Summer always seems to slip away all too fast. Just when we have time to catch our breath and enjoy the beach and our gardens, we find ourselves in late August and wonder where the time has gone. Fortunately, we have plenty of warm days ahead to look forward to, including locals summer. While it is a little early to jump into major fall gardening projects, August is a good time to assess your garden and take care of small tasks. This will enable you to have a smooth transition when you ease into maintaining the fall garden.
Depending on which types of plants you are growing, you can use this time to tame out-of-control plants. For me, late August means that some plants have gotten too big for their britches and need to be pruned. You don’t want to do this at the peak of summer during a heat wave, because, when temperatures are extreme, your plants are in survival mode and you don’t want to give them added stress. But once extreme temperatures have passed, consider pruning plants, such as roses, that bloomed in early summer. You may get a second flush of flowers once your plant has bounced back from pruning. Do not prune plants like lilacs, because you will be cutting off next year’s buds. However, if you have any plants that are damaged or diseased, you should always prune away these parts regardless of the type of plant. When a plant has some type of damage, it will try to heal itself, which draws valuable energy from the entire plant. Removing these bad sections can help the plant regain health, which will help it survive winter.
In addition to pruning, continue to deadhead spent flowers to get the maximum bloom from your flowering plants. You can also encourage the growth of your herbs by giving them a haircut. But deadheading and trimming come with a caveat. If you like to save seeds, you will want to leave some of the flower heads of late summer on the plant until they fully turn brown and dry out so that they can produce seeds. This also applies to herbs. Once they have fully dried, remove the seed heads to store for next year. Some good candidates for saving seeds are marigolds, zinnias, sunflowers, cilantro, and dill. Leave a few seed heads on the plants for our feathered friends. Birds love to pick at the seeds of coneflowers, zinnias, sunflowers, and tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis). Stay on top of harvesting your vegetables. In the same way that deadheading flowers encourages blooms, harvesting your tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini will cause them to produce more vegetables, helping you maximize your yield before the first frost.
At this point in the season, some of your plants may have given up the ghost. This doesn’t mean that you failed. Certain plants can live a full life but then shrivel up and fade away by the end of summer. However, you may want to use this time to assess which plants thrived and which ones were not worth the investment in your garden. Each garden is unique, and each gardener has different goals. If you have a very shady garden, you may need to consider plants that don’t need full sun. If your plants were fried by early summer, you may want to plant heat-resistant varieties next year. If you do have plants that have no sign of coming back to life, remove the plants, clean up the area, and make early preparations for the fall garden. Add fresh soil or compost, and you will have a healthy spot ready for new plants in the fall.
Late summer is also a time for dreaming and shopping. While it is too warm to plant spring-blooming bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, and alliums, it is the perfect time to dream about your spring garden. Make a plan, and start shopping. You’ll want to place your orders for these fall-planted bulbs soon, because the most popular flower bulbs sell out quickly, and it can take several weeks or months for your bulbs to arrive once your order is placed.
Last of all, savor these last few weeks of summer. Take time to enjoy all the hard work that you have put into your garden. Stroll along the paths, brush your hand over your lavender and rosemary, and indulge in a fresh-picked cherry tomato. Sitting still near your garden will help you see the things that others miss, like a hummingbird testing the flowers, or a black swallowtail sampling the phlox. These are the moments that refresh the soul.
Tammy Thornton lives with her husband, children, and crazy pets while enjoying a life of gardening, cooking, and going to the beach.
