Get It Growing: Get your garden ready for end of summer
The kids have gone back to school, football season is upon us and pumpkin spice-flavored products are back. That can mean only one thing: Fall will be here soon — on Sept. 22, to be exact.
Our gardens are beginning to wither in the heat, signaling the coming transition from summer to fall. Although it’s still hot outside, you can go ahead and start preparing your garden for the change in seasons.
Here’s a checklist of things you can do now to get ready for the fall:
Remove vegetables that have stopped producing and start fall crop seeds.
The intense heat of August can shut down tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and other vegetables. If you have plants that are no longer bearing fruit, feel free to pull them. But you don’t have to be in a rush to discard plants that are still doing well. In fact, some warm-season crops, including okra and eggplants, can remain productive until our first freeze.
In the meantime, get started on your fall vegetable garden. You can start seeds for a wide variety of crops, from broccoli to collard greens to potatoes. Check out the LSU AgCenter’s free Louisiana Vegetable Planting Guide at www.LSUAgCenter.com/VeggieGuide for recommended varieties and planting dates.
Spruce up beds with shoulder crops.
Remove any seasonal bedding plants that are looking tired. While it’s too early to replace them with cool-season favorites like violas, you can refresh your garden with shoulder crops — plants that bridge that gap between one season and the next. Look for heat-tolerant plants that can last into the first part of fall. For sunny locations, crotons, marigolds and zinnias make excellent choices — and even offer a splash of autumnal color.
Prune roses by the first week of September.
Everblooming roses like hybrid tea, grandiflora and shrub roses benefit from a haircut this time of year. Roses tend to look leggy and overgrown in late summer. Pruning also will help stimulate the fall bloom cycle and encourage better airflow, which helps prevent diseases.
Start by removing dead and damaged canes entirely. Then, trim shoots that are sticking out far beyond the plant. Finally, prune up to one-third of the height of the plant, always cutting right above a node.
Don’t prune once-blooming varieties like old garden roses and climbing roses right now. These roses set blooms on old wood, so you’ll cut off next year’s flowers if you prune now.
Pull summer weeds before they drop seeds.
Warm-season weeds such as chamberbitter, Virginia buttonweed, goosegrass, mulberry weed, spurge and barnyardgrass are nearing maturity — which means they have developed lots of seeds that you don’t want falling into your lawn or landscape beds. To curb the soil seed bank — and next year’s weed population — pull these weeds before the plants drop them. Throw the weeds away. Don’t leave them on the ground or add them to your compost pile.
Spraying mature weeds with herbicides might kill the plants — but their seeds will still be left behind and possibly remain viable. That’s why hand-pulling is your best bet at this point in the year.
Tackle vines.
Vines can grow vigorously in the heat of summer. If you haven’t stayed on top of controlling them, try to catch up. It’s tempting to wait for cooler temperatures for this tedious chore, but don’t put it off too long. Vines will lose their leaves in late fall and winter, making them easier to overlook.
Annual vines like morning glory often can be pulled by hand. Perennial, woody vines like Virginia creeper can be pulled if small; large, established vines should be cut and treated with a herbicide containing triclopyr. With either type of vine, don’t forget to remove any top growth covering nearby plants or structures to reduce the number of seeds that get dropped into the landscape.
Replenish mulch.
Mulch plays a crucial role in suppressing weed growth, retaining moisture and moderating temperatures around tree and plant roots. But it breaks down over time, so yours may have thinned out over the summer. Now is a good time to put down some fresh mulch. It’ll enhance the aesthetics of your landscape and ensure it is ready for cold weather.
Aim for a 2-to-4-inch layer of mulch and take care when applying it around trees. Don’t pile the material into a volcano-like shape that touches the trunk, which can interfere with airflow and cause tree health problems.