Below are just a few tips for the month of August. If you have questions, please call our Master Gardener℠ volunteer hotline at 338-3954 on Monday from 10 a.m. to noon.

Prune

• Feed with a complete fertilizer. Remove spent blooms, hips, and any dead canes. A good time for stem cuttings.
• Do not prune or fertilize trees or shrubs after the 15^th to prevent any new growth that may not have time to harden off before frost.

Plant

• Later this month put in new plants of peas, beets, kale, cauliflower, and cabbage.
• Seed or transplant leaf lettuce, radishes, spinach, squash, and turnips.
• Sow seeds of bush, pole, and lima beans plus cucumbers.
• Cloves of garlic for harvesting early next summer.
• Divide and transplant iris and daylilies.

Other

• Deadhead crape myrtles.
• Cut cannas back to about 3”.
• Shear back old petunia blooms and they should rebloom.
• Be sure to water strawberries and blueberries each week plus fertilize them as good cell growth will determine next year’s berry size.
• Fertilize basil with liquid fertilizer.
• Keep annuals deadheaded for continuous blooms.