Gardening Tips for August for Corbin, KY

Southeast Region

• If you get frost, calculate your planting date to see if you have time for more crops. Count back the number of days to maturity plus 18 days for the harvest of the crop.
• In areas with frost, there may be time for snap beans and Irish potatoes by midmonth and squash and cucumbers by end of month.
• Be sure to harvest your fruit and vegetables as soon as they are ripe. See our Ripeness Guide on Almanac.com.
• Check your plants for any diseases and pests and treat when necessary.
• Prepare soil for fall plantings. Clean up all debris. Mix in compost or fertilizer.
• Start plants for broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, and onions to set out in September. In southern areas, cool-season crops can be planted.
• Plant herb transplants: rosemary, ginger, laurel, Mexican tarragon.
• Prepare your perennial flower beds now; you can start flowers for next spring soon.
• Even in late summer, you can plant bulbs for many lilies (butterfly, Aztec, spider).
• Continue to remove spent blooms, cut back overgrown bedding plants, and fertilize flowering annuals and perennials.
• Stake any tall-growing plants to help prevent any damage.
• Be sure to divide and replant any crowded plants. It is important to increase the air circulation between plants so that the plants can dry out between rain showers.
• If your lawn seems stressed, determine whether it’s rainfall or pests or disease. Use a sharp mower and remove only one-half of grass blades to reduce stress.
• If older palm fronds are yellowing, you may have a magnesium or potassium deficiency. Apply an appropriate palm fertilizer.
• Fertilize ornamental plans that need more nutrition due to growth and leaching rains.
• Lightly prune shrubs if they need it so that any new growth will harden off before the cold weather.