August Gardening letter: Gardening Art
I did a little presentation a while ago at the gardening club meeting. To my surprise and that of the attendees, many of the plants are doing well in their gardens. Thus, I titled this contribution to the newsletter, Gardening Art rather than gardening yada, yada. To my one friend who left her plant in the pot without little regard, there's more where that came from.
I can not go any further without saying , KUDOS to the park workers. These folks have stood up in the intense summer heat and humidity, clearing invasive nasties such as brazillian pepper trees and thorny vines. They have braved fire ants and trip hazards to make clear paths. The park workers have given our community countless hours of back breaking hard work. I have it from an inside source that the paths are looking very good; and access from the west entrance has been restored for the first time in four-five years. Thanks to the board of directors for approving the few monitory requests. Thank you for restoring our park y'all. To those of you that are interested in helping...there is still plenty of work to be done!
Summer and your grass is growing and growing, and the weeds are growing too. What to do?
Don 't use a herbicide; it is too hot. To keep weeds in check you should be cutting your grass on a weekly basis. If you wait 10 days, weeds may get to set seeds and then the battle wages on.
Remember grass should be maintained at approx. 3 inches in length. That would be the length of an actual blade of grass. Because of the increased humidity you shouldn 't be watering till the blades fold in half. They actually fold in half along the vertical spine.
If you have NOT pruned your trees to lighten their load and allow significant air flow, it still would be a good time to do so. Hurricane season lasts till November.
You should always remove dead wood, dead plants and discarded fruit lying on the ground.
If your sprinklers are working properly and you have small patches that are dying, and connecting to form larger patches, then you probably have, CHINCH BUGS. You 'll need a form of insecticide. Remember to treat 2x 's at least 10 days to 2 wks. Apart. First treat to kill any active bugs and second to kill the hatchlings.
If you are watering and we have had continual rain you may get a, FUNGUS problem. Again there are remedies in the garden centers of most stores.
It really is too hot to do much outdoors; please be safe. Stay HYDRATED, drink a lot of water.
I like the way your looking Pheasant Walk. Keep up the gardening art.
Stay Cool,
Joy Schwartz