This month begins warm and can start to cool off toward the end, providing a distinct preview of fall.  Butterflies may be drawn to late flowers on butterfly bushes and to blue-flower plumes of bluebeard, a shrubby perennial that grows best if cut to the ground each spring.  Vegetable gardens, if not overtaken by weeds, are likely to yield abundant harvest, enough to share with local food banks.  

Below are a few gardening tips to get you out of the summer heat and into fall…

Indoor Gardening

Start moving houseplants indoors, washing off foliage and checking drainage holes for pill bug and other pests before bringing plants in.

Woody Plants

Plant and transplant broad-leaved evergreens, including hollies.

Prune overgrown hedges lightly.  Check pruning time limits, avoid pruning other woody plants as this can stimulate late growth that will not have time to harden off properly before winter.  

Avoid fertilizing deciduous woody plants (except roses) until safely dormant.  

Avoid pruning spring-blooming shrubs and trees, or you could cut off flower buds.  

Transplant and plant evergreens, including hollies, keeping them well watered.

Lawns

Install new lawns of cool-season grasses and renovate established ones.  Keep grass seed and sod damp-sprinkle everyday if necessary.  Mow when grass is 3 inches high.

Begin implementing your “Green Grass” recommendations now.  

Dethatch and aerate old lawns to promote root growth.

Flowers

Plant fall-blooming crocus for autumn bloom.

Plant asters and garden chrysanthemums for fall color and biennial seedlings (such as Sweet Williams) to bloom next year.

Fertilize annuals and container plants (monthly).  Fertilize roses for the last time this year to allow for new growth to harden off before frost.

Kitchen Garden

Sow cool-season vegetables like collard greens, lettuce, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, arugula, and spinach.    

Prune water sprouts from fruit trees.  Prune and destroy blackberry and once-bearing raspberry canes that bore fruit this year.  They won’t produce fruit again and may harbor disease or insects.

Around the Yard

Remove weeds before they set seed and multiply.  Edge and weed existing beds and mulch for weed control.

Check plants and vegetables growing on trellises and poles.

Clean cold frames for fall use.

Continue to add to and turn compost piles.  Dispose of diseased, insect-infested, or seedy material.