyperlink.
flower backyard
DAYLILIES may be dug and divided as they full their bloom cycle, proper into fall, if wanted.
PEONIES are finest divided and transplanted in late August by way of September, in the event that they want it. Their “eyes” should not be buried greater than an inch or two beneath the soil floor. Need extra peonies? Now’s the time to order from specialists like Cricket Hill or Peony’s Envy (see Useful resource Hyperlinks listing).
ORDER FLOWER BULBS for fall planting. What bulbs I prefer to develop to discourage bulb-hungry animals. Extra recommendations on flower bulbs are right here.
houseplants
IF HOUSEPLANTS NEED repotting, do it now, whereas they’re nonetheless exterior (much less messy than in the home).
lawns
MID-AUGUST TO MID-SEPTEMBER is prime lawn-renovation, planting and re-seeding time within the North. (At all times overseed naked spots directly after they happen, to restrict weedy opportunists.) Years in the past, skilled Paul Tukey provided me skilled recommendation on crabgrass management, reversing garden compaction and extra that I nonetheless make the most of.
IS IT TIME to plan to transition some lawns areas into ground-covering alternate options? One other risk can be a meadow.
DON’T BAG OR RAKE clippings of the garden you do nonetheless mow; allow them to lie on the garden to return Nitrogen to the soil. Mow increased (longer grass) if it’s scorching and dry, or don’t mow in any respect if issues have slowed means down.
compost heap
DON’T LET the heap dry out utterly, or it is not going to “cook dinner.” Turning it to aerate may also hasten decomposition, however issues will rot finally even when not turned. Start sifting completed materials to high up beds after fall cleanup. Cary Oshins, previously of the US Composting Council, has some nice ideas. My buddy Lee Reich is one other grasp of composting, and right here’s his methodology.
want assist in different areas?
AGAIN: I’m within the Northeast, in Zone 5B, although the how-to on this story will work most wherever (if timed barely otherwise). For extra Zone-specific recommendation, I’ve rounded up a brand new web page of hyperlinks to calendars and checklists from across the nation.