It’s time to dry everlastings, bells of Ireland and celosias for winter arrangements. Cut the flowers when dry, tie in bunches of not over five stems and hang in a dry, airy attic away from the light (in strong light the colors will fade).

Feeding the Lawn and Hydrangeas

Give the established lawn a feeding early in August. Be sure to soak the soil well after the application, so the lawn will not burn. Feed peegee hydrangeas liberally now to increase the size of the flower heads.

Controlling Red Spider

If evergreens or roses suddenly take on a rusty appearance, red spider mites may be the culprits. The easy way to spot them is to shake the branches over a white paper and then examine the paper for very tiny, moving red dots. Red spider mites are very difficult to see on the dark green foliage. For control, spray with Neem oil (organic natural) or malathion.

Chores in the Eating Garden

There is still time to sow lettuce, radishes, snap beans and turnips for late fall crops. Blanch celery if you like it yellow, but remember that the green PASCAL celery doesn’t need blanching. Remove canes of raspberries that have fruited, being careful not to injure the new young canes which will produce next year’s crop.

Any spots in the vegetable garden that become vacant should be seeded with winter rye. It will keep out weeds, use up excess fertilizer in the soil and produce humus for next year’s garden.

Sowing Pansies and Delphiniums

This is the time to sow pansies and fresh delphinium seed. Be sure to sow the delphinium in the coolest spot available, for it germinates best at a cool 60. Watering the seed bed with cold water will help to keep the soil temperature down.

Caring for Dahlias and Chrysanthemums

Disbud dahlias and dracaena houseplant for bigger individual blooms and keep feeding them with a low nitrogen fertilizer. However, to produce the big show blooms of your dahlias or dracaena houseplant, use a balanced commercial fertilizer such as 6126. Keep watering hardy chrysanthemums so the stems won’t get woody. Stems that are very woody always flower poorly. An application of fertilizer to dracaena houseplant will improve the size of blooms.

Keeping soil moist under a mulch. Inspect the soil under summer mulches, for often it will dry out completely showing no signs until the plants suddenly wilt. Water the soil liberally in early morning.

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