Note: I'm moving Alice's Garden Spot up b/c the remainder of the column was inadvertently left off the extended entry section.
We are heading into our August garden. Before this month is over your harvest will be in full swing. The main thing to remember is to keep thick mulch on your plants to conserve water. If you have resisted the call to mulch, then plan to water, water, water your plants, soaking the roots deeply. Keep an eye out for plant deficiencies. Yellow leaves and brown leaf edges, curling scorched leaves, indicate that your plants are deficient in potassium. Symbol "K" on the N-P-K ratio. Side dress with wood ashes, kelp meal or dairy manure. Reddish/purple foliage, stems and leaf veins, means too little phosphorus, as does lush foliage with few flowers and fruit. Symbol "P". Side dress with bonemeal. Too little nitrogen, symbol "N", shows up when plants have small, pale/yellowing foliage and stunted spindly growth. Side dress with alfalfa, cottonseed or blood meal or animal manures. Do not feed plants that show no sign of needing it. Too much is as bad as too little. Side dressing means you pull back your mulch, and spread solid fertilizer in a band alongside or around plants ( don't touch stems or leaves). Work into top two inches of soil, then replace the mulch. One side dressing a season should be sufficient unless your soil is in really bad shape -- Alice Rankin/Alice's Garden Spot.
DFO: You can read the rest of Alice's exclusive column for HBO in the "extended entry" section. Also, she'll respond to gardening questions in the "comments" section.
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.
remember is to keep thick mulch on your plants to conserve water. If you have resisted the call to mulch, then plan to water, water, water your plants, soaking the roots deeply. Keep an eye out for plant deficiencies. Yellow leaves and brown leaf edges, curling scorched leaves, indicate that your plants are deficient in potassium. Symbol "K" on the N-P-K ratio. Side dress with wood ashes, kelp meal or dairy manure. Reddish/purple foliage, stems and leaf veins, means too little phosphorus, as does lush foliage with few flowers and fruit. Symbol "P". Side dress with bonemeal. Too little nitrogen, symbol "N", shows up when plants have small, pale/yellowing foliage and stunted spindly growth. Side dress with alfalfa, cottonseed or blood meal or animal manures. Do not feed plants that show no sign of needing it. Too much is as bad as too little. Side dressing means you pull back your mulch, and spread solid fertilizer in a band alongside or around plants ( don't touch stems or leaves). Work into top two inches of soil, then replace the mulch. One side dressing a season should be sufficient unless your soil is in really bad shape -- Alice Rankin/Alice's Garden Spot.
