How to Maintain and Keep your Gardens Producing in August

“I love borders. August is the border between summer and autumn;
it is the most beautiful month I know.”

―Tove Jansson

This past weekend I visited the gardens on the SCMGA-sponsored Annual Garden Tour. It was quite impressive to see what these gardeners had done with their gardens despite the challenges some of their properties had. There were numerous variations of vegetable gardens in addition to the beautiful annual and perennial gardens. It was wonderful seeing gardening techniques I’ve read and learned about put into practice. I’d like to give a big shout out to all the garden hosts and local sponsors for making this event a success. If you didn’t attend this year, you really missed out. The event will be held again next July 22, 2023, so mark your calendar.

With August’s arrival, vegetable harvesting continues in earnest. Keep beans, peppers, and eggplants picked to encourage more production and allow younger fruit to develop. If you can, freeze, pickle, or use any other type of food preservation, visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation at https://nchfp.uga.edu/ for current research-based and SAFE recommendations for home food preservation methods. Pick herbs before they blossom for best flavor. Keep zucchinis and summer squash picked before they develop into baseball bats. Don’t be in a rush to pull up your onions. My onions have fallen over but the tops are still green. Let the tops brown and dry out so they store well over the winter. Plant late crops of radishes, lettuce, spinach, and beets.

Maintain consistent watering for tomatoes and peppers to help prevent blossom end rot. If your tomatoes or peppers develop blossom end rot, you can’t rid of it on the fruit itself. You can, however, prevent it from developing on more tomatoes. Develop a consistent watering plan and test to see if your garden needs more calcium; add if needed.  Inconsistent watering or a calcium deficit in your soil are the most common causes of end rot.

Consider letting some of your heirloom plants go to seed. Then harvest and save some of the seeds for the next growing season. Heirloom seeds stay true to their characteristics year after year. I like to save the seeds from heirloom tomatoes that I find to be most delicious. If you decide to not plant another succession crop, plant a cover crop in areas of your garden that are not in use. Consider using them to add nutrients back into your garden and help suppress weeds until you are ready to use the space next growing season.

Attend to berry patches by tip layer to expand your black raspberry batch and fertilize your strawberry patch based on the type you are growing. Visit https://barron.extension.wisc.edu/files/2021/09/Growing-Strawberries-in-WI-A1597.pdf for more information on growing strawberries.

In your perennial beds, there’s not a lot that need to be done other than deadheading and weeding. Keep your garden phlox deadheaded and not allowed to go to seed if you want their color to remain true. Believe it or not, but it’s time to order spring-blooming bulbs for fall planting.

Register now for “Growing and Caring for Plants in Wisconsin: Foundations in Gardening” through the UW Wisconsin Horticulture – Division of Extension. The course runs from September 11 – December 10, 2022. Students learn key concepts for selecting, growing, and maintaining plants in Wisconsin. For more information, visit: https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/foundations-in-gardening/.

This week’s article is written by Jeannie Manis, a Wisconsin Certified Sauk County Master Gardener Volunteer. If you have any gardening questions, please contact the Extension Sauk County by emailing to  trripp@wisc.edu or calling the University of Wisconsin Madison Division of Extension Sauk County office at 608-355-3250.