It's Only Natural: Common Late Summer Issues

Many things can happen in the garden that may make you panic and think all is lost. For this, we are starting a new blog series “It’s Only Natural”. We will address some things that may come up, what they mean and some ways to help. For this edition, we will focus on common late summer issues.

Late in the summer the garden almost always looks somewhat sad. The days have been long and hot and there has been little rain. The plants are stressed. Many have gone dormant during the hot weather as a method of survival. This means little new growth is occurring.

Watering is the most important thing in the late summer. It is good to give your plants deep water. This helps develop a strong root system. Shallow watering often doesn’t reach where it needs to and dries up quickly on the surface due to the extreme sun in late summer.

Common issues

Things are looking distressed. Plants have some yellow leaves.

This is mostly happening because of lack of water and the heat. The plants are shedding excess leaves to conserve what water they have for the rest.

Tip: Remove dead or yellow leaves from plants. Not only does removing the dead parts allow for airflow, it also allows the plant to conserve it’s energy for growth.

Powdery mildew on perennials

Mid to late summer disease starts becoming visible on plants. Powdery mildew is chalky white fungal disease that coats leaf surfaces. This won’t kill the plant but it will weaken it overtime. Annuals are very susceptible to it but it is also common with some perennials such as verbena, monarda, and tall garden phlox.

Tip: Use Safer and Bonide brand products to combat this. These are safe organic options.

Blooms are spent

Some perennials have finished flowering by late summer. Now is a good time to notice empty spots in the garden. Your early bloomers have finished flowering and now you can notice a few areas where you may like to add in some late blooming plants.

Tip: You can deadhead all those spent flowers (or if you’d like to save the seeds leave them on until dried out). Deadheading is a good way to tidy up the garden and also encourages new growth. Some spent blooms look nice to leave into fall and winter, and some may be left to attract birds- it depends what you’d like for your garden.

Late season weeds may have taken hold of your garden

In August, it seems like we all were gone on vacation. Gardens don’t take vacations though and while you were away, the weeds took over.

Tip: Some effort is needed to solve this issue but once you get rid of those guys then your garden will look a lot neater and it gives your perennials more room for growth.

Edibles

Things are huge and out of control and are probably a bit heat stressed as well. Like with the rest of your garden, it’s a good idea to go through and clean out any yellowing or dead parts. This will help prevent mildew and disease spread.

APHIDS!

Aphids may have taken over some plants by now. If you planted nasturtiums in your edible garden at the beginning of the season, this was a great idea! Nasturtiums attract aphids away from your other edibles.

Tip: They may be super infested by now and you might just want to remove them. Sunflowers are also good to plant near edibles, as they will also attract aphids away from your other plants.

Cracking tomatoes

Some of your tomatoes may have split. This is caused by extreme temperatures and periods of dry weather, followed by heavy rain.

Tip: Grow resistant varieties. When cracks do appear, harvest the tomato immediately and it can be eaten with no problem. Try to keep the soil uniformly moist.

You may think your edible garden is done for the season but you can actually start some cool weather crops now. Spinach, lettuces and radishes are good to start now. Check out this site to see what you can plant.