AP Landings in August, due to its diversity and complexity, it can be safely dubbed “the royal preparations for the ball of the next spring.” Ornamental shrubs, large perennials, grasses, fruit and berry bushes and even some edible greens – this is an incomplete menu of “food” offered by us for “approval” of the demanding commission from Lady Earth, Mister Wind, Senior Rain and capricious Miss Weather!
So, in order. What is closer to the body, or rather, to the stomach. We plant dill, Beijing cabbage, lettuce, mustard leaf, radish, onion on a feather and watercress. But until the second decade of August, no later.
We take up the renewal of plantings of the red-sided favorite – strawberries. We select the first strong antennae from a three-year-old strawberry, we find a new place for them. In a hole filled with water, lower the roots, straighten, sprinkle. The core of the bush should not be deepened, the natural position is at the level of the soil or slightly higher.
We plant and transplant “beautiful perennials”, such as daylilies, peonies and irises. And then, having coped with the main task, we continue what we started … with delphiniums, phloxes, primroses and ending with … stonecrops. Who is not enough, then we will supplement the list with cloves, bells, gypsophila and daisies.
Now let’s deal with bulbs. We plant lilies, muscari, snowdrops, crocuses and even hazel grouse in the third decade. No, of course, not those that the bourgeois ate with pineapples, namely fritillaria. The imperial hazel grouse is an important and exquisite flower, therefore you need to “make an appointment” with him for an appointment half a month in advance. It is this period before planting that is necessary in order to prepare the soil: dig to a depth of 30 cm, apply fertilizer. And the time for planting must be carefully chosen so that the hazel grouse does not get into excessively cold and wet ground. Best of all for such an important person are specially created hills. Inspect purchased bulbs carefully, since hazel grouses do not have integumentary scales, they cannot protect themselves from adverse conditions: they either rot or dry out. Feel the bulbs for elasticity, inspect for mold, and if you can not plant quickly, set aside to be stored in moist peat. If “your” bulbs were dug out, then they themselves will show the time of planting – by the presence of broken roots.
Before planting, the hole must be filled with earth with compost, the bottom should be covered with sand, the resulting depth should not exceed 20 cm. The distance between the holes is about 30 cm.
Before such an important matter as planting for the winter, our emperor hazel grouse should take a bath of potassium permanganate and powder with charcoal. He lies sideways in the hole and sprinkles with sand, then with a light substrate, and only then with a “blanket” of peat and fallen leaves. These are the ceremonies required by a flower that blooms in early spring and gives a feeling of a miracle!
Well, now, finally, we start planting shrubs.
Although, perhaps, this event should have been at the beginning, but this is how it suits anyone. Lilac, jasmine, hydrangea, spirea and cinquefoil are those ornamental shrubs that are best planted in August.
But fruit and berry bushes will require special attention.
At the end of the month, they begin to propagate red and white currants with lignified cuttings. In later periods, cuttings of colored currants take root much more difficult and longer.
When we think about planting raspberries, we need to take into account likes and dislikes. Apple, pear, plum – these are the three girls under the window that raspberries respect. But cherries, sea buckthorn, black currants, strawberries are hated by raspberries. It turns out that she tolerates fruits, but she is “jealous” of berries.
Raspberry is a crop that propagates by root offspring. Rows of raspberries are usually located at a distance of 1,5 to 2 m from each other, and between bushes – from 30 cm to 50 cm. Compost or a mixture of manure with peat is first added to the grooves for raspberries.
I. Intense vegetable care. The main thing is not to confuse trees and vegetables. Fruit trees are not watered so that the fruits do not fall off the branches with a “rockfall”, but this does not apply to root crops. They are fed and cared for in the same way as all the summer months. Root crops, late cabbage, July sowing daikon and radish are growing rapidly. If you limit their watering, then they will either bloom or become a wooden taste. In between numerous plantings, you can afford to “pull” carrots, beets, turnips, and daikon for food. These vegetables require thinning, especially beets, otherwise the roots will be small. Tomatoes are the exception to the rule. They just need to be limited in watering in order to speed up the ripening of fruits.
R. To cut or not to cut: that is the question?!
It is believed that the delay in mowing the foliage of strawberry varieties with early ripening leads to a decrease in yield. So, mow?! Gardeners are arguing violently: mow all the tops or selectively cut off obsolete and diseased leaves ?! Everyone decides what is convenient for him. There is a second opinion that it is the sparing (preserving the core of the rosette) removal of leaves on strawberries that contribute to a good wintering and future harvest. So there are options.
But what is already known for sure: in fruit trees and shrubs, excessively vertically growing shoots must be cut off at the top of the crown. All the young shoots of cherries, plums, overgrown roses and lilacs are cut out near the ground. Cut the fertilized shoots of raspberries at the level of the soil, leaving no hemp, and do the same with weak, broken one-year shoots.
The lower leaves are removed from zucchini and squash, sprinkled with charcoal, which prevents powdery mildew. They do the same with dahlias.
And in black currants, white-yellow larvae can hide in young brown and wrinkled leaves. This leaf gall midge decided to find houses for wintering.
Such leaves are mercilessly plucked and burned.
about. About, why in August they do not feed with nitrogen fertilizers.
If the plants receive nitrogen at the end of summer and autumn, then, like a person from a bust of drunk alcohol, their heads will rustle, and the crowns will begin to overflow with new shoots. This kind of “spring euphoria” when thinking about preparing for winter can lead to the fable of the dragonfly and the ant. Young shoots will freeze, and this will lead to inhibition of the general immunity of the plant. By the way, oddly enough, but for gooseberries and currants, nitrogen supplements are an “enemy agent” that provokes damage to currants with powdery mildew, and gooseberries – with a sphere library.
So, in the first decade, for the last time before the autumn-winter “starvation”, we feed: dahlias, gladioli, perennial asters, chrysanthemums, rudbeckia.
Then we will treat the fertilized raspberry, currant and gooseberry bushes with rotted manure, compost, peat, phosphate and potash fertilizers. On acidic soils, wood ash is recommended for blackcurrants, and bird droppings are good for raspberries at the rate of two buckets per bush.
D. Guests: called and uninvited
Attention: unexpected guests are activated – slugs. The most effective way to deal with them is relentless collection. You can scatter small pieces of roofing material or burdock leaves in places where they accumulate: during the day, slugs will “sit out” there. But assistants, invited guests, can become … moles, who consider slugs a treat. However, moles can also bite with the larvae of the May beetle, wintering moth pupae and other pests.