MGEVs, are you part of the media team in your local program? Do you write articles for local newspapers? your office blogs or websites? contribute to your county Extension’s social media sites? If so, then this post is for you!
You might use this list as a source of article ideas to cover more in depth. You might want to re-post to your county blog site to share with people in your county. As with any of our written materials, please share with your Extension agent first prior to publishing!
- One last successive planting of warm-season vegetable seeds requiring 60 days to harvest, such as summer squash, can be started in the garden. Check your average first fall frost date before planting.
- Remove spent vegetable plants, including those that are done producing or have been ravaged by disease or insects. Dispose of diseased or insect-infested plants in the trash if you do not turn your compost pile or achieve temperatures in excess of 140F in the pile (high enough or long enough to kill pathogens and pests).
- It’s time to think about cool-season crops for the fall, including collards, lettuce, chard, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower. Transplants can be installed in late August and September.
- Water transplants and seedlings, as needed.
- Hand-weed and cultivate as needed for weed control; click here for other options.
- Mulch planting beds for weed control and moisture conservation.
- Keep an eye out for insects (i.e., aphids, white flies, stink bugs, leaf footed bugs, cucumber beetles, cabbage loopers, potato beetles) and possible disease (i.e., powdery mildew, early blight). Check with your county Extension office for treatment recommendations.
- As fruits ripen, be sure to harvest promptly. Rake up any fruit that drops to the ground and compost or bury elsewhere to reduce excessive flies, bees, wasps, and other insect activity. This also helps reduce disease inoculum around the tree.
- Keep figs evenly moist as they complete their ripening.
- Peaches benefit from a split fertilizer application, with the first dose in mid- to late-August (after fruit harvest). The second application will occur in early spring (end of March).