Regardless of this year’s gardening successes or setbacks, now is not the time to slack off. Despite the discomfort of hot, humid weather and hoards of hungry mosquitoes, you need to hang in there to get the most from your garden. Watering, weeding, replanting – even picking – will result in increased vegetable yields and a showier display of flowers. Water It’s important to provide a steady supply of moisture to developing plants, particularly in hot weather. Uneven moisture causes blossom end rot, a common malady of tomatoes and sometimes squash. It also causes knobby potatoes and bitter-tasting carrots and cukes. Most flowers won’t bloom well, either. Weed It’s as important to keep after garden weeds in August as it was earlier this summer. Weeds compete with desired plants for moisture and nutrients and may harbor insects that feed on flowers and vegetables. The seeds they produce will remain viable in the soil, ready to sprout, for years to come. Plant Though it’s too late to plant most vegetables, there are still things you can put in spaces where plants are no longer productive. Remove all traces of debris from the earlier plants and work garden fertilizer into the soil. Anything planted in August must mature in a short time frame. Kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, radishes, spinach and green onions are several options. You can also plant turnips and beets for leafy greens which are milder in flavor as cooler weather sets in. Pick Pick vegetables at the stage when they’ll be most tender and flavorful, or in the case of tomatoes or melons, when they’re perfectly ripe. If they get away from you and become overly-mature, pick them anyway and throw them onto your compost pile to keep plants productive. Pick “deadhead” faded blossoms in the flower garden, too. Flowering annuals often slow flower production once they’ve set mature or ripe seeds. Deb Brown is a horticulturist with the University of Minnesota Extension Service.
