Video: Late Summer Garden Maintenance Tips

This quick video gives a few simple tips for keeping your summer garden looking its best into the fall months. This time of year, as things start to die down, hot sun and dry conditions can hasten the decline of your garden. Keeping things green and growing isn't hard though - you've just got to keep an eye on your garden and give it what it needs. Now is also a great time to clean out any dead plants and apply mulch or green manure for the fall and winter months.

End of Summer Garden Maintenance
Horticulturist Mitch Baker provides a few tips for keeping lawns and gardens looking fresh and green in the late weeks of summer.To View How-To Videos on Alm...

Organic Gardening Tips For Late Summer And Fall

This article on organic gardening tips for the late summer and fall season will give you a checklist that you can use to make sure you are doing all that you need to do at this busy time of year. It's a crucial time in the vegetable garden in particular, because many crops are ready to harvest and need last minute attention to get the best from them. On the other hand, it is a time when most people have a lot of other activity in their lives - vacations, barbecues, sporting events, kids going off to school - and the garden is easily forgotten.

So what are the organic gardening tasks that we should be concentrating on at this time of year?

 (Watering can) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

First and most important, watering. In the fall you can begin to use less water on the garden, but in the dry weather of late summer, even if you only have a little time to spend on the garden, make sure that the watering is covered. This is something that is best done in the morning or evening rather than in the heat of the day, so it can be easily fitted in before or after your other activities.

If you are away on vacation, set up a timed sprinkler or ask neighbors to water for you. You could do the same for your neighbor another time, or consider hiring a local school or college student to do this, especially if you have containers or narrow raised beds, which dry out fast.

Second, if you have flowers such as roses or dahlias, keep on deadheading them by cutting off those that are past their prime. This will prolong their flowering season.

Harvest fruits and vegetables. This may seem so obvious that you don't even think about it, but sometimes we forget some plants until it is too late. If you have too much of something, freeze it, preserve it or give it away. Don't waste your summer's bounty!

You can also collect seeds from favorite plants and dry them, ready for planting later. Don't forget to label them!

This time of year is a good time to start thinking of next year too. It's not too early to feed the soil with green manures. In fact, this is a great time to do it, when the plants' demands on the soil are at their height.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the fall you can plant bulbs for spring flowers. You can also plant spring lettuce, cabbage and other early vegetable crops that may be able to winter over and produce a welcome early crop next spring. You can begin to cut back perennials that have finished flowering, including pruning flowering trees and climbing roses. You may want to divide some perennials to produce more flowers next year.

If you have a lawn, be sure to keep it free of leaves. Any covering of leaves reduces light to the grass. If the leaves are left too long, that will weaken and even kill the grass. Finally, if you have a pond in your garden, put a net over it now to catch the falling leaves - and you can use them in your compost.

Keeping Your Summer Garden Green Longer

There are many things we do to add a little splash of color to our summer gardens but wouldn't it be nice to prolong the life and enjoyment of our summer garden, and keep it looking lush a green just a bit longer?  This article will give you a few tips to keep your summer garden looking crisp and green as long as possible by taking a few extra steps a little earlier in the summer months to prepare for the inevitable beginning of the end.

One thing to keep in mind is that once your garden begins to take on that yellowish brown hue that indicates the end of summer it always seems to be a downhill ride into the fall. That ride, more often than not is over far too quickly and your summer garden is but a dim reminder of its formerly glorious summer greenery.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. First things first, get rid of the yellowing leaves and dying flowers as they make their appearance. They rob the remainder of the garden of its splendor and leave the pallor of decay on the garden far too soon in the season. You will be glad you did, as it will immediately restore the look of health and vitality in your remaining garden plants.

2. Weed. Remove those pesky weeds that detract from the beauty and lushness of the greenery in your garden. By removing the weeds your entire garden looks better almost immediately. While you are at it, reapply mulch. This will delay the inevitable return of the weeds while also providing an extra layer for holding in moisture to keep your plants from drying out and losing their bright green color. Another great thing about mulch is that it simply makes things look neat and orderly.

Pot Garden (Photo credit: Earthworm)

3. Fill in the gaps. While you are in the process of plucking leaves, weeds, and dead flowers from your  garden it is quite likely that a few gaps will be created. Fill them in other greenery, small shrubs (evergreens are a good idea in this situation), potted plants, or nice garden art. The effects are often stunning and you have the look of an almost new summer garden for only half the effort and expense of creating one. You may also want to scour the local plant stores for late season offerings and markdowns. These are often well cared for and in good condition to add a little touch of color or green to your garden.

4. Another oft-overlooked way to keep your summer garden green is to plant plants that are appropriate to your climate. On an ordinary summer, excluding drought or excessive rain conditions, this will be the best way to achieve maximum greenness from your garden. This is actually one of the best ways to prolong the life of your garden as well because the plants being used are accustomed to the weather patterns that exist in your locale. For this reason they will be much better suited to stay green and healthy much longer than most implants that are not accustomed to the local weather patterns. It truly is sustainable gardening!

Creating a greener garden is a worthy cause for most gardeners. We plant our summer gardens because we want to enjoy them. By keeping them green, healthy, and vibrant a little bit longer we are able to prolong our enjoyment of our gardens as well as the productivity of our gardens. This means more flowers, more fruit, more vegetables, and much longer spans of greenery for the uninitiated. It's well-worth the little bit of extra time and maintenance.

Video - Late Summer Garden Tour

Here is a neat little video from a late summer garden. He is very knowledgeable, and gives some neat ideas for planting things together, or over-planting, including a cool and pretty suggestion for planting over my tulip bed during the summer - one thing I've always been looking for something to cover.

Enjoy!

Strolling Through A Late Summer Garden
Walk with Brent through his garden and take a look at how colorful a late summer/early fall garden can really be! He points out a number of different blooming bulbs, perennials and what he calls companion plants to his beautifully landscaped property...