Lawn
• Raise your blades on the lawn mower to its highest setting. Longer grass blades are better able to shade their roots.
• Mow bluegrass and tall fescue around 3 to 3 1/2 inches
• Mow zoysia at 1 1/2 inches
• Watch for grubs. If they begin to hatch, an insecticide may be required. Apply in late July or early August.
• Apply Grub-out to rid your lawn of chinch bugs, grubs, and sod webworms.
• Fertilize zoysia to encourage summer growth with a high nitrogen fertilizer. Let grass clippings fall to return nutrients to soil and grass
• Be on the lookout for summer diseases such as brown patch
• Keep mower blades sharpened
• Replace lawn mower air filter and change lawn mower oil per owner’s manual
• Prepare to control perennial grassy weeds such as zoysia, fescue, and nimblewill
• Take a soil test to prepare for fall lawn renovation
• Water deeply and less often for deep roots and a healthy lawn
Landscape
• Remember to fertilize roses with rose formulated fertilizer. Do not fertilize roses after August 1st.
• Dead-head roses for faster rebloom.
• Fertilize with acidic fertilizer once a month: Azaelas, Rhododendrons, Holly, Hydrangeas.
Weed, Weed, Weed! Get them now before they rob the desirable plants of water & space!
Vegetables and Fruits
• Harvest fruits of your labor and enjoy
• Strawberries – renovate June-bearing strawberry beds. After they are done producing, first mow off the plants and then till strips to clean out the mother plants. Till opposite rows next season. Fertilize with a balanced garden fertilizer for larger, healthier plants and they will set more fruit buds in September and October for next year’s harvest!
• Control weed growth to preserve water and nutrients
• Fertilize vegetables to encourage plant development
• Watch for foliar disease development on lower tomato leaves and treat with a fungicide
• Prepare for fall gardening. Plant potatoes, broccoli, and other fall crops
• Spray sweet corn to control corn earworms as silks emerge
• Be on the lookout for pests of the garden and control
• Remove old raspberry canes after harvest
Flowers
• Remove flower stalks from peonies, irises, and daylilies.
• Hint: Water and fertilize container plants (potted annuals) regularly to encourage new growth and flowering. Lightly fertilize every time you water, which in the heat of the summer in July-August may be every other day. Use ½ the amount suggested and fertilize with each watering.
• Time to stop pinching chrysanthemum tips. Do not pinch after July 4.
• Remove faded flowers from annuals to stimulate more flowers for late summer color, and from perennials to prevent reseeding
• Keep gardens well mulched
• Cut fresh bouquets for enjoyment on hot summer days
• Lightly fertilize annuals to promote growth
• Dig, divide, and replant crowded irises
• Fertilize roses for fall blossoms
• Fertilize and water container gardens
Trees and Shrubs
• Spray “Sucker Stopper” to discourage sucker growth on crabapples.
• Water newly planted shrubs and young trees (planted within the last three to five years) during dry weather
• Keep plants mulched to conserve moisture and cool roots
• Remove sucker growth from the base of trees and along branches
Pruning
• Prune diseased, dead, or hazardous limbs
Miscellaneous
• Water weekly by deeply soaking the soil. Use surface irrigation and avoid watering late at night to help reduce disease development.
• Take photos of gardens
This information is brought to you from Nadine Champlin, Designer, Grimms Gardens; and Johnson County K-State Research and Extension. http://www.johnson.ksu.edu/p.aspx?tabid=142
