What you need to be doing during the next few months to prepare for your fall garden and your flowering shrubs and trees.
Nashville, Ark. – Gardening is a great way to supply your family or others with fresh vegetables. Gardening is also a source of stress-lowering physical activity. By preserving any yield not consumed during the growing season, you can build up the home pantry and enjoy produce year-round. July through September is a great time to plant a fall garden!
Here are some common vegetable crops for fall harvest:
- Collards, turnips and mustards should be planted between August 1 and September 15.
- Swiss chard and beets should be planted between August 15 and September 1.
- Kale, lettuce and radishes need to be planted between August 20 and September 15,
- Spinach between August 25 and September 15
To make sure you have a good stand of fall crops from seed, it is best to cover rows with burlap, paper, straw or boards to help keep the soil moist and cool. Tomatoes will still produce with proper care. Keep them watered and fertilize them towards the end of the month. Nights above 75 degrees will slow production.
Flowering trees and shrubs
You should avoid pruning spring flowering trees and shrubs because they are setting flower buds, now. Adequate moisture, now, will give the trees and shrubs abundant color in the spring. If you prune at all, it should only be light pruning or heading back. See our general pruning tips for more information.
The last fertilizer application on roses should be done in early August. Continue to deadhead and spray with fungicide and insecticide.
During this month, you can rejuvenate any tired annuals by removing faded flowers and cutting back long, leggy stems. Feed these plants with fertilizer and they will be back in bloom in a few weeks. If they are too far gone, pull them and replace them with new ones for the fall.
For more information, contact the Howard County Extension office at 870-845-7517 or you can visit our fall landscaping section for lawn, tree, and garden tips.
By Dawson Bailey
County Extension Agent – Agriculture
The Cooperative Extension Service
U of A System Division of Agriculture
