A Checklist of Gardening Activities for July & August An evening stroll in the garden is a pleasant task. It also allows you to see the progress of your plants, check for any diseases and insects, and pick a few flowers to bring some cheer indoors. Prune your perennials. Some require just the flower stalks being removed, others like their stems cut halfway back. Do your homework and check before wielding your shears.  Deadhead annuals/biennials to encourage more blooms. Some annuals that you want to reseed can be left to go to seed, i.e., foxglove, cleome, poppies, and impatiens. Reapply a half-inch of compost around plants to conserve moisture in the soil. Control mosquitoes by eliminating all sources of stagnant water.  When it is hot and dry, watch for mites on plants. Placing a sheet of white paper under the suspected leaves and shaking the plant will produce tiny “dancing” spots on the paper.  These are the culprits. Control as needed with an insecticide labeled for mites and your plant type. Let the lawn go dormant if drought occurs. It will rebound once rain returns. Consider renovating problem lawn areas later this summer.  Continue to harvest herbs, especially basil and oregano. Cutting them back—even if you do not use them fresh or dry them for later—will prevent them from getting “woody” at their bases, which slows their growth.  Repot root bound houseplants.  Use a good quality soil-less mix and don’t over pot. Use a pot only one inch larger than the current pot. Prune hydrangeas. Stop fertilizing your roses. They should be fertilized only from May to July. Take some soil samples now when plants are showing off-color symptoms or poor growth. We can test your samples at Meadowbrook Farm, give you recommendations, and sell you the products you need to amend your soil and be successful growing plants. Fall is a perfect time to apply limestone or sulfur to raise or lower the pH and make fertilizers more available to plants. Get a head start now. Call for instructions! Place colored stakes next to plants that are too crowded or that you want to move in the fall for a better effect. Now, while you can see what is where, is a perfect time. In September and October you can divide them if they need it or just move them easily to where they would be better placed. Keep those houseplants fertilized. Repot them now so their roots can get established before going back indoors in late September.  Find a plant-sitter if you have invested in new trees and shrubs this year and you are going on vacation.  A deep one-inch watering a week will suffice in getting them established. If it rains that much once a week you won’t need to worry or water! Enjoy summertime in your garden!