Hard to believe that summer is winding down and Labor Day is around the corner.  Hopefully you have been enjoying your gardens, but keep in mind these garden to-dos too.

This is the time to replace spent annuals or vegetables.  Seed a late crop of lettuce or spinach and replace those flowering annuals with mums, kale and other fall annuals.  If your perennials are looking shabby cut them back and remove any spent blooms.   And continue to fertilize your annuals, but  do not fertilize trees or shrubs at this point.  You don’t want to encourage lots of new growth this late in season .  Finally continue to water and weed.  Any weeding will remove the seeds that will only grow into more weeds to greet you next spring.

Summer Garden

Summer Garden

Harvesting of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and beans is in full swing.  Pick, use and preserve the bounty from the garden!  By removing ripe fruits and veggies you reduce the chance of critters like raccoons and insects invading your garden.  You can also remove any flowers from tomatoes and peppers.  At this point the flowers will not have enough time to develop into fruit.

Happy Gardening!