BY: ELEANOR MOYER, CLAY COUNTY MASTER GARDENER VOLUNTEER
Usually it’s time to encourage purchasing a rain barrel. Difficult as it may seem right now, July, August, and September will bring drier weather.- Weed and weed some more! Keeping up will deter seeds from forming.
- Mulch
- Try rooting cuttings of deciduous shrubs. Place a 6-inch clipping in damp soil. Keep the soil moist and roots may form by September planting time.
- Use cuttings of mint and lemon balm as a mulch around veggies to deter insects.
- Fertilize tomato plants regularly. Inspect almost daily for disease and insect damage. Remove and discard infected leaves. Use a fungicide if necessary following directions.
- Harvest vegetables regularly to enjoy peak yumminess and to encourage continued fruiting. Leaving vegetables too long will produce an unusable product and stop the plant from creating new, tender fruit.
- Hand-pick Japanese beetles by tapping the infected flower to dislodge them into a bowl of soapy water.
- Use newspaper in the garden covered with pine or wheat straw to prevent weeds.
- Harvest onions, garlic and Irish potatoes when two thirds of the plant tops have died down.
- Keep cucumbers watered regularly (so far, not a problem) so they won’t have a bitter taste.
- Blue Hubbard squash is a trap crop to attract insects away from other squash and cucumbers.
- It’s not too late to plant seeds of cosmos cleome, marigold and zinnia.
- Divide iris to prevent overcrowding discarding damaged rhizomes.
- Remove faded flowers from summer annuals for a continuous bloom cycle.
- Stake tall flowers like lilies, dahlias, and holy hocks.
- Cut back chrysanthemums so they won’t be too leggy later in the summer and fall when they bloom.
- Prune climbing roses after they bloom.
- Summer blooming bulbs can still be planted.
