It will be useful for gardeners and gardeners to find out how many seedlings to buy, how to plant strawberries, using the know-how about the best varieties of raspberries and currants. First of all, pleasant. Indeed, this month the harvest is already in full swing, just have time to collect and process. Also in August, perennial, biennial flowers, strawberries are planted, and from the second half of this month - fruit trees and shrubs. Disease and pest control must continue.
Planting strawberries in August: what you need to know
Strawberries, or as professionals call them, garden strawberries, are best planted annually. Then you will have bushes of different ages. This can be done already from the beginning of August. The sooner you can plant garden strawberries, the better they will have time to take root before frost.
First-years do not bear fruit abundantly, they give a little, but large berries. Large yields are harvested from 2-3-year-old bushes. From those who are 4 years old, you will also receive quite a few strawberries. But in the fifth year, the root system comes to the surface, the yield decreases. Of course, you can sprinkle it with fertile soil or humus, but it is better to remove the bushes, dig up this area and plant siderates here, which enrich and heal the soil.
Strawberry "whiskers" cannot be placed in this place for the next three years. After all, spores of diseases have accumulated here, causing damage to this particular culture, and some pests have found a permanent place of residence here and can destroy new bushes.
Find a place where nightshades have not grown for 3-4 years, dig up the soil in advance so that it has time to settle.
Speaking about where to plant strawberries, it's safe to say - after garlic. By this time, it has just been dug up, so it is better to occupy this vacant area. The best time to plant strawberries is from early August to early September. Dig up the soil a week before the selected day, selecting the weeds. Arrive next weekend and board.
Since strawberries will grow here for 4 years, weed control becomes difficult. Indeed, during this time you will not dig up the allotted beds, but only loosen them. But the gardeners who save their energy have figured out how to cope with weeds and make their work easier.
Interesting know-how
The following materials can be used to cover the soil before planting strawberries:
- black film;
- tarpaulin;
- linoleum;
- geotextile;
- underlay for laminate;
- roofing material.
Cover the strawberry beds with tarpaulin or black plastic wrap and roll it in half. Under such materials, it will be difficult for the weeds to make their way to the light, and for the bushes of garden strawberries, you will cut holes and plant a strawberry mustache in them.
Use a good high-density film, weak film can quickly tear and not lie within the prescribed period. If you have geotextiles left from the device of the garden path, and after repairs in the house - linoleum, do not throw them away. Under such cover, the weeds will also have no chance to grow. In addition, the "cheerful" pattern on the linoleum will add additional charm to the garden.
To prevent tarp and film from looking dull, place a backing over these base materials, which is placed under the laminate. It is cheap and comes in a pretty blue, light green color. Arriving in the spring on the site, when it is not yet decorated with colorful flowers, you can admire the beautiful strawberry beds.
Such shelters not only save landowners' energy and prevent weeds from growing, but also retain moisture. Therefore, if you cannot often go to the dacha, even in the heat without watering, garden strawberries will not wither.
Under such a shelter, the berries ripen 10-14 days earlier and remain clean. They do not touch the ground, and even in rainy weather they are not affected by gray rot.
The subtleties of rooting, planting garden strawberries
If you have your own strawberry whiskers, take only those that are closer to the mother liquor. Trim the crown off. Experienced gardeners mark in advance healthy bushes, which had the largest berries, and take planting material from here.
To make rooting painless, they pour soil into plastic cups, place a "mustache" there, without tearing it off the mother plant, and periodically water it. When it takes root, the junction with the mother liquor is cut off and planted on the garden bed, taking it out of the glass with a lump of earth.
To save space, it is better to place the "antennae" in a checkerboard pattern. Use scissors to cut holes in the prepared shelters - according to the scheme 30x40 cm. Pour the holes. Plant the strawberry whiskers so that the roots are in the ground, and the center leaf of each is above it. Compact the soil carefully. If it's hot, you can temporarily cover the garden bed with non-woven material, and let the "mustache" take root so that it will take root well, overwinter and become a guarantee of future bountiful harvests!
You need to have time to plant not only strawberry seedlings in time, but also other perennial berry and fruit plants. They will be the key to bountiful harvests for years to come.
The most favorable time for planting bushes and trees is coming. There are a lot of species, varieties of fruit. How not to get lost in this variety, to purchase only the necessary plants for the garden? About this, right now.
What trees to plant in the garden in the country?
If you are just planning it, base on what kind of fruits and berries your family loves. Based on this, buy seedlings. Usually for a family of 4 people on the site are placed:
- 3-4 apple trees;
- 2-3 pears;
- 3 plums;
- 3-4 cherries;
- 3-5 bushes of black, red currants, gooseberries.
This is a standard set of fruit. But thanks to breeders, even cherries and apricots are now grown in the Moscow region. Therefore, if you have a site that is not blown by strong winds, you can purchase seedlings of these plants.
From tall fruit shrubs, we can recommend irgu and edible honeysuckle. They ripen early - from mid-June. Sweet honeysuckle berries sometimes ripen even earlier than strawberries - in early summer!
A rare site does without raspberries, do not forget to purchase this plant as well. 5-10 seedlings are enough. They will give many shoots, and from next year you will have your own planting material. The same goes for blackberries.
Apple and pear
Let's decide on the terms of ripening. So, there are apple trees of summer, autumn and winter varieties. The first ones ripen earlier than the others and make it possible to feast on apples from the end of July. But they are not stored for a long time. This function is perfectly performed by the apple trees of the other two groups, and the winter ones are able to lie until the beginning or end of spring!
Therefore, if you want to eat plenty of sweet apples not only in August, but also in autumn and winter, then get 1-2 varieties of different ripening periods. This also applies to pears. But for a good yield, you need to buy at least 2 trees of the same ripening period. They bloom at the same time, which is what is needed for normal pollination, as well as for cherries, sweet cherries, apricots. It is necessary to purchase at least 2 seedlings of each type, since most varieties of these trees are self-fertile.
The best varieties of raspberries, currants for the garden
We have decided on the large plants of the garden, now we turn to the shrub plants. Sweet aromatic raspberries are a favorite for many. But not all novice gardeners know that there are not only red, but also yellow varieties. There are also some that bear fruit before severe autumn frosts, they are called remontant. So that scarlet berries are in the garden in September and even in October, plant "Indian Summer" or "Hercules". The latter is more suitable for the Moscow region, and the former is more suitable for the more southern regions.
If you want to harvest record large red berries, get the Cardinal variety. And of the yellow-fruited, you can recommend the "Yellow Giant". This variety has sweeter berries than Cardinal and has more growth.
So, raspberry varieties for the Moscow region (some of the best) are:
- Hercules;
- Indian summer;
- Yellow giant;
- Cardinal.
Raspberries tend to grow strongly. You can limit its range by planting garlic at the border where new sprouts will not go out. Red currants are also a resident of many orchards. "Rondom" will delight you with its long tassels, from which it is convenient to collect scarlet beads. The Versailles red variety has very large berries (up to 1.5 g). Having planted "Natalie", you can be sure that the bush will overwinter well and give a bountiful harvest in mid-July.
In black currant, varieties can be distinguished:
- early ripening - "Selechinskaya 2", "Exotic";
- average ripening period - "Perun", "Raisin";
- later - "Venus", "Mermaid".
When planting plants in the garden, do not forget that tall trees need to be placed further north, then they will not shade undersized and bushes. If you want thermophilic cherries and apricots to be comfortable, plant them on the south side of buildings or a high fence. Then you will have not only the usual for middle latitudes, but also fruits and berries that are still exotic for such places.
If you have low-lying areas on your site, you can plant cranberries here, as other trees and shrubs will get wet here. She loves moisture and is frost-resistant.
What is the most important work in the garden, the garden in August?
Besides planting perennial crops, this is this year's harvest. In the garden in early August, you need to dig out winter garlic. The exact time is fairly easy to determine. During the formation of the arrows on the garlic, they must be removed. But leave on one or two plants. When the film at the end of the arrow bursts, the seeds appear, then you need to dig out the garlic.
Onions are harvested a few days later (but until August 10). The feather will tell you when it needs to be done, it will lie down and turn yellow by about a third. The scales on the heads will dry out. Onions are dug out only with a shovel, scoop or pitchfork. You can't pull it out of the ground by the greens with your hands - you can damage the bulb. Further, the onions are dried in the sun on a litter for about a week, bringing them under cover overnight. Then they are kept in a ventilated dry room until the feather is completely dry.
In August, especially if the weather is damp and the nights are cold, the tomato crop can be ruined by one of the most dangerous diseases for them, leading to darkening of the fruit. At this time, it is no longer possible to use chemical preparations against phytophthora on tomatoes, therefore, means that are harmless to people are used. They are applied to the bushes by spraying. Here are some:
- Iodine solution. Take 50 mm of iodine with a concentration of 5–%, dilute in 10 liters of water. Spray the tomatoes, and a second time after 3 days.
- Dilute 4–6 drops of Zircon in 1 liter of water.
- Dissolve a stick of fresh yeast in 10 liters of water and process.
- Treat every 10 days with Fitosporin M - an excellent remedy against late blight. First, the contents of the package are dissolved in 400 g of water (this suspension can be stored in a sealed container all summer), then 2 tsp is taken. such a gruel is placed in 10 liters of water.
The drug "Fitosporin M" is also used for prophylaxis and fight against other plant diseases. Its advantage is that it does not have a waiting period. That is, processed fruits can be eaten almost immediately, of course, after washing them well.
If you dissolve 1 tbsp. l. the resulting suspension, the solution can be poured over 50 kg of compost. To disinfect the soil when digging, spill 2 sq. m. area means prepared from 1 tbsp. l. suspension "Fitosporin M", diluted in 10 liters of water.
Speaking about what kind of work in the garden, the garden is the most important, it should be noted that there are several of them. Here's what else needs to be done during this period:
- Pinch the growth points of the pumpkin lashes. One stem should have no more than one or two fruits.
- Mow the potato tops one week before harvest. Burn it or otherwise dispose of it, but do not put it in compost.
- Pinch the tops of the tomatoes, leaving 2-3 leaves above the upper fruit cluster. Remove stepchildren, lower leaves until the formed bunch of tomatoes. This will accelerate the ripening of the fruits, will contribute to better ventilation of the bushes.
- Remove strawberry and strawberry leaves damaged by pests, diseases, and dispose of them.
- In the vacated greenhouse, sow lettuce, spinach, radish, arugula, dill for autumn consumption.
- At the end of the month, prepare the beds for winter garlic, onions, so that the soil has time to settle before planting these crops.
Harvest from summer apple trees, place props under the branches of autumn and winter varieties. Feed trees and bushes. If the weather is rainy, close up the trunk circle of an adult tree by 2 tbsp. l. superphosphate and potash fertilizer, and under a young tree and bushes of currants, gooseberries - 1 tbsp. l.
In rainy weather, do not add potassium chloride, especially under the gooseberry, otherwise it will prematurely shed its leaves.
What flowers to plant in the country at the end of summer?
But not only work on planting new plants in the garden and vegetable garden should be carried out in August. This month there will be enough pleasant worries for flower growers.
Here is a rough work plan:
- Put supports to tall dahlias, gladioli, tie up geleniums, mallow, rudbeckia.
- Prune wild rose growth. If you see that the sprouts below the grafting site are making their way from the bottom of the bush, remove them with pruning shears.
- Do not forget to collect the seeds of annuals. If they are immature in cornflowers, marigolds, rudbeckia, cut off the heads, lay them out in a dry, ventilated place. The seeds will ripen there.
- In the second half of August, we divide the rhizomes of peonies - this is the best period for such work.
- After August 20, you can plant flower bulbs: tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, hyacinths, muscri, etc.
- This month requires watering, fertilizing, loosening the soil under one- and perennial flowers.
Let us remind you that in August it is no longer possible to use nitrogen, as it worsens the winter hardiness of crops. Top dressing should consist of phosphorus, potassium, trace elements.
This is what kind of work in the garden, garden, flower garden awaits summer residents in August. All this can be done in a month if you make a plan and stick to it. Such works in the fresh air are useful and will certainly endow gardeners with environmentally friendly berries, vegetables, and fruits.
If you want to see how to plant strawberries in warm beds, please - this story is for you!
And this video tells you what measures to take against phytophthora on tomatoes:
