Gardening Guides
California Gardener’s August Checklist
Make the most of your vegetable bounty, prioritize water use and plant perennial flowers now for color through fall
For California gardeners, late summer is one of our hottest and driest times of year. Hillsides are bleached golden, many native plants go dormant and other garden plants, without frequent irrigation, can start showing signs of stress. The heat encourages edible gardens to kick it up a notch — producing more tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and green beans than you may be able to eat.
Now’s the time to stay up on harvesting and a few other garden chores, but plan on putting off larger scale planting projects until temperatures cool down. In the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy the best of the season.
Not in California? Find your checklist here
Now’s the time to stay up on harvesting and a few other garden chores, but plan on putting off larger scale planting projects until temperatures cool down. In the meantime, sit back, relax and enjoy the best of the season.
Not in California? Find your checklist here
Refresh tired beds. Many warm-season annuals and perennials planted in spring start to poop out by late summer. Brighten up beds by pulling out any tired annuals and replacing them with budding perennials picked up from the nursery.
Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’
A few late summer favorites to consider: coneflower (Echinacea spp., USDA zones 3 to 9; find your zone), daylily (Hemerocallis spp., zones 4 to 9), sneezeweed (Helenium spp., zones 3 to 9), and rudbeckia (Rudbeckia spp., zones 3 to 9), shown here. All will produce a colorful display now through fall.
20 Favorite Flowers for the Fall Landscape
A few late summer favorites to consider: coneflower (Echinacea spp., USDA zones 3 to 9; find your zone), daylily (Hemerocallis spp., zones 4 to 9), sneezeweed (Helenium spp., zones 3 to 9), and rudbeckia (Rudbeckia spp., zones 3 to 9), shown here. All will produce a colorful display now through fall.
20 Favorite Flowers for the Fall Landscape
Have a tomato taste test. From tiny cherry tomatoes to huge, knobbly heirlooms, tomatoes come in so many varieties it’s easy to be spoilt for choice. Set up a tomato sampling to discover your favorite varieties, whether you grew them yourself or picked them out at the farmers market. Be sure to include a good spread of different types with a diversity of colors and sizes, from small salad varieties to big slicers. Go a step further and see which tomatoes make the best sauce — it may be a type that tastes a bit boring eaten raw.
Found a favorite? Save the seeds. Tomatoes are true to seed, meaning that a seed saved from the fruit will grow a plant that produces the same fruit.
How to save tomato seeds:
How to Grow Tomatoes
How to save tomato seeds:
- Pick a fully ripe tomato, and slice it in half.
- Gently squeeze out the pulpy center containing the seeds.
- Spread the seeds in a single layer onto a sheet of waxed paper, and allow to dry on a windowsill.
- Once the pulp surrounding the seeds has completely dried (so it won’t mold), cut the paper covered with seeds into squares and place in a Mason jar or ziplock bag.
- Keep in a cool, dry place until planting next spring.
How to Grow Tomatoes
Drowning in zucchini? Cut down on your squash harvest by picking blossoms before they have a chance to set fruit. Snap the stem an inch below the calyx (at the base of the flower) in the morning before the blossom has opened. Use squash blossoms as tasty appetizers: Stuff with ricotta, parsley and chives; dredge in an egg wash and flour coating; and pan-fry.
Share the bounty. Once you’ve eaten, preserved and made as many sauces, jams and pickles as you’d like, give away extra fruits and veggies from your garden. Drop off bags of home-grown produce to neighbors, or bring them into the office to share. Even better, contact your local food pantry to see if they accept homegrown veggies. Many communities have backyard harvest programs that arrange to have volunteers help you pick excess fruits and veggies and distribute them to local homeless shelters and families in need.
Keep weeds at bay. Weeds follow water and will sprout up quickly in beds receiving regular irrigation. Use a scuffle hoe to get under mature vegetable plants and around sunflower stalks to knock back weeds before they take a foothold.
Pay attention to plants before you hit them back. Some “weeds” can be useful, tasty or merely volunteer seedlings sprouting from garden plants that have cast seeds. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea), for example, is a common weed in California gardens but sold as a salad green in Mexico, South America and parts of Europe. The fleshy, slightly lemony-tasting plants are delicious dressed with olive oil and tossed in a salad or as an accompaniment to fish.
Natural Ways to Get Rid of Weeds
Pay attention to plants before you hit them back. Some “weeds” can be useful, tasty or merely volunteer seedlings sprouting from garden plants that have cast seeds. Purslane (Portulaca oleracea), for example, is a common weed in California gardens but sold as a salad green in Mexico, South America and parts of Europe. The fleshy, slightly lemony-tasting plants are delicious dressed with olive oil and tossed in a salad or as an accompaniment to fish.
Natural Ways to Get Rid of Weeds
Cut flowers for bouquets. Harvest flowers frequently from summer annuals like zinnia and cosmos to encourage plants to continue producing blooms. It’s best to pick flowers in the early morning, before daytime temperatures rise, and place cut stems immediately in a bucket of water. Kill two birds with one stone by deadheading plants while you’re snipping for a bouquet. Deadheading, or clipping spent blooms, discourages plants to form seeds and promotes new flowers to form.
How to Grow a Flower Garden for Bouquets
How to Grow a Flower Garden for Bouquets
Prioritize water use. Edible gardens take a lot of water. If growing fruits and veggies is your priority, consider dialing back irrigation in other areas of the garden to make up for the extra water vegetable gardens require. For example, the water saved by allowing your lawn to go brown (don’t worry, it will come out of dormancy and turn green this winter) would be enough to keep a medium-size kitchen garden thriving. This fall, consider updating your irrigation system from sprayers to drip to save water next year.
Quick and easy ways to save water (without changing your irrigation system):
More
9 Ways to Be Water-Wise in the Edible Garden
3 Ways to Revel in Summer Garden Sweetness
Quick and easy ways to save water (without changing your irrigation system):
- Water early in the morning or at night to cut down on water lost by evaporation.
- Change your watering wand to one that can turn on and off to avoid wasting water between pots or garden beds.
- Place a bucket under the shower head to save water that would go down the drain as you wait for the water get warm. Use the water on garden beds.
More
9 Ways to Be Water-Wise in the Edible Garden
3 Ways to Revel in Summer Garden Sweetness
How to Grow Your Own Peaches and Nectarines