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...because all the best garden advice is local
August 2009
How I Spent My Summer Vacation
 
Greetings!

veronica with garden vegetablesI spent several days in Kansas last week, working in my mom's garden. Even though my stepfather had spent years amending the soil, it just wasn't the same as working in my Iowa garden, with its beautiful, black, crumbly soil. Tug at a weed in that compacted, light brown Kansas dirt and it was likely to break off, leaving the pesky root intact. Digging even small holes was nearly impossible without watering the area thoroughly first.
    Simply walking across my mom's lawn felt different--hard and dry. In my Iowa garden, thanks to all the rain, the moles (yes, they do some good, too!), and just the naturally high content of organic matter, the soil feels astonishingly spongy and alive.
    Granted, I know not all Iowa gardens are so blessed--especially those around newer houses where builders scraped away the topsoil. And I know my soil is especially good because I have, over the past 20 years, hauled many, many wheelbarrows of compost out there from my five or six heaps.
    Still, regardless of the reason, when I go into my backyard and pluck out a deep-rooted dandelion with almost no resistance, I am grateful.

Happy Gardening!


Veronica Lorson Fowler
Water, Water Everywhere

sprinklerIt's finally starting to feel like summer in Iowa--hot and dry. Time to dust off our hoses and watering cans and get busy.
    Click here for tips on how to water better and more efficiently. (Best one: Lawns need 1 inch of water a week. Measure this by setting out a cake pan--a tuna can is too small to catch a good sampling of droplets--when watering turf to see how much has been applied.)
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Love Those Tomatoes

tomatoes, basil and pasta... mmmm...There are only two reasons to love muggy, humid Iowa in August: Sweet corn and tomatoes.
    My tomatoes, finally, after our long, cool wet spell, are kicking into gear. My all-time favorite way to prepare them is with a lightening fast, super-simple fresh tomato sauce my sister Sue told me about. Toss it together in less than 15 minutes. Click here for the recipe.
     Or try making for dinner tonight what I am, Italian Bread and Tomato Salad (mine will have fresh mozarella from the Des Moines farmers' market!)
     Also check out my recipe for Everything-from-the-Garden Pasta Salad. Fast, economical, and healthy.
Plant of the Month

Joe Pye WeedJoe Pye weed is one of those plants that people stop and ask about. This stately prairie native grows about 6 to 7 feet tall in the narrow strip between my sidewalk and the street and steals the show in August.
    I have the "chocolate" type, which has ginormous rose-colored flowers that are as large as a child's head. Stems are a regal deep maroon. Bees, our helpful pollinators, as well as butterflies love it, and it's a striking cut flower to put in a large vase.
    It's a wonderful, terrible name, isn't it? It's supposedly named after one Joe Pye, a native American healer who used the plant to successfully treat typhoid fever among colonial settlers.
    Click here for more information. Joe Pye weed spreads moderately fast, so if a friend has some, ask for a division. Or look for it in better-stocked nurseries or on line.
Call Before You Dig
 
A few years ago, my neighbor Tom was burying some drainage tubing around his house and managed to slice through a cable and knock out phone service for several of the houses around. And about the same time, I came upon a pesky reddish orange root that simply would not let me sever it with my spade-and it turned out to be my cable cord. Yikes!    
   Before you dig in any new areas in Iowa, call 1-800-292-8989. Call at least 48 hours before you dig (it's actually Iowa law) and for free they'll be out and make various lines with flags. Visit www.iowaonecall.com for more information.
Get a Free Child Admission to the Des Moines Botanical Center! 

Des Moines botanical CenterForward this email to a friend, and you'll be automatically emailed a coupon for one free child admission to the Des Moines Botanical Center (when accompanied by an adult). Click here to forward to a friend and then you will to be emailed the coupon. They'll also receive a coupon as a thank you for signing up.
Ask Veronica a Question

If you're a subscriber, email Veronica with your garden questions and she'll do her very best to get back to you within two business days. Click here!
Issue: 15
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Garden To-Do List

Keep up with watering chores, especially with newly planted things. Containers may well need a watering daily  or even twice a day.

Avoid planting, transplanting, or dividing anything other than a tree or shrub right now. It's so hot and dry that smaller plants will struggle. It's best to wait for cooler, wetter weather.

Harvest early and often for the most tender, sweetest produce and to keep plants producing well. Click here for information on a plant-by-plant breakdown on when to harvest.

Weed, weed, weed! After weeding, mulch to prevent weeds from returning.
 
Deadhead flowers on annuals, perennials, and some shrubs. It keeps your garden more attractive and in many cases, it will encourage more flowers longer.

Check out the bulb catalogs and on-line sources. Ordering now assures the type and quantity you want this fall, when supplies run low.

Frustrated by moles? Click here to check out ways to control them!
Garden Events
 
Iris and Daylily Sale
Cedar Valley Iris and Daylily Society

Saturday, August 29
10 AM-1 PM. At Riverside Gardens, North Main and E. Third Streets in Monticello, Iowa. Many named cultivars grown by the members will be for sale at very reasonable prices. Members available to answer questions.

End of Season Plant Sale
Iowa Arboretum
Saturday, August 29
9:00-noon Huge sale. Cleaning out greenhouse. Best prices of 2009.

Click here to include your group's event in this listing at no charge!
Quote:

"Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans."  

-- Humorist and writer Marcelene Cox
Slowing Down

The garden this time of year is slowing down and so are we. The Iowa Gardener has been coming out every other week during the heaviest part of the growing season, but now until spring, we're knocking back to once a month. Still the same great local garden information, just a little less often.