August Garden Tasks
August Garden Tasks
August is an exciting month for gardeners, bridging the vibrant summer heat with the refreshing cool of autumn. To keep your garden flourishing and ready for the seasons ahead, here’s a comprehensive checklist of tasks to enjoy in August.
Start Cool-Season Vegetables
As summer crops begin to wane, it's time to start planting winter vegetables. August is ideal for sowing seeds of cool-weather crops like beets, broccoli, cabbage, and kale. Here are some tips to get you started:
- Soil Preparation: Ensure your soil is rich in organic matter by feeding it with compost or earthworm castings to improve soil fertility.
- Seed Sowing: Plant seeds at the recommended depth and spacing for each vegetable. Keep the soil consistently moist until seeds germinate.
- Transplanting: If you prefer, you can start seeds indoors and transplant the seedlings into the garden when they are strong enough.
Manage Fall Armyworms
Fall armyworms can be destructive to your garden, especially in late summer and early fall. Here's how to identify and treat them:
- Appearance: Fall armyworms are caterpillars with a distinctive inverted "Y" on their head. They can range in color from green to brown and have a series of stripes along their bodies.
- Behavior: They are most active in the early morning and late afternoon, feeding on a variety of plants, including grasses and crops. Look for chewed leaves and stems, skeletonized foliage, and frass (caterpillar droppings) on the ground or leaves.
Treatment Options:
- Manual Removal: For small infestations, handpicking the caterpillars off plants and dropping them into soapy water can be effective.
- Monterey B.t. Worm Killer Concentrate: this biological insecticide uses the Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria to target only pest caterpillars, while leaving beneficial insects and birds unharmed.
- Chemical Insecticides: As a last resort, use chemical insecticides specifically labeled for fall armyworms. Always follow the instructions carefully to minimize harm to other wildlife.
Support Local Birds
The extreme heat of August means that local wildlife, including birds, are in desperate need of fresh water. Maintaining water sources in your garden can help:
- Birdbaths: Keep birdbaths filled with clean, fresh water. Change the water frequently to prevent stagnation and mosquito breeding.
- Bird Feeders: Refill bird feeders regularly and clean them to avoid the spread of disease.
- Wildlife Friendly: A garden that provides water, food, and shelter will attract beneficial wildlife, which can help with pest control.
Plant Wildflower Seeds
Late August is an ideal time to plant wildflower seeds like bluebonnet, coreopsis, and cutleaf daisy, to establish roots in the soil before blooming beautifully in the spring.
