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Monthly Tips for the Landscape and Garden
*If azaleas look chlorotic (pale-green to yellow) check soil pH. They need acid soil because alkalinity locks up iron needed for green color. Sulfur reduces soil pH. *Root cuttings of woody shrubs and evergreens, such as azaleas, holly, and hydrangea, at this time of year. *Start selecting your favorite bulb varieties now by searching out bulb catalogs. It is time to order so bulbs can be planted this fall. *During hot, dry August days, avoid deep cultivation in your flower beds. Loosening the soil under these conditions reduces water uptake by increasing loss of soil water and damaging surface roots. Plants often look much worse after cultivation than before. *Don't let your hybrid annual flowers go to seed. This weakens the plants and reduces bloom. In addition, the seed is not desirable to save because the resulting seedlings usually will be very different from the parent and often of poorer quality.
*Check on water needs of hanging baskets daily in the summer. Wind and sun dry them much more quickly than other containers. *Take 6- to 9-inch long cuttings of roses for rooting, using a sharp knife. Remove all but the top two or three leaves. Insert the cutting 4 to 6 inches deep in well-prepared soil in bright light. Firm, water well, and cover with an inverted glass jar to conserve moisture. Be sure the cutting does not receive direct sun, or it might overheat. *Beware of non-traditional fertilizer products on the market, such as soil activators or conditioners, nutrient release agents, soil innoculants, foliar sprays, and others. Most have little-to-no nutritional benefit for plants. Buy only those fertilizers with a guaranteed analysis and those proved by university research to be effective.
*Pulling out plants that have gone past their prime is an important method of preventing a build-up of disease and insect problems. Plants suspected of virus and fungal diseases should be removed and burned, if possible. The longer they are left lying around in the garden, the greater the chance for carrying over problems to next year. *Weeds can tell you at a glance what kind of soil you have in your yard. Sheep sorrel indicates an acid soil, goldenrod indicates an alkaline soil, and sedge or bindweed indicates poor drainage. *Perhaps you've seen ads for various time-release watering crystals for mixing with potting soil. They absorb many times their weight in water and supposedly release that water gradually, allowing you to neglect your routine watering. Well, `taint so, at least for one brand tested in recent university research. While spider plants did grow better in soil including the crystals, Boston ferns showed no improvement, and both species required watering just as often whether the crystals were included in their potting mix or not. Fruits and Vegetables *In late summer (around the end of August), tip layer the canes of black and red raspberries by pressing tips 3 to 4 inches into soil where branch tips naturally fall. A good root system will form on the tip by fall, to be dug and severed from the mother plant in early spring. *If your apples are lumpy, they may have apple maggots. Be sure fruit is not left lying on the ground because the apple maggots live in the fallen apples, then pupate in the soil. *Next year's strawberries may be the furthest thing from your mind now, but this is a critical time for the crop. It's in August and September that the cell size of the spring fruit is determined. The more favorable the growing conditions now, the bigger the cells this fall, which means bigger berries in the spring. But just a week without water can stress the plants. A University of Missouri study showed that it took only two September irrigations to increase yields in the spring by more than 5000 quarts per acre. *Heavy rains at harvest can dilute the sugars in melons. Watermelons can reconcentrate sugar if left on the vine for a few days, but cantaloupes don't do this. *Harvest cantaloupes when the melons pull easily from the stem; honeydews when the blossom end is slightly soft or springy; watermelons when there is a hollow sound when thumped and the skin loses its shine. Also, run your hand around the middle of the watermelon. When fully ripe, most varieties develop low, longitudinal ridges, rather like flexed calf muscles. *Apples and pears trained as cordons, espaliers, and other formal shapes can be summer pruned in early August. *To determine if an apple is ready to pick, hold it up and give it a twist. If it resists, let it ripen a few more days. *To reduce the number of pests on your fruit tree for the coming year, pick up and destroy all fallen fruit. Worms hide in the fallen fruit, the pupate in the soil. They will be ready to lay eggs the next year. *In most cases, choose early maturing vegetables for the fall garden. They can be planted after the early summer vegetables have been harvested and still be ready to pick before freezing weather. *An eggplant is ready to harvest when the fruit is fully colored and has achieved the mature size for the variety. Seed should be white, and the tissue firm. If the seeds are brown and hard, the fruit is past eating quality, so harvest the next fruit sooner. *Stop vine crops from taking over your garden and lawn by pinching off the fuzzy growing tips. This also directs the plant's energy into ripening fruit rather than producing more vine. *Watering properly is the key to conserving water in the heat of summer. One inch per week applied at one time will wet the soil 6 to 8 inches deep and insure good yield from your mature crops. Two inches of organic mulch will cool the soil and reduce surface evaporation of water. *Harvest winter squash and pumpkins by cutting 2 or 3 inches of stem; they'll keep better in storage that way than if stemless. *An old-time trick for germinating seeds in mid-summer is to plant the seeds, water them well, and then place a board over the row until the sprouts just reach the soil surface. At that time, remove the board. *Remove old plants that have stopped producing to eliminate shelters for insects and disease organisms. *Researchers have been doing field tests of genetically engineered tomatoes that carry a gene for production of a protein from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), the bacteria used to kill many caterpillar pests. The resulting plants resist attack from tomato hornworm and fruitworm. As the worms eat the plants, they eat the protein and poison themselves. This development is still several years from commercial applications. The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences |
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