Friday, August 19, 2011

Gardening in August

Sunday, August 20

Just this morning when I was watering the peppers again, I stopped to look at the Ichiban eggplant bushes, their dark purple stems branching upward and outward, their light purple blossoms and dark purple fruits hanging downward -- every part of them so colorfully coordinated and balanced they seemed like studies in purple. The eggplant, of course, is one of the most ornamental bushes in the world of vegetables. But even the lowly cucumber vines have a visible appeal. Even now when they're stressed out from the heat and from a month of pumping out a dozen fruit a day, their dark green leaves still float above their bright yellow blossoms and dark green fruit below, somewhat like waterlilies.


Carl H. Klaus, My Vegetable Love: A Journal of a Growing Season

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

August Gardening Tip


In mid to late August, pinch off all the blossoms and new growth from your tomatoes. It will force the plants to put their energy into ripening the remaining green tomatoes before the last frost. Also, to encourage ripening in vining-type tomatoes, prune the top by several inches once they reach six feet.

-- Veronica Lorson Fowler, Gardening in Iowa and Surrounding Areas



Monday, August 15, 2011

Prairie of the Week

Little Missouri State Park
5,900 acres, NDPRD, (701) 794-3731

Mixed-grass prairie amid dramatically eroded landscape surrounding confluence of Little Missouri and Missouri Rivers, which is now submerged in Sakakawea Reservoir. Best interior access is by horseback.
From Killdeer, go 16 miles north on Highway 22, then east 3 miles on gravel road.

Suzanne Winckler, Prairie: A North American Guide