
Plant purple top turnips
Autumn is only one month away. A row or purple top turnip can be planted in the garden area. Temperatures can be hot, but after planting a row or bed of turnips, the soil can be kept cool with a watering can by sprinkling water over the row or bed each evening. When sowing turnip seed, place the seed in a three- or four-inch furrow and spread a layer of peat moss over the furrow before sowing the seed. Scatter the seeds thinly and cover with another layer of peat moss. Apply Plant-Tone organic plant food and top up the soil on both sides of the furrows. Compact the soil above the row for good soil contact. Water the turnip row or bed to cool the soil. The peat moss will absorb the moisture and help it grow during the remaining warm days of August.
Saint Bartholomew’s Day
Saint Bartholomew’s Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, August 24. On her special day, something unusual happens, as the dews of summer mornings begin to cool and linger into the middle of the day. August fogs can help cool the dew, but there’s also a subtle hint of shortening days and late August nights that signal fall is approaching. Many leaves see this delicate mark and are already yellow and golden in color. The cold dew and gentle crunch in the night air let us know that it is slowly giving way to bad weather, Jack Frost and falling leaves as we approach the new season.
Christmas cactus on the balcony in August
All four of the Christmas cactus do well on the front porch because they love the sun and summer when temperatures warm up to prepare them to bloom in December. They apply a glass of water weekly and Flower-Tone organic flower food once a month. They will be moved to the sunny living room at the end of October.
Planting autumn colored annuals
Pots and pans of summer annuals can now be replaced with autumn and winter annuals such as pansies, mums and oriental cabbage and kale. When planting these annuals, add a layer of crushed leaves and water the plants frequently so the leaves stick to the soil and provide additional protection when temperatures cool. Oriental cabbage and cabbage will survive the winter if kept in a sheltered area of the porch out of the north wind and covered with a towel or cloth on frosty nights. Mothers will also need some protection from cold weather. Pansies are hardier and will withstand the extremes of winter.
It’s time to plant your spring flower bulbs
Most hardware, nursery, garden stores and Home Depot, Ace Hardware and Walmart or Lowe’s Home Improvement now have displays and boxes of spring flowering bulbs of jonquils hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, narcissus and crocus. They can be planted between now and the end of October. When buying summer bulbs, choose those in containers or mesh bags so you can feel the bulbs for firmness and texture. You can buy hyacinths individually and in different colors. There are several types of jonquil, but King Alfred is the most popular. Buy a bag of bulb enhancer and place half a handful under each bulb. Before covering the bulbs with soil, cover them with a layer of peat moss and a layer of Flower-Tone organic flower food. Cover the area where the bulbs are planted with a layer of crushed leaves. Hyacinths come in red, rose pink, yellow, lavender, blue and purple. They also have the sweetest scent of flowering spring onions.
Autumn care for azaleas next
The beautiful green leaves of the azaleas performed well and we enjoyed their colorful blooms in the spring. Their evergreen leaves are still lush and green. As August draws to a close, they could use some attention as fall approaches. Now they can be fed Holly-Tone evergreen food to give them a boost. A layer of crushed leaves can be placed around them in September. Leaves can also be cut and shaped. Give azaleas a glass of water every ten days.
Time to plant Siberian cabbage
Siberian cabbage is the sweetest and best of all greens. It can be used raw in salads or cooked green or canned in pint and quart jars. It’s sweet, crunchy, tender, and completely different from turnips and mustard greens. It is winter hardy and will survive the winter and produce until spring. The leaves are slightly larger than other greens. An excellent way to prepare Siberian cabbage is to boil a pound of pork and cut it into half-inch pieces, boil the Siberian cabbage in a pot until cooked, and then chop it. Add mayonnaise to cabbage and bacon and add two tablespoons of ranch dressing.
Make a list of cool weather vegetables
As we’re well into mid-August, it’s time to start planning your fall garden. Turnips, Swiss chard, curly mustard, mixed greens, onion sets and spinach can now be sown in the summer garden. Broccoli, cabbage, collards, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts can also be grown. Water all cool weather vegetables with a watering can to not only keep them moist but also to cool the soil.
Making delicious roast turkey bread
When you’re cooking turkey and you have leftover turkey, make a turkey bread special with the leftovers. For the Turkey Bread, you’ll need three cups of leftover turkey (put through a blender on the “grater” setting), one small bag of Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Gravy, one can of Swanson Chicken Broth, one small jar of Heinz Fried Turkey Broth, two large eggs, one envelope of Recipe Secrets Corn Onion Soup mixture, a teaspoon of poultry seasoning, a teaspoon of celery seed, half a teaspoon of pepper, half a teaspoon of salt, a cup of chopped carrots. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the can of chicken stock over a bowl of Pepperidge Farm cornbread and set aside for fifteen minutes. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl with the sauce and stock. If it is too dry, add a little water. Form into loaves or place on a baking sheet or baking tray. Bake for one hour or until the bread is firm. This bread will serve six people.
Keeping Hummingbirds in Zoom
Fill feeders with nectar in midsummer as hummingbirds jostle for space at feeders and fight for dominance. Now they stay quite active at the feeders and burn a lot of energy. The nectar in the feeders will increase their energy levels. You can make your own nectar by mixing two quarts of water, three cups of sugar, and a few drops of red food coloring in a glass of water and pouring it into a half-gallon plastic milk carton. Store the nectar in the refrigerator and use as desired.
August is a transition period
As we move through the month of August, we see a transitional month with heavy dews, thick fogs and a subtle hint of autumn in the air, yellowing on the maples and small berries forming on the dogwoods. Summer annuals are slowing down. The days get shorter by one minute every evening. The humidity drops a bit and the summer vegetable crops in the garden reach the harvest stage and some crops slow down. Thunderstorms do not occur very often. The crickets are vocal and the katydids are less noisy in the mighty oaks. Slowly, silently, the last days of August fill us with the approaching autumn season.
how hoedown
“Toothy Sermon.” The pastor visited the dentist for a set of false teeth. On the first Sunday after teething, he preaches for just eight minutes. On the second Sunday, he preaches for ten minutes. On the third Sunday he preached for two and a half hours. When the pastor left the pulpit, many in the congregation asked him what had happened. The pastor replied, “This morning I put on my wife’s teeth by mistake and I couldn’t close my mouth!”
“Return to sender.” A son wrote a letter to his father. “Dear Dad, What Does Gue$$ Need Most? It is true. $last $ten. Stay with him, Joey.” Dad replied. “Dear Joey, nothing ever happens here. We know you love school, write another letter soon. Mother was asking for you this afternoon. Now I must say goodbye, Dad.
“Laces.” Professor: “If there are any dumbbells in the room, please stand up.” There was a long pause and then a student sitting in the back stood up. The professor said: “Do you consider yourself a dumbbell?” The student said, “Well, not exactly, but I hate to see you standing alone.”
“The Last Supper” First husband: “When I die, I will ask my wife to cook my last meal.” Second husband: “Why did you go to do this to her?” First husband: “Then I’d feel more like dying!”