The Dog Days of Summer

August is the end of a gardening season — if it hadn’t already ended for you — but the prime time to start a new season.

Fall/winter is really the best time to garden in North Central Florida. And it’s not as labor-intensive as we seem to make it in March/April. Small efforts now can reap rich rewards over the next six months.

If there is anything at all left in the vegetable garden — and we’re betting there are still eggplants pumping away, if not some indeterminate tomatoes doing the Energizer Bunny thing of going and going and going (tips on that later)  — prune off dying, lower leaves and fertilize; you’re going to have a few more months of this prolific production.

The rest of the green stuff — mostly weeds, get rid of seeds — go straight into the compost pile. Don’t have one? Gotta start. Simply corral debris in a corner and keep adding plant material. There’s no real science to this — despite all the official prescriptions — other than occasionally adding some shredded woody material (not too much! It utilizes a lot of nitrogen to decompose) to temper the combustion and a sprinkling of regular garden soil (don’t buy bagged; that’s unnecessary, costly and doesn’t have essential microbes). It all goes into the mix for maximum use this winter.

If there is a source of manure, layer some on. Not too much! Ditto for grass clippings; dried, they work better than wet, when they become anaerobic and cause — OK — a stink.

Alternative method: Every day or so just dig a hole in the garden and bury your mealtime detritus — no cooked material, but fresh vegetable peelings, crushed eggshells, coffee grounds (filter is OK, it’ll decompose) and teabags. Don’t add pet droppings or cat litter or meat products. There is little chance of raccoons, etc, digging this up if you bury it deeply enough — a foot or so, which is where your fall-winter plants’ roots will access it.

Once or twice between now and planting time in September/October, take a pitchfork to stir/turn over the cooking compost. You don’t have to be precise, just mix it up a little. Water the pile every once in a while if it hasn’t rained for a week or so (which doesn’t happen much here in North Central Florida in August). Once you are ready to plant, mix this in to the garden soil and enjoy recycling in its most organic form.

Keep the compost pile going all winter; it won’t mellow as quickly in relatively cooler temperatures, but it will give your spring garden a huge boost without using commercial fertilizers.

WHAT/OR NOT TO DO
Resist the urge to prune winter- and spring-blooming shrubs, most particularly azaleas. Azaleas form flower buds in the fall. If you absolutely need to have squared-off sheared shrubs, do so before Labor Day. Better, leave them alone to be their unruly selves. They do not lend themselves to being controlled.

Same with wisteria, gardenia and camellias.
Camellia japonicas have been setting buds for a month; to prune them now would deny you the splendid winter blooms. C. sasanqua, which flower around December, should be left completely alone other than watering in dry spells (flowers are 90 percent water). Fertilizing now would promote foliage growth, which would bump off flower buds. Bad thing.

If you are tired of far-ranging tomatoes, take tip cuttings of non-flowering branches (suckers work well, if you still get them) and root them in a half-and-half sand/vermiculite mix. Keep in a semi-shaded spot until rooted (pull slightly to feel resistance, or note new growth) and then transplant into the garden in September. You may get another crop depending on weather; in any case, there’s a good case for fried green tomatoes.

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