As a lawn care company, we tend to focus our blog posts on lawns. However, we know that many of our customers enjoy gardening, so we occasionally devote this space to related subjects. Fall is the best time to grow a variety of popular vegetables and flowering plants, and you’ll need to start preparing in late summer to be successful. If you take on the important tasks we discuss here during August, you’ll be way ahead when it’s time to plant.
1. Weed – Unlike most flowers and vegetables, many weeds love the hot and humid weather that August brings. Hand-pulling weeds may seem like a task that never ends, but the more you remove, the fewer remain to spread the seeds that will turn into next year’s weeds. Through this virtuous cycle, industrious weeding today will lead to less weeding in the future.
2. Prune and Deadhead – Deadheading is another task best done by hand. Removing dead and dying flowers will improve the appearance of your garden immediately, but the real benefit will arrive in the form of the new growth that now has enough space to emerge.
Removing damaged and dead stems and limbs also improves both appearance and health. As you almost certainly know, this is not the time to prune spring-flowering plants. August is the season for thinning out evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs.
3, Start (or Refresh) Your Compost Pile – If you don’t already have a space set aside for composting, it won’t take you long to set one up with supplies available at any lawn and garden store or scrap materials you already have on hand. In general, we advocate leaving grass clippings on your lawn when you mow to supply nutrients as they decay. However, if you let too much time pass between mowings, the cuttings will be too long to break down easily. You’d be better off collecting them in your mower bag and adding them to your compost heap, along with aging vegetables and fruits, leaves that you foresightedly gathered last fall and bagged to dry, and shredded newspapers. Do this now and your compost will be ready to spread after your fall harvest.
4. Plant – Vegetables that do well in mild fall conditions include spinach, lettuce, kale, and arugula. Because our region stays warm well into autumn months, many people successfully grow beets, broccoli, radishes, turnips, and even some varieties of cabbage. Flowers that will colorfully enliven your fall include violas, pansies, and snapdragons.
Arbor-Nomics is a lawn service company that provides specialized lawn care services in Alpharetta, GA and all nearby cities in the metro Atlanta area. A lot of our knowledge also applies to vegetables and flowers, so, in addition to tackling your lawn care issues, we’ll do our best to address any questions you have about gardening matters. In addition to weed control, we provide lawn fertilization, outdoor pest control, and much, much more. Our Certified Landscape Specialists are ready to help with all of your lawn service needs.