for updated pages.)

Bits 'n bites on
things to do, or
things happening,
in the August / September garden. 
Articles he

re are
collected from
my "Dirty Knees"
newsletter and
some of my
seminars, and appear
 in no particular order. 

from Outside my Window, August 2009.
Remember summer 2007 when the heat and drought just went on and on?  We were all convinced that it was a sign of things to come in the era of climate change. 

Well...uh...where's the drought?  Can I have some drought please? PLEASE!

 We have had so much rain combined with a lack of any intense sun and heat this summer that many plants just flopped about as though they were drunk.  Many drought loving plants suffered rot spots and mildewy leaves.  They were loving the wet cool spring as they were in their green growth phase, but by summer they needed some heat and sunshine!  To say the blooming this year was lackluster as a result, is an understatement!  

Normally sturdy, upright and tall, this new salmon Echinacea hybrid I was so looking forward to being really great this year in my 2nd year garden, is flopping near the ground instead, with many fewer blooms than it would normally have had.  

Overall, it isn't so much the excess water that's the problem, but the inherent lack of sunshine and heat that comes with lots of rain days.  There's not much to be done about this problem.  At least when climate change brings us dry heat, we have the option of planting lots of drought tolerant things, as many of our standard garden plants are, but when it's too much water though, all we can do is dream of next year.

Cheers!
Evelyn

from July 2008's "Outside my Window"
July in the garden.   

Weed, weed, weed!  Deadhead, deadhead, deadhead.  

I'm sure I could come up with something a bit more profound than this if I wasn't so tired (more bored actually) from all the weeding and deadheading! 

A new crop of weeds is sneaking up just as you're packing for holidays, and all those blooms of high summer means lots of deadheading if there are to be blooms for August.   Soooo ... not very profound or complicated, but weed, weed, weed.  Deadhead, deadhead, deadhead, is your tip for July. 

The clearance sales have started and there are plenty of tempting bargains to be had.  Remember that this is probably the worst time to be planting so take the extra time to really soak the plants by immersing them in a bucket of water until all the bubbling stops, before planting them in a well watered hole.  Once planted, put up some temporary shade for a few days and water very deeply every three days for 2 weeks at least.  Don't expect much from them this year since they need to struggle through the heat to get some feeding roots out.  If there are flowers on the plant it's best to cut them off to help it focus on roots.  It's hard, I know, but the plant may reward you with a fresher crop of blooms later.

If you've been procrastinating on some needed pruning perhaps you have an excuse to put it off even longer since we're entering the "NO PRUNE" zone of September & October.  Anytime is a good time for light maintenance pruning to remove the 4D's - dead, damaged, diseased or deformed branches, but any major pruning should ideally wait until November at this point since pruning stimulates growth that won't have time to harden off before winter.  By November the plants are already well along in their preparations for dormancy and aren't stupid enough to put out growth.

More later - there's more weeding and deadheading waiting for me!

Cheers!  Evelyn