Summer Garden tips

July

• Apply all-purpose fertilizer to long-blooming perennials.
• Lift garlic and shallots as soon as most of the tops have died down.
• After harvesting crops of vegetables, second and third plantings can be made, use late varieties of leafy greens, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli.
• Stake larger growing perennials to prevent rain and wind damage.
• Cut back delphiniums and other tall perennials as they finish blooming.
• Prune flowering shrubs as the flowers finish blooming.
• Prune annual herbs to promote a second harvest
• Harvest berries before the birds and the squirrels get to them!

August

• Keep fertilizing annuals for continuous blooms.
• Monitor your gardens for pests and disease and jot those areas down in your garden journal so you can avoid planting the same plant varieties in those locations next year.
• Think about collecting seeds for next year’s gardens! Purchase some seed collecting envelopes, labels, and seed storage containers so you can harvest seeds from your best-performing plants.
• It’s time to start scouring the pages of seed catalogs for bulbs to plant in the fall that will flower come spring. Place your orders early for the best selection.
• Don’t forget about the pollinators in your fall garden. There will be fewer flowering plants in the garden as the season changes. Consider planting another round of marigolds, cosmos, calendula, sunflowers, zinnias, and other fall-blooming annuals to encourage beneficial pollinators to the garden.
• Take some snapshots of your gardens and stick them in your garden journal so you can have a visual catalog of your garden’s progress.
• Deadhead flowering annuals and perennials, collecting seeds from the best plants.
• Trim back herbs or pinch off flowering tips to prevent the plant from going to seed and to prolong your harvest.
• Continue to prune tomato suckers, peppers, and eggplant to encourage new growth.