“If you would be happy your whole life long, become a gardener.”
Chinese proverb Last night, in the wee hours of the morning, our nocturnal wanderer, i.e., skunk, left an odorous calling card, waking everybody.
The day promised to be another hot and dry one, prompting thoughts on how to coax the laggards in my flowerbeds back to new growth. The only vigorous plant seems to be the crabgrass that now covers a large area of our lawn with a Crayola green overcoat. Its tentacles seem to grow by the minute.
So what are my options now? Digging out the massive, dinner-plate size clumps with my trusted tool, leaving large bald spots to be reseeded? I don’t think so. And yet, it is a very tempting thought and the pile of pulled crabgrass is growing. I missed the boat this summer in applying crabgrass killer, and it shows. So now I will use the approach of a reticent gardener, wait for nature to do its healing and be more vigilant next summer. Of course, aerating and reseeding may be the only way back.
To remove the imprints of a dry summer is painful. You keep thinking about the plants that did not achieve their usual vigorous stance and you waited in vain for more intense flowering. Even the energetic nasturtium, usually stretching out 10 feet, remained stunted with small leaves and meager flowering. However, I treasure my garden’s small miracles especially during a trying, rainless summer, and so, while cutting away, I keep thinking of a green and turgid season next summer.
I am sure you have leftover, unused seeds. You might want to seal them in a mason jar or a freezer-weight ziplock bag. Many seeds maintain their germination rate except for lettuce and parsley. The worst enemies of successful seed storage are humidity and heat. Do not leave your seed packets outside; high humidity and dampness will ruin them.
Euphorbia: Cut back old flower heads now to regenerate new basal growth — if not, the plant will prematurely pass on to the compost pile in the sky,
Liriope: This plant can withstand tough summers and it stays green throughout a mild winter. The best time to prune liriope is
in late winter before new growth appears. Use hedge shears to cut the foliage down to the crown as low as you can.
Tomato “Tomaccio” is a gourmet cherry tomato variety that has performed with great vigor this summer. It has improved over last year by producing sweet fruit with minimal cracking despite the scorching heat on our patio.
Pruning dead and spent flowers, foliage and stems encourages healthier, fuller plants and more flowers. Begin pruning after the first display of flowers, stop pruning at the end of the plant’s growing season. Typically, it is good to remove up to one-third of the stems, especially in overcrowded areas where the foliage is beginning to discolor or die. If the plant invades, just cut outside stems to keep the plant in its place.
Deadheading: When the flower of an annual plant fades, it drops its petals, and seed begins to form in the remaining ovary of the bloom. As seed matures, it signals the plant that it has completed its reproductive cycle for the year. Seed tells your flower in July that it is September and that the time has come to slow down. To keep annuals flowering is to never allow seeds to form. You have to fool the plant into blooming continuously in an effort to produce seed. And don’t forget to feed, feed, feed. Liquid spray food adds a bonus of feeding through the leaves.
Gotti Kelley, past president of the Navesink Garden Club, serves on the board of The Garden Club of New Jersey.