I am a great supporter of the Canadian lawn.

 

As summer heat persists it is important to keep the perennials and annual flowering plants watered, especially those in containers (as they dry out much more quickly)

Do not water your lawn until evening temperatures drop to 15 degrees c. then water once a week only but apply 4 or 5 cm. of water at one time.

As you harvest your crop of tomatoes, peppers and the like keep your local food bank in mind. They can always use your excess produce.

See a more extensive list of ‘to do’s below.

Be sure to keep on top of garden chores by reading my weekly blogs. We craft these according to the weather and time of year, keeping in mind that not all Canadian gardeners do the same things in the garden at the same time. It IS a big country.

Check out my podcasts too. Only 10 minutes of listening before you go to sleep each night and you will sleep like a baby.

Go to www.markcullen.com for both.

I plan on spending some time on the Rideau river this month, cruising with my brother Pete and brother in law Bryan. I am hoping that they do not kill me by drowning like they attempted to do last year. I fooled them then and I can fool them again.

I hope that your second half of the summer is a good one.

I remind you that this is the month when the weeds actually slow their rate of growth and mosquitoes decline in population. This is Gods way of rewarding gardeners for our hard work in the first half.

Read a book.

Hang in the hammock.

Eat lots and sleep more than you would normally.

Your earned it.

With thanks to all of you who e mailed me last month about my message on Holes Garden Centre ( ‘Enjoy Centre’). I had no idea that they had so many fans outside of Alberta.

Also I wish to thank everyone that submits a comment on Mark’s Choice product by clicking on the hot button on the home page of www.markcullen.com I read every one of your comments and appreciate the positive and constructively negative.

A reminder that I appear every Wed. on Canada AM coast to coast. 8:45 a.m. and if you should miss it you can see my segments streamed on their website, which you can access through my website www.markcullen.com. In August we feature a series on the value of trees in urban spaces. We celebrate them and offer advice on how to look out for potential problems like the emerald ash borer.

Follow the progress of my upsidedown tomato on my Facebook page.

It is so easy to be informed (and at times even entertained).

Thanks again,

Talk next month.

Mark

Merchant of Beauty

 

Prune with less effort.
Who would have thought that you could carry a pair of lightweight, heavy duty loppers in the back pocket of your jeans? Not I. Until I discovered these wonderful bypass loppers that will cut through 1 1/2 inches of green wood like a hot knife through butter. The gearing at the hinge is the secret to the ease with which you can remove reasonably mature wood in your shrubs, trees and evergreens - without a lot of effort!

The big bonus is that this quality tool folds down to fit nicely into your car trunk, behind the seat of the pick-up or even the seat pocket of your jeans.
(Home Hardware item# 5067-822)

 

Cut back perennials that have finished flowering . Speedwell, delphiniums, day lilies, roses and even lupines and the like will often re-bloom in September when they are cut back aggressively early in August. Note: roses are on this list and there is no question that you will get a nice September show when you ‘dead head’ mid summer.

One last fertilizer application. I use a lot of Green Earth granular fertilizer in my garden, especially around the heavy feeders like roses and peonies. Early August is your last chance to feed your perennials, shrubs and trees before late autumn. The reason is that you do not want to force new growth late into the season that is soft and therefore susceptible to winter kill.

Prune your cedar hedge. Truth is, there is no bad time to prune a cedar hedge – but if you do it in August you will gain the benefit of the last flush of growth come late August and September. Come late fall you will stand back and say, ‘Nice job!’

Plant. Many of us forget, come mid summer, that this is a great time of year to plant trees, shrubs, evergreens, perennials and even late season annuals. The #1 reason for doing it now may be this: the savings at your local retailer! A lot of stuff is on sale at a lot of places. Choose wisely – don’t buy junk. Avoid yellowing leaves, plants that have out grown their container.

Do look for plants that are deep green (a sign that they are well fed), lush and ready to grow.

When you remove a new plant from its’ pot the roots should fill up to 2/3 of the soil mass but no more. If the pot is ‘all roots’ you have a root bound plant that is going to have trouble putting down new roots in your garden.

Lawns .

Cut your lawn high. I have mentioned this before, but it is important to repeat: during the summer months cut your lawn at 2 ½ to 3 inches high. No shorter! Keep in mind that the ‘taller the grass blades the deeper the roots’ the deeper the roots the more drought tolerant they are. You will water less. You will also have a lot fewer lawn weeds to deal with as the young ones will be shaded out by the long grass blades.

Sow grass seed. To thicken an established lawn or start a new one, this is your best bet. I recommend Golfgreen grass seed 99.9% weed free. Produced in Canada too. Sow grass seed in the 3 rd or 4 th week of the month to take advantage of heavy morning dew, shorter days and cool evening temperatures. This is when 90% of all sod growers sow their next crop of sod – makes sense that we do the same.

In the veggie garden:

Apply Green Earth Bordo mixture to all of your tomatoes. I cannot over emphasize this one for anyone that lives in parts of the country where you have experienced lots of rainfall this summer and cooler than normal temperatures. The copper that is in the Bordo will act to prevent ‘early blight’: the #1 scourge of tomatoes everywhere.

Pick your ripe veggies and fruit. It is a rule to live by: pick your beans/peas/raspberries/tomatoes etc. as they ripen and this will encourage new fruit to develop. Period end of story.

Fertilize your tomatoes. I use Green Earth granular 4-6-8 Tomato food. Tomatoes are heavy feeders.

Mulch your melons. Use a 10 inch/25 cm. layer of loose straw to insulate the soil from drying out too quickly and to minimize weeds. Squash, pumpkins and all other members of the cucurbit family benefit from the mulch treatment.