July - Outdoors

Continue to plant beets, beans, sweet corn and cucumbers.

Misting tomato and pepper plants during hot weather can help the blossoms set fruit.

Pick cucumbers every day. Peak quality only lasts a day on the vine.

Don’t peel cucumbers. The vitamin A is in the skin.

Water vegetables in the morning. Watering in the evening will make them more susceptible to diseases.

Look for blackened twigs and branches on apple trees. This could be fireblight. For a free factsheet call 773-233-0476.

"Pick Your Own" fresh vegetables at area Pick Your Own Farms. For a listing of farms call 773-233-0476.

Wilting tomato leaves may indicate verticillium or fusarium wilt diseases. Give us a call for the factsheet.

Reduce bitterness in cucumbers by watering during dry weather.

Seed collards, mustard and rutabagas for fall harvest.

Shake tomato plants gently to help insure pollination and fruit set.

Do not refrigerate just picked tomatoes. Quality deteriorates in the cold.

Harvest early potatoes when they are golf ball size.

Write your child’s name on a pumpkin when they are softball size. Use a ballpoint pen, just breaking the skin. The names will expand as the pumpkins grow.

Grow a cucumber in a bottle. Find a tiny cucumber and put it into a small necked bottle. Shade the bottle with cloth or leaves. Harvest the cucumber when it grows to the bottom of the bottle. Prepare a brine and fill the bottle. Vola! Your own pickle in a bottle.

Sunken or black areas on tomatoes and peppers is blossom end rot. Factsheet available.

Plan a family outing to one of the following county fairs:

• DuPage - July 22nd - 26th - for more information call 630-668-6636
• Grundy - July 1 - 5th - for more information 815-942-5958
• Kane - July 14th - 19th - for more information call 630-584-6926
• Kankakee - July 29th - August 2nd - for more information call 815-932-6714
• Kendall - July 31st - August 2nd - for more information call 630-553-2860
• Lake - July 28th - August 2nd - for more information call 847-223-2204

To locate a city of Chicago’s Farmers’ Market in your neighborhood, call 312-744-9187. They will mail you a printed schedule.

Keep the main stems of dahlias free of side shoots. Allow only the terminal bud to develop. This will help to produce a larger flower.

Cut back faded annuals to half their height and fertilize. This will help to promote a second bloom.

Stop pinching back mums in mid-July so they will develop flower buds for fall.

Order autumn crocus and colchicum.

Divide and transplant bearded iris after blooming.

Buying ladybugs to control aphids is a good idea only if there are aphids in your garden. No aphids....ladybugs will fly away.

Buying praying mantis for insect control may not be a good idea. Praying mantis are not selective in their eating habits. They will eat both "good" and "bad" insects.

Make an instant trellis by removing the plastic or cloth from an old umbrella; open it and stick the handle into the soil near a plant.

Cut roses late in the day. They will last longer.

Check container grown flowers and vegetables two times a day during hot weather to see if they need watering.

Did you know that over a fifty year lifetime a tree can generate $31,250 worth of oxygen and recycle $37,500 worth of water?

Make a final fertilization of roses. Do not fertilize after August 1st. New growth will not harden off before winter.

Cut back straggly looking petunias in mid-July. This will promote new and vigorous growth.

July - Indoors

Protect indoor plants from strong summer sun. Close curtains and partially pull blinds.

Let tap water stand until it reaches room temperature before watering houseplants.

Root cuttings of coleus, geraniums, Swedish ivy and Wander Jew. Factsheet available.

Keep houseplants away from cold drafts from air conditioners.

August - Edible

Radish, lettuce, spinach and green onions can be planted in late August for a fall harvest.

Flying white moths around cabbage plants indicate cabbage worms will soon be feasting on your cabbage. Use Bacillus thuringiensis to control.

Check sweet corn for peak quality by puncturing kernels with a fingernail. If the kernels ooze a milky juice; harvest. If the liquid is watery; wait a few days. If kernels are tough; you are too late.

Sweet corn is usually ready to pick about twenty days after the first silks appear.

Harvest onions when the tops have browned and started to fall over. Pull them and dry outside in the sun for a week or two.

Start a compost pile. Booklet available.

Improve your soil. Sow a green manure crop of oats, rye or ryegrass in harvested garden area. Factsheet available.

Sow greens, lettuce, radishes and turnips for fall harvest.

Watch zucchini squash! In hot weather squash is ready to pick four to eight days after flowering.

Dip summer squash blossoms in a batter and fry. They are edible.

Plan a family outing to one of the following county fairs:

• McHenry - August 5th - 9th - 815-338-5315
• Will - August 26th - 30th - 708-258-3266

August - Ornamental

Provide water for insect eating birds.

Seed lawns in late August. Less competition with annual weeds at this time of year.

Water your lawn if after walking on it there is a footprint or the grass does not spring back.

Plant autumn crocus and colchicum for fall blooms.

Purchase garden supplies before they are removed from the shelves in the fall.

Pot up tulip bulbs late in the month to be forced for Christmas bloom.

Order spring flowering bulbs

Cut back bleeding hearts when foliage yellows.

Divide bleeding hearts. Factsheet available.

Watch for leaf scorch on trees during hot and dry weather; browning along edges of leaves; control by watering trees.

Falling clusters of leaves attached to short twigs are a result of squirrel or insect activity.

Squirrel Problem! Trim tree branches back six to eight feet from buildings to prevent access to roofs. Close openings to attics and other building areas.

Before using a pesticide identify the insect and try non-chemical controls. For a copy of the 1998 Illinois Homeowners’ Guide to Pest Management (costs $8.00 + P&H).

During hot, dry weather, water plants a few hours before applying pesticides to avoid burning the leaves.

Yellowjackets spoiling your picnic or making your walk to the garbage can a battleground? Factsheet available.

August - Interior

Use your aquarium water to fertilize your houseplants. Fish fertilize the water naturally.

Check houseplants for insects.

Going on vacation? Water plants just before you leave and group outside in a shady spot or make a large greenhouse by putting watered houseplants in the bathtub and taping plastic sheeting to walls and sides of tub.

Mid-Summer 1998
Five Steps to Healthier Grass in Shady Spots | Tree Tips for Buyers of New Homes | Summer Tree and Shrub Watering Care | Leaf Scorch | Spraying Facts for the Garden | Bug Bites—Grubs | Lawn Care Calendar | Cybergarden Sites | Hort Shorts | Hort Tips | Food Handling: What to Do with Food During a Power Outage | In the Kitchen: Friendship Cake | Food Safety: How to Make A Friendship Cake Starter | Locally Grown: At the Farmers' Market | Health and Household Tips

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