Where did our summer go?

Where did our summer go, indeed? It certainly flew by as it started late and quickly turned hot. We had a record number of 90+ days. Something I hope is not repeated. With a little luck we’ll enjoy a nice long warm fall.

The lawn weeds don’t seem to care what the weather is like as they are thriving. Some of those I see a lot include crabgrass, spotted spurge, oxalis (including wood sorrell) purslane and hairy bittercress. This last one actually throws its seeds when you grab the plant to pull it out.

Weed B Gon spray will kill most of these. If not, you can always use Roundup as a last resort. Remember, it will kill anything green that it touches. To avoid large dead patches of lawn, be sure to surround the weed with cardboard or something so the spray hits only the targeted weed.

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to cut off the tops of your tomato plants. This signals the plant to ripen those green fruits. With much smaller tomatoes to ripen, you can probably wait a while to do this to the cherry type plants.

September is the time to spread the last of the season fertilizer on the lawns. This is the most important one as it gets the lawn off and running in the spring. With cooler weather the grass doesn’t need to be cut so high. Adjust it lower again.

We had a very interesting speaker at the July garden club meeting. He talked about growing dahlias and answered many questions. Here are some of his comments:

Dahlias originated in Mexico. There are now 57,000 named varieties.

The largest one has blooms over 10 inches across. Each blossom lasts about five days.

Keep tubers indoors over winter. Plant out in late May.

Now is the time to look for those spring blooming bulbs in stores. If you are interested in planting lily bulbs, look them over carefully before purchase. Lilies do not store well and will either dry up or rot quickly. Tulips, daffodils and the rest of the bulbs can be safely held in their packaging for quite a while. Just be sure to get them into the ground before it freezes.

Post Falls residents need to follow city watering restrictions. They are as follows:

“No outside irrigation” between noon and 6 p.m. Odd numbered addresses are asked to water on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Even numbered addresses are asked to water on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The only exceptions are for new plants and seeded lawns. This message is printed just above the tear-off payment coupon on each water bill.

Now is the time of year when you may hear your doorbell ring, but find no one on your porch. Instead, there is a surprise…a zucchini, the size of a baseball bat!

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Elaine Cerny has gardened most of her life, starting in 4-H. She has belonged to garden clubs in three states and is currently serving as secretary for the River City Gardeners Club in Post Falls. Her column appears in The Press every other Sunday from early March until late October.