Let’s Enjoy the Beauty!
My gardens have been absolutely teeming with all kinds of beautiful creatures lately. I have seen so many different varieties of dragonflies, bees, butterflies, moths, and caterpillars on a daily basis – not to mention the many frogs and toads hopping around! It’s just so much fun to realize how many critters call my gardens home, and learning who they all are is even more fun. To name a few, just in the last few weeks – monarch butterfly and caterpillars (21 cats and counting!), spicebush swallowtail butterfly, eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly, black swallowtail butterfly, eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly, pearl crescent butterfly, silver spotted skipper butterfly, hummingbird sphinx moth (pictured above), two-spotted bumblebee, yellow bumblebee, orange-tipped wood digger bee, carpenter bee, and two-spotted longhorn bee, plus northern leopard frogs, eastern gray tree frogs, and eastern American toads. Of course, I also have tons of birds (that’s what I get for having multiple feeders, houses, and bird baths). I won’t go into the very long list of birds in my yard – trust me when I say I have a lot! I’m sure I’ve forgotten some of the many creatures I’ve seen – and there are plenty that I’ve seen and not been able to properly identify, and lots that I’ve certainly missed altogether – but you get the idea. I am so lucky to share my home with all these beauties!
Jennifer
In this month’s issue of Let’s Get Gardening
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In this month’s issue:
August is a time for lots of gardening tasks, not the least of which is keeping things watered (and harvested!):
- The high heat and general lack of rain has meant plants are drying out quickly. This goes for everything –
vegetables, flowers, trees, and shrubs – and grass, too. Most plants need about an inch of water per week, in general, but with the temperatures as high as they have been, plants have needed more, especially in soil that drains well. - If you planted new trees or shrubs earlier this year, or even any time last year, you really need to be keeping up with watering them. It takes a few years for tree roots to get really established.
- With how dry it’s been, you might even consider giving older trees a drink. A deep, slow watering is better than a brief, shallow one, so that the water can really soak into the soil and reach the roots.
- Container plants need to be watered even more frequently than the ones planted in the ground. If they are under the cover of a porch or building overhang, they aren’t as likely to get the benefit of any rain we do happen to get.
- Keep deadheading the annual flowers in your container plantings as well as bedding plants to ensure continuous blooms. Perennials that bloom at this time of year should also generally be deadheaded regularly.
- Harvesting is the major activity of vegetable gardening in August. I am awash in zucchini and beans right now, and have harvested about half of my garlic (the rest will be ready in the next couple of weeks). Keeping them harvested keeps the plants producing.
- Plant “succession” plants in your veggie garden this month, as you pull out things that are finished producing. Beets, radishes, lettuces, spinach, Swiss chard, kale, and peas all can be planted now for late summer and early fall harvest.
- Just because we haven’t been getting a lot of rain, don’t think that your garden is safe from disease pressure. We have been experiencing some pretty significant morning dews, which provide perfect conditions for some diseases.
- My fight with various pests this year continues – from Japanese beetles and cutworms to sawfly larva in my
flower gardens, and Mexican bean beetles, squash vine borers (adult moth shown here), and tomato hornworms in my veggie garden. Keep an eye out for insect pests around your plants. We carry a number of options for pest control, including some organic choices that are very effective. - Another way to help keep insects under control is to invite more birds to your yard. Insects make up a large part of the diet of most birds, including hummingbirds. Providing birds with clean water for drinking and bathing is a terrific way to get them to hang around your yard.
- Speaking of birdbaths, keep them clean! Birds are always looking for good sources of drinking and bathing water, and keeping them clean can help keep the birds healthy.
- I know I said it last month, but please do remember to keep your hummingbird feeders cleaned out. This heat will speed up the growth of bacteria and fungus in these feeders, which can be dangerous to those beautiful flying jewels.
Happy Gardening!
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