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August Gardening Tips

Plant

Start seeds for cool-season crops in flats or peat pots. Seeds take approximately six weeks to grow large enough to transplant.
Plant seeds for winter tomatoes. These are cold-hardy varieties that will fruit when nighttime temperatures drop into the high 30's. Choose from Glacier Stupice, Siberia, Taxi and the great tasting Galina Cherry.
Plant English triangles now for beautiful flower spikes in spring. At points of a triangle with 1-foot spacing, plant one each of Canterbury bells, foxglove and delphinium.
Plant blooming crepe myrtle, oleander (or wait until fall), bougainvillea, plumeria, and cassia (or wait until next spring).
Lawns or southern-type grasses and bare spots have their best chance for establishment by winter if you reseed or plant stolons now.
Plant your slopes with ground covers to get them established before winter rains cause erosion.
Divide and plant bird-of-paradise.

Feed & Fertilize

Prevent fall weeds by applying weed preventers like Amaze or Preen to flowerbeds and Portraits to lawns.
Feed container-grown succulents and other potted plants with once-a-month fertilizers.
Feed ferns, water lilies, fuchsias and other tropicals with organic foods that won't burn.

Prune/Trim/Clean

If you haven't already done so, cut back hydrangeas, leaving at least three buds per stem. This will produce new stems; next year's blooms come from them.
Cut back fuchsias and trim back felicia daisies and marguerite daisies as well as perennial-like bachelor buttons, delphiniums, pansies and violas to encourage a second bloom in fall.
Pinch back impatiens, geraniums and begonias. Clean up old flowering stems of daylilies.
Remove spent vegetables from your garden, such as lettuce and dead pea vines. A good idea is to add them to your compost pile.

MISCELLANEOUS

Divide bearded iris now if they are crowded or didn't bloom much last spring. Break off and discard older central rhizomes with no foliage. Allow young, healthy rhizomes to dry out of the direct sun for several hours so a callus forms over the break before replanting it.
Compost piles work fast in hot weather. Keep them turned and moist.
Watch citrus fruit for drop. Make certain a steady supply of moisture is in the soil and cull as necessary.