Shopping the sales...

Shopping for plants in August can be frustrating. Their price is often tempting as nurseries and garden centers seek to pare their stock before autumn, but choices are usually limited. Take in the sales, but be cautious. Carefully examine plants before buying to eliminate any that have suffered from their prolonged stay in the nursery pot.

Strawberry Plants

Strawberry plants will have sent out many runners (baby plants on a leash) by now. There are two ways to turn them into bearing plants next year. One, fill small pots with a mixture of sand and soil and put them down near the mother plant. Lift any plantlets, and using unbent paperclips, hold them in place in the pot. After the new plant has developed roots (try a gentle tug), cut it connection to its mother. Plant them in their new home by the of the month to give it time ready itself for winter.

If you don’t insist of a neat bed, allow the new plantlets to root themselves wherever there is room in your garden and watch your harvest multiply next year.

In the vegetable garden...

Some of the thirstier varieties and newly sown fall crops may need water. Some vegetables, such as squash and peppers, may stop producing new fruit if the plant is allowed to dry out.



Tomatoes hate dry spells, but remember that too much water will lead to “cat cracking” in ripening fruit. Once the tomato starts to color, it can no longer grow larger and the skin breaks open. The damage is only cosmetic and the fruit is completely edible.




Keep harvesting regularly. If you’ll be away, invite a friend to help herself.   Many plants stop producing if the fruit matures and begins to set seed. If you have excess produce at any time, contact your local food cupboard to find their out their distribution days so you can share your bounty.

September's Meeting: African Violets

Please join us at our September monthly meeting for all you need to know about African violets!  The President and a board member of the Bay State African Violet Society will be teaching us:

• how to grow African violets
• how to water them
• how to fertilize them
• when to re-pot them.... among other things!

Wednesday, September 6th at 7:00 pm
Harmony Hall at the Dracut Historical Society, 1660 Lakeview Ave.

Leggy growth

Trim back leggy growth on annuals or any tired looking plants.  Then, give the plant a light feeding of liquid fertilizer to have fresh blooms later in the month.

Plant seeds for a fall harvest early this month

As you remove vegetables that have finished producing, use the space to sow beets, radishes, turnips, chard, spinach, arugula, lettuce and even peas in their place.  A single layer of floating row cloth over the new plantings will provide shade, which is welcome on the hot days of August. Always keep seedlings well watered; they have very shallow roots.