Monthly Gardening Tasks – August August 1st, 2016

August Gardening Checklist

• Feed, water (especially on hot days), weed, and mulch. Remove faded blooms to encourage new blooms on ever-blooming shrubs
• To eliminate aphids and spider mites from roses, spray plants with water, then apply insecticidal soap.
• Clean up fallen leaves. If they’re diseased, discard them (don’t compost them).
• Put out ant bait (ants farm aphids to other plants).
• Put out earwig bait near flowers
• Plant fall vegetable garden. Such as lettuce, radishes, cauliflower, spinach etc.
• Shrubs: Cut flowering shrubs to encourage more flowers and to shape bush.
• Clean up any fruit trees. Pick any left over fruit before they can get a fungus that can harm future crops.
• Feed fruit trees. One last time until March for increased vigor in the spring.
• Weeding – As the weather gets warmer and the garden is watered more there is a likelihood that weed seeds will germinate faster. Take time to keep the weeds cultivated out of all parts of the garden. Since weeds are hosts to many insects and diseases it is important to keep them under control, so pests and diseases do not infest your other garden plants.
• Deep water trees. Many sprinkler and drip-irrigation systems aren’t programmed to run long enough for irrigating trees adequately or deeply. To avoid moisture stress during hot weather, water trees to a depth of up to 24 inches, depending on the size and age of the tree. Thoroughly soak the soil under the tree’s canopy. Check moisture penetration by digging down with a trowel
• Lawn: Reseed brown areas with best regrown grass selection. Top seed weak lawn areas with rye grass for a quick winter green carpet.