By Hank Smith | March 2004
Summer
Garden Vegetables and Fruits
Green beans are a good temporary groundcover, easy to eliminate when a permanent use of soil takes place. They also enrich the soil.
On cantaloupes, male flowers usually appear first and do not produce fruit. Some later blooms are female. Bees must transfer pollen from the male to the female flowers for normal development of fruit.
Eggplants need full sun all day.
Replant summer vegetables as they fade and become non-bearing. Vegetables to plant during late July and August include pole beans, tomatoes, okra, peppers, eggplants, potatoes and squash.
If you preserve figs, gather them several days before they fully ripen to reduce damage from splitting and souring.
Trees and Shrubs
Butterfly shrub (buddleia) is difficult to successfully transplant. The best bet is to do root cuttings.
Apply heavy mulch to shrubs during the hot, dry days of summer.
Woody ornamentals such as azaleas, oleanders and
hydrangeas now
can be propagated from cuttings. Place cuttings in moist, well-drained medium.
Most cuttings placed in semi-shaded locations should root within 10 to 12 weeks.
Remove suckers and water sprouts from fruit and nut trees so fertilizer and moisture will be channeled into development of next year’s fruiting wood.
As blooms fade on vitex and crepe myrtle, remove faded blooms for another flowering period before cold weather.
Flowers
Sow seed of flowering annuals such as alyssum, nicotinia, zinnia, balsam, cosmos, annual phlox, marigold and tithonia for late summer and autumn bloom.
You can get color from annuals by sowing fast-maturing seeds. Choices include zinnia, cosmos, cleome and sunflower.
Prune hardy climbing roses when they have finished blooming.
Feed chrysanthemums every two weeks with a complete fertilizer until flower buds begin to show color.
Summer annuals need a monthly feeding of 5-10-5 fertilizer. Check regularly for pest problems. Keep dead blooms pinched from plants.
Caladiums do well in shaded areas and withstand sun if kept watered. Fertilize every two weeks. The better tubers are fed, the larger they will become before winter storage in a frost-free location.
Geraniums are sensitive to over-watering. Apply only after soil becomes almost completely dry.
Gather statice, strawflowers, cockscomb and other flowers to be dried for winter bouquets. Place in paper bags, stems tied into bundles. Hang in a dry place.
Transplant daylilies and irises. New transplants will have time to become well established before cold weather.
Lawn
Heavily compacted soil is most easily aerated with
the mechanical device that looks a bit like a lawn roller with
hollow tubes attached.
In areas of established groundcovers, punch a series of holes over the beds to carry water down to the roots.
Close mowing of lawn grasses during hot, dry weather weakens grass, allowing crabgrass and other weeds to become established before the lawn can recover.
Encourage vining groundcover plants such as English ivy and Carolina jessamine (good evergreen vines) by training runners to cover bare spots. Anchor with hairpins made from four or five inch sections of heavy wire. Wire coat hangers are a good source.
Variegated liriope, easily transplanted at any time of year, creates a good groundcover for narrow, confined areas. Secure container grown or separately existing with a sharp knife. An established clump usually gives four clumps.
Treatments
Newspapers, 8 or 10 sheets in thickness, make good mulch for the vegetable garden. Moisten soil well before placing papers. Sprinkle papers often to preserve moisture. This also aids in preventing germination of weed seeds.
Discourage red spiders on azaleas by spraying a fine mist of water on upper and lower sides of leaves.
Indoors
Houseplants tend to revitalize if moved outdoors in the summer. Move them to dappled shade for a few days, then to a spot shaded from noonday sun.
Geraniums can be rooted for winter houseplants in pots of mellow, loamy soil. Place in well-drained pots. Do not over water. Give broken sunlight. In early October, place indoors in a sunny window.
Miscellaneous Tips
Fire ants are a problem in mid-to-late summer. Check with your local county extension office for best controls in your community.
Squirrels sometimes uproot bedding plants but do not eat the roots or leafy growth. Success has been found in scaring squirrels from plant beds by placing small artificial rubber snakes among the plants.
Visit arboretums and show gardens to gather ideas
for your personal landscape project and to see and examine new
plant materials.
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