August Gardening Tips
Plant
• Summer annuals: Blue Salvia, Pentas, Portulaca, Vinca, Zinnias, Sunflowers
• Sumner vegetables and herbs: There’s still time to plant melons! Start tomatoes and peppers for a fall harvest. Cool season veggies can be started indoors.
• Trees, shrubs and cactus. (Watch your watering and sun exposure!)
• Citrus, fruit and nut trees (Watch your watering and sun exposure!)
• Re-pot patio and houseplants if necessary.
Fertilize
• Citrus: In early August a Citrus Fertilizer gives your fruit a boost.
• Summer flowers: Continue a regular fertilizing schedule.
• Summer vegetables and herbs: Continue a regular fertilizing schedule.
• Trees and shrubs: Continue a regular fertilizing schedule.
• Roses: Continue a regular feeding schedule.
• Deciduous fruit trees (apple, peach, plum etc.): New plants should get some fruit tree fertilizer. If they are stressed, use only a half dose at a time. Established trees, once new leaves begin to appear, feed preferred fertilizer.
• Houseplants: Continue your fertilizing schedule. Remember –succulents prefer only a half dose of fertilizer.
Prune
• Continue to deadhead your flowers to encourage more blooms.
• Keep other pruning to a minimum to reduce plant stress. Do not prune trees this time of year.
Plan and Prep
• Amend soil or add compost now to get garden beds ready for fall planting!
• It’s time to remove any spent summer annuals, herbs, and veggies.
Maintenance
• Watering: Keep up your summer watering schedule! Water slow and deep early in the morning. Keep in mind to pull back if we get any late Monsoons.
• Pests: Caterpillars are hard at work getting ready to make cocoons. If you’ve too many chewing your plants, pick them off or spray with a hard blast of water. If you don’t mind their munching, you’re in for some beautiful butterflies!
• Weeds: Keep pulling! Monsoons may have brought a resurgence of weeds.
• Irrigation: Check for leaks and clogged emitters. Add more emitters, or upgrade existing, to accommodate growing plants.
More Tips and Tricks
• If you haven’t put up shade cloth to protect tender plants, do it now! A 30% shade cloth is perfect for plants that like full sun, but not Arizona full sun.
• Check for yellowing leaves with green veins, you may need to add some Chelated Iron around this time. Chelated iron is the only form of iron that works in our native soil.