Other crops that gardeners will be enjoying this month include beets, carrots, shallots, peppers, eggplant, summer squash, potatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, melons, endive, lettuce, peas and beans of all varieties. If you have more than you can use, consider donating to the county food bank, or call the U. C. Cooperative Extension office (707-253-4221) for canning, pickling, freezing and drying techniques to preserve your fruits and vegetables. You will welcome these fresh tastes of summer in the dark of winter.
One sign of a beginning gardener is a reluctance to pick the fruits of one's labor. But as experienced gardeners know, harvesting vegetables, herbs and flowers often encourages the plant to produce a new flush of growth. The reason plants make fruits and flowers is to ultimately produce seed. When you harvest your garden's bounty, many of your plants will make another effort to produce seed. The result is often a whole new crop.
Between enjoying and preserving your harvest, keep up with watering and fertilizing. After a few hot August days, a morning or two of fog from the coast often cools our valley, but the garden's water needs remain high. Patrol your garden each day to note how plants are doing. A wilting plant may mean a clogged water emitter, or a critter eating roots or tunneling beneath.
Weeds have often gone to seed by now. Remove them carefully to avoid spreading their spawn across your planting beds. I like to sneak up on big, seedy weeds with an open garbage bag and a sharp pair of shears. I slip the garbage bag over the head of the weeds, gently closing the bag around it and then snip or pull out the rest of the plant. My method contains the seeds and saves me time scraping them out of the bed again when they germinate after fall rains.
Now is the time to till beds for fall plantings. After removing the weeds, dig in well-composted organic matter and add fertilizer if needed. U. C. Extension recommends composting and aging any fresh manure, including chicken, cow and horse manure, before you add it to your garden beds. If you buy bags of manure at your local garden center, it has usually been aged. Give your beds a thorough soaking, and then let them rest at least a week before planting your next crop.
Ready to start producing compost at home from your garden and kitchen waste? Good soil is important to all gardens, and the best amendment for all soil types is compost. Compost lightens our heavy Napa County clay soils, helps soil retain water, increases microbial action (a good thing) and furnishes or replaces nutrients necessary for plants to grow. To learn how to make your own compost, come to the Napa County Master Gardener workshops on August 23 in St. Helena and September 6 in Yountville. (Details follow.)
Except for peas, which can be planted directly in the garden now, most winter crops are heavy feeders. Sweet peas and edible peas both fix nitrogen, the element most other plants need.
If you had peas or beans in your summer beds, consider replacing them with autumn cole crops, such as Brussels sprouts, cabbages, collards, or kale. You can start seeds for these vegetables now, or buy seedlings next month to plant out then.
Seeds can go directly in the ground now for your winter kitchen garden.
Carrots, turnips, rutabagas, chard and Asian greens can all be sown directly in the garden now, as can almost of the lettuces, mustards and endives.
Spring-sown annual flowers might be looking a little peaked by now. Cut them back or pull them; cut back perennials when they finish blooming.
The season for garden color is not over. For instant gratification, set out petunias, chrysanthemums, marigolds, zinnias, wax begonias and bedding dahlias for color until frost. Sow seeds of calendulas, poppies, primrose, violas, wildflowers, sweetpeas, and snapdragons for late winter and early spring blossoms.
If your mulch is getting thin in spots, plump it up now. Mulch will help keep weeds down and soil from eroding when the rains finally come.
Workshop: Join Napa County Master Gardeners for a “Back to School, Back to the Garden” workshop on Saturday, August 9, from 10:15 a.m.to 12:15 p.m., at the U. C. Master Gardener Demonstration Garden, Connolly Ranch Education Center, 3141 Browns Valley Road in Napa.
The back-to-school season is a busy time for students, teachers and parents alike. Mid-August is also the best time to start planning the fall and winter garden. This workshop will introduce participants to the concept of year-round garden planning based on the school calendar. It will include many family-friendly activities that can fit into a short amount of time in the evenings or weekends to ensure a successful year-round harvest.Demonstrations and activities include: making compostable seed pots, creating a soil-less seed-starting medium, preparing to start crops from seed, sowing two kinds of kale, and transplanting fall/winter crops into the garden. This workshop is suitable for parents, teachers and children (if accompanied by an adult). Bring a hat, gloves, trowel (optional) and water bottle. Online registration (credit card only)
Mail in registration (cash or check only)
Workshop: Napa County Master Gardeners will conduct a workshop on “Cool Season Veggies” on Sunday, August 17, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., at the Yountville Community Center, 6516 Washington Street, Yountville. The workshop repeats on Saturday, August 23, at U.C. Cooperative Extension, 1710 Soscol, Napa. Grow your own vegetables even when days are short and nights are cold. Learn which vegetables thrive in cooler temperatures, how to protect them from heat when they are getting started, and how to time planting to ensure months of harvest. To register for the Yountville class, call the Parks & Recreation Department at 707-944-8712 or visit their web site. To register for the Napa workshop: Online registration (credit card only)Mail in registration (cash or check only).
Master Gardeners are volunteers who help the University of California reach the gardening public with home gardening information. Napa County Master Gardeners ( http://ucanr.org/ucmgnapa/) are available to answer gardening questions in person or by phone, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m. to Noon, at the U. C. Cooperative Extension office, 1710 Soscol Avenue, Suite 4, Napa, 707-253-4143, or from outside City of Napa toll-free at 877-279-3065. Or e-mail your garden questions by following the guidelines on our web site. Click on Napa, then on Have Garden Questions? Find us on Facebook under UC Master Gardeners of Napa County.
Napa County Master Gardeners welcome the public to visit their demonstration garden at Connolly Ranch on Thursdays, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, except the last Thursday of the month. Connolly Ranch is at 3141 Browns Valley Road at Thompson Avenue in Napa. Enter on Thompson Avenue.