Late Summer Garden Maintenance

You can keep your lawn and garden looking fresh and green at the end of summer by following a few simple tips. Learn more in this video featuring horticulturalist Mitch Baker:

Here are some additional tips for late summer gardening:

• Remove damaged, diseased or dead parts of your plants. You may prevent future problems as well as improving your plants’ appearance. Dieback in azaleas or rhododendrons should be pruned; it’s important to continue pruning until you discover living undamaged stem.
• Maintain soil moisture by mulching plants. Water stress can cause blossom end-rot on tomatoes due to calcium deficiency which can be temporarily relieved by applying calcium carbonate or calcium nitrate.
• Grass clippings prevent thatch, recycle fertilizer and return organic matter to the soil. Unless the grass gets too tall between mowings, you don’t need to remove grass clippings.
• Any plant material that remains in your vegetable garden post-harvest provides a habitat for disease and insects. Be sure to clean out your vegetable garden.
• Check with your state agricultural department to see whether they provide free soil analysis. They may also make recommendations for fertilizer and liming.
• In late July or early August, start preparing to plant your fall garden.