Planning for late summer, early fall planting

Gardeners remain active in the heat of August. There is planting and fertilizing to do in preparation for fall flowers and vegetables.

Some vegetables need to be planted immediately, and others can be planted toward the end of August. Planting at the right time is a priority for gardeners whose goals include fresh food grown at home.

You can grow cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli by purchasing plants and setting them out in your garden around Aug. 15. It is now too late for planting Brussels sprouts.

Many kinds of vegetable seeds are sown this month. Among them are greens such as turnip, mustard, kale and collard. The whole month of August is also just right for sowing creasy salad and leaf lettuce. Spinach seeds germinate best in cool soil, so hold off planting them until late August.

The root crops needing to be planted early in the month are beet, carrot and rutabaga. Feel free to plant turnips at any time, but wait until the end of August to sow seeds of radish. It grows faster than the other root crops.

Immediate planting is a must if your plans include harvesting bush beans, cucumbers and squashes. You need to plant their seeds by this weekend, or the plants could be killed by frost before they mature.

Roses are fertilized regularly through the summer to produce a steady supply of new flowers. Six weeks before the first frost of autumn is the time to quit fertilizing. This gives the roses a chance to wind down and harden off as the days get shorter and cooler. Aug. 15 is the last date for using granular fertilizers such as 10-10-10 on roses.

Chickweed returns to your yard this month. Its seeds begin to germinate in August and continue through the fall. It is prevented by covering the ground with mulch. Weed killers are another option, and products like Preen and Miracle Gro Weed Preventer are used around ornamental plants.

There is no better time to sow grass seed than the period between Aug. 15 and Oct. 15. This applies to fescue, bluegrass and ryegrass, which are the most common turfgrasses in our area.

Temperatures will be perfect for their seeds to germinate later this month, and there could be adequate rain, too. Seed germination takes 10 days for tall fescue and 21 or more for Kentucky bluegrass.

Both annual and perennial ryegrasses germinate in less than a week. Fast germination makes ryegrass a valuable addition for seed mixtures sown on slopes and other areas prone to soil erosion.

Extension’s new list of grass seeds recommended for 2009-2010 came out last week. It is based on research plots where hundreds of new grasses are planted and evaluated by Virginia Tech’s turfgrass specialist.

The list of seeds is updated every year, and you can get a copy of the new one by calling (434) 455- 3740or visiting the Extension office at 301 Grove St.