 Rain, Rain, Please
Don't Go Away
Greetings!
I'm just back from a trip to visit family in central Kansas and wow! On the drive back I was once again reminded of what a green, verdant, lush climate we live in.
While much of the country is being fried by August heat and drought, here in Iowa we continue to get ample rainfall. With apologies to all the Iowans who have been affected by flooding, I still have to appreciate that lawns are green (in many parts of the country they go brown now), trees are large and juicy-looking, and flower gardens are overflowing with color.
Granted, late July and August is when I usually start dragging out the garden hose, but back home in Kansas, some homeowners are looking at $500 water bills.
Even with all our recent humidity, that will make me complain a little less about my air conditioning bill!
Yours in green, green gardening,
Veronica Lorson Fowler
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Take a Tour Of My Garden
 Ben, the other half of The Iowa Gardener, has figured out how to do a very pretty slide show on-line. Click here for a tour of my garden here in Ames. It's been a labor of love that I've worked on slowly over the 26 years that I've lived in my house.
The shots were taken this June. I'll try to add some photos as time goes on.
I hope you enjoy it and please, don't look too carefully for the weeds!
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A Wardrobe of Sprinklers
 I have a small assortment of sprinklers, so that I always have just the right sprinkler for the occassion:
 One very small sprinkler. Perfect for areas just a few feet across, for those times when I want to soak merely a small area, usually right after a planting.
Large impulse sprinkler. You know, the type with the distinctive chicka-chicka-chicka chicka sound. Mine inserts into the ground and shoots out a long spray that can do my whole back yard or (almost) my whole front yard at once. One "dial-a-shape" sprinkler. This costs maybe $10. I twist the big dials to do circles, half circles, long narrow strips, and more-great for odd-shaped spots in the landscape.
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 Dish It Up
While we're chatting about sprinklers, let's talk about how long you need to leave a sprinkler on. Most people don't leave their sprinklers on long enough to do any real good.As a rule, you should water until you apply one inch of water. (I set out a shallow pan on my lawn and wait for it to collect 1 inch.) For a small area maybe 8 feet by 8 feet, that's a half hour or so. But if I'm doing a large area, like my back yard, that means I need to water five or six hours! |
Water and Wait
Watering that long takes even longer if there is sun. I try to never water when the sun is up. It contributes greatly to evaporation--as  much as 50 percent! And yet you're not supposed to water at night since the plants stay wet all night and that encourages fungal disease. A good solution: With small areas, where you need to water just a half hour or so, water first thing in the morning, the instant you get up. (My neighbors know very well what my bathrobe looks like!) For larger areas where you need to water for hours, set up the sprinkler the night before and use a water timer, available at hardware stores.
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Bonus Tip
If your hose is getting leaky at the "female" end or "male" end, try replacing the rubber washer. You can get new ones for just pennies. If that doesn't work, replace the ends altogether. It takes just minutes and only a dollar or two. Check out the replacement ends available at nearly any home improvement store. Just cut off the old end with garden hand shears and then push in and tighten the new end. |
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Garden To-Do List
For a printer-friendly version of this list, click here.
Don't get discouraged. August is a tough month on gardens. They start to get ratty-looking and fewer things are in flower. But even 15 or 20 minutes of weeding, cutting back, deadheading, mulching, and watering can make a huge difference.
Harvest early and often for the most tender, sweetest produce and to keep plants producing well. Tip: You can harvest tomatoes when they're about halfway red. Bring them indoors (away from insects) to finish ripening indoors on a countertop. They'll still have that great, full home-grown tomato flavor! Click here for a plant-by-plant breakdown on how to tell when it's ready to harvest.
Annual flowers are at their peak now--a great reason to plant them in the first place. They're one of the few things that look fresh this time of year. Keep them well watered, deadheaded, and well fertilized (apply a granular or liquid all-purpose fertilizer according to package directions).
Deadhead flowers on annuals, perennials, and some shrubs. It keeps your garden more attractive and in many cases, it will encourage more flowers longer.
Avoid planting, transplanting, or dividing anything other than a tree or shrub right now. It's so hot that smaller plants will struggle. It's best to wait for cooler weather.
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Upcoming Garden Events
Saturday-Sunday
August 20-21
CoHorts Plant Sale
Reiman Gardens, Ames
8 a.m.- 4 p.m. Hardy Iowa-grown perennials and expanded selection of house plants. Gift shop sidewalk sale and prizes, too!
Friday-Sunday September 16-18
Fall Plant Sale
Iowa Arboretum, Madrid
8 a.m. on. Choose from hundreds of plants well-suited to Iowa.
September 30-
October 2
Fall Bulb Mart
Des Moines Botanical Center
9 a.m.-5 p.m. 40,000 bulbs for fall plantings and spring bloom! Great prices, great cause.
For more upcoming Iowa garden events, click here.
Have a garden event or events that you'd like featured in The Iowa Gardener? Click here and send us your information. . |
Garden Quote
"Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,
Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;
Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing
Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn." - Michelle L. Thieme, "August's Crown" |
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