How to Juggle: The Late Summer Garden Grind

Right about now, you likely have many things happening at once in your garden. Some of it may be overwhelming. Your garden space should be your oasis, not a daunting series of tasks or unwanted chores. It’s our goal to help you make your garden your happy place, so let’s see if we can help you prioritize your garden tasks to fit your wants and needs. Listed below are some commonly reported garden concerns this time of the season. You may read this post as printed or select your area of interest for more information.

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I Have Limited Time to Harvest

For some of us, our warm/hot weather crops are in a flurry of production and ready for harvest, maybe at a rate in which it is hard to keep up. There are several possible solutions if your container garden is so prolific that you do not seem to have enough time and manpower to match its pace.

While it is usually best to harvest your crops in the earlier morning hours when they have had overnight to recover from the previous day’s heat, sometimes compromises are necessary. Definitely prioritize your cut flowers, leafy vegetables, herbs you plan to eat fresh, peas, beans and squash family crops for harvest during the early to mid-morning hours. Target fruit and vegetables that are at risk of becoming overripe first. You can harvest most other vegetables in the early evening hours. You might choose to water these at the soil line a bit before picking, to restore some of the vigor.

Another option is to enlist the help of family and friends and split the shifts so to speak. If incentive is needed, sometimes an even exchange of produce for labor does the trick, if not the promise of a favored dish.

I Have So Much, I Don’t Know What to Do With It All

Well. It sounds like you’ve gotten yourself into a jam, but no sweat. There are solutions in this situation, as well. First of all, let’s just be honest. People love free stuff. You can either do the harvesting and hand your produce away on a one-to-one basis, or break out your folding table in a shaded area with a “FREE” sign, and they will come. You can also “advertise” pick-your-own availability to family and friends. There may also be food pantries and other organizations which could really use your excess. Some will come to you. Click here to read our post about food donation.

If your stress is more related to being unsure of what to do with your harvests, there are tons of books and online resources that provide instructions for preserving and storage of just about any herb, fruit, and vegetable you can name. Click here to learn more about dehydrating, canning, freezing, proper short-term food storage, and more.

My Plants Are Producing Few Fruit

So, your plant has grown quite a bit, but you only have a few tomatoes, peppers, etc. What now?

First, are you certain that your pot is of adequate size? If uncertain, click here to verify.

That’s not an issue? Next, determine whether pollinators are present if your plant type requires them to produce fruit. If there is a pollinator issue, you may have to pollinate manually, move your container to a suitable location where pollinators are available, and/or purchase plants that will draw pollinators to your garden space.

If pollinator absence is not an issue determine if your plants are receiving adequate water (check for dry browning leaves and dry soil), and adequate light (at least 8 hours each day)? If not, make that adjustment.

If the above is adequate and your plants seem otherwise healthy, you may want to provide an organic water soluble organic fertilizer, particularly if you have not done so since blooming, and prune away some lower branches/stems to redirect the plants’ resources toward fruit production.

I Am Having Pest Trouble

As the season progresses, insect pests may arrive and with them, disease and plant stress. In addition, storms and increases in humidity, decreasing circulation due to plant growth and branching, at times lead to fungal disease. It is best to deal with these issues promptly.

If possible, make leaf checks for insects and eggs, changes in coloration and texture, and inspecting your plants as a whole, part of your early morning routine. Remove pests and/or their eggs and spray plants with organic/homemade natural insecticide or fungicide as indicated during these times. Each year, I “recycle” a medium covered plastic container/tub formerly used for food storage, and keep it at the ready with a soapy water solution, to drop unwanted bugs/eggs into.

Prune or remove plants to prevent spread of disease, being careful to clean your shears/pruners between uses. If you are unable to include this in your morning routine, try early evening.

Related pest control posts:

Thriving Through Harvest Part One

Thriving Through Harvest Part Two

Sometimes it is simply time. If you have been vigilant and have used all the pest control options at your disposal, to no avail, it may be best to just harvest what you can for as long as you can, unless conditions place your other plants at risk. Then pull-up and dispose of the affected plant at that time. Your time in your garden should lift your spirits and be a stress reliever. Our gardens become part of the ecosystem. From year to year, the presence of insects, their activity and resilience may vary. You do your best, but you don’t want to lose sight of the forest for the trees.

My Flowers/Blooms are Fading

If you draw pleasure from the sight of beautiful blooms in your garden or the various pollinators which they attract, your garden may feel less than as the summer progresses, without proper planning.

There are numerous, easy to grow ornamentals and pollinator-attracting plants that will continue to produce new blooms, right up to first frost, if you deadhead the spent ones (blooms). Some of these include marigolds, zinnia, cosmos, geranium, roses, bee balm. When deadheading, you typically cut the faded flower head and it’s stem just a bit above the lateral bud/leaf pair below, or where it connects to the main stem. I personally am a little more haphazard with my marigolds and just snap the flowerheads from the stems, but it works nonetheless.

Another option is to use succession planting in the future, and opt to sow some seeds of your desired flowering plant, or transplant some of your desired flower seedlings every couple of weeks, for blooming at different times (in intervals).

Selection of plants that flower at different parts of the season can also ensure continuous blooms beginning in spring, over the summer, and into fall. This can be achieved by use of both perennials (which grow back each year) and annual plants, which you may have to switch out as they fade and replace with what is in bloom. Also, let’s not forget the flowering herbs!

How Do I Save or Harvest Seed?

Do not bother saving seed from hybrid plant varieties. You are not likely to get offspring with the same qualities as the plant from which you extracted the seed. If collecting the seed from blooms, wait until the blooms fade and dry out, or brown.

If you are concerned about being unavailable when the seeds are ready to collect, or losing them to wind or wildlife, you can secure a finely woven mesh sack or paper bag around the flowerheads.

When extracting seed from fruits/vegetables, permit them to mature or overripen. Then harvest them, separate the seeds from the flesh, and spread in an even layer, on a paper towel, in a cool, dry location. Fleshy, moist, fruit/vegetables may require gentle rinsing or suspension in water first, to separate the seed from the other matter.

Collect your seeds in an envelope, opaque paper bag or container once seeds are dry, and then label. Store in cool, dry location.

I do not save seed most years, but here are a couple of instances from this season.

I Want to Start Fall Crops

In the more temperate U.S. climate areas, during late summer, you can begin sowing another round of cool weather crops, such as leafy greens, radishes, and beets. Be mindful of your grow zone’s estimated first frost date and the listed days to maturity on your seed packets, to ensure that you select crops which will have time to produce. If it is still too hot outdoors, sow seeds for these crops indoors for transplanting when temperatures are consistently cooler. There is also still time to directly sow some warm weather plants, such as bush-type beans and carrots.

You can begin your fall garden in other containers or completely harvest and clear out fading summer crops, amend the soil as needed, and start anew.

Related Posts:

Growing lettuce

Growing green beans

Despite the seasonal changes and work to be done, I hope that you have found that you enjoy your garden space, nature, growing, and the versatility and convenience of container gardening more so than not.

Each year there are lessons and new ideas that form, and while there may be challenges, the sight of a single sprout by the work of your own hands, a visiting butterfly or bee, the view of lush greenery and blooms, a comforting place to have a visit or morning coffee, feeding family and friends with food you have grown in harmony (hopefully mostly 😊) with nature, is likely enough to make it worthwhile, to do it all again.

View our current 2021 slide show in the Gallery, and please, stay tuned for more posts and recipe additions. Enjoy the journey!