Home Gardening

North Mississippi Gardening Tips
July/August, 2007

Fruit

Next year’s fruit crop is being set on new growth of fruit trees, so do not do any pruning at this late date or you will remove next year’s fruit.  After harvesting blackberries and raspberries, remove all old fruiting canes.  This will encourage new shoots on which next year’s berries will be set. Grapes, late peaches and summer apples ripen in July or early August, but other fruits that ripen later in the fall continue to need help to have good fruit.  If you want those blemish-free fruit you will have to continue the pesticide spray program. The most practical method of control is to use one of the fungicide/insecticide combination formulations that are specific for home orchards. Always remember to follow label directions when applying any pesticides. Fertilize figs with a complete fertilizer such as 15-15-15. Use about ½ pound per three feet of height.

Keep strawberries mulched, as well as other fruits, to discourage weeds and disease.  Grass clippings or wheat straw are excellent mulches for strawberries.

Flowers 

Last call for planting annual, perennial and biennial herbaceous garden plants like coleus, geranium, impatiens, salvia, astilbe, purple coneflower and rudbeckia! If you want to live dangerously go ahead and plant these, but you will have to remain diligent with the watering during this typical dry and hot time of year if you want these to grow and perform well before cold weather. Cut bearded iris leaves back in a fan if the brown tips bother you. These are beginning to go somewhat dormant and now is the time to divide and move these if needed. Lift and separate the rhizomes, discarding the older, woody rhizomes. Reset the young, fleshy rhizomes shallowly in a well-drained sunny location. Do not pinch chrysanthemums and dahlias after July 1 or you might disrupt the bloom. Remove spent flowers as soon as they become unattractive unless the seeds are to be harvested.  Allowing seeds to develop reduces the vigor of the plant and produces fewer flowers.

Vegetables

Continue to train and support tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans and other vining crops on a regular basis. Remove all finished vegetable plants as soon as possible as old dying plants (squash, cucumber, etc.) are perfect breeding grounds for insects and disease. Plant cowpeas like lady peas, black-eyed peas, purple hull peas or crowder peas in bare garden areas.  All cowpeas are a good green manure cover crop if plowed under while stems are still green and succulent. They can also be left to maturity for their excellent edible peas!  Either method helps to build the soil, prevent weeds and prevent bare ground from eroding. Cracking of tomato fruit is generally caused by uneven watering, whether from rain or irrigation. If this occurs, use a soaker hose and let water run for several hours. If you keep tomatoes properly and evenly watered, they will not crack after a heavy rain. Harvest all ripe vegetables frequently and correctly. Vegetables left too long on the plant lose taste and quality.

Trees and Shrubs

Now is not the time to prune tree limbs unless they are diseased, damaged or present a hazard. Keep a lookout for damaging insects on evergreen trees like magnolias and hollies. Scale, spider mites, lacebug, leaf miner, spittlebug and leafhoppers are still around and can be damaging. If insects or disease you’re not familiar with show up on trees or shrubs, take a branch containing some of the infected area with the insect if possible to your local county Extension office for identification and suggested controls.  Due to the late freeze we had in North Mississippi in April, it is particularly important that you provide good care for the trees and shrubs that sustained cold damage.  Keeping pest problems to a minimum and providing good fertility and watering practices will avoid stresses that could cause the eventual decline and death of these already damaged plants. It is particularly important that during periods of extreme drought this summer and fall that trees and shrubs receive adequate water. This is most important on those trees and shrubs that were planted this spring.  Remember to water deeply as shallow watering encourages roots to grow closer to the surface where they are more susceptible to drought.

Roses

In August, large rose bushes may be pruned back one-third to force strong growth for fall blossoms.  Removing all dead flowers will keep the bushes looking tidy and will discourage disease and insect problems. It is generally recommended that you should remove the spent blossoms by clipping above a five-leaflet set. Keep roses well mulched with pine straw during the summer.  Add fresh mulch when you can see bare ground around the plants, but do not pile mulch against the crown or lower stems.  Many problems like cankers and botrytis occur when mulch covers the lower stems. Cut roses will last longer in an arrangement when the stems are recut under water before placing in the vase. This allows water, not air, to travel up the stem.  Continue to observe various rose cultivars in public gardens and the gardens of friends. Roses, which are growing and blooming well in the heat, are those that you should consider for your future plantings.

Lelia Scott Kelly, Ph.D., writes North Mississippi Gardening Tips monthly and is a Horticulture Specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Her office is in the North Mississippi Research & Extension Center, Verona.