In this episode of Down the Garden Path, Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing show you how to keep your garden and landscape thriving during the August heat with tips and tricks and do's and don'ts for your August garden.

Here are some of the questions and topics covered in this episode:

• Plan what fall bulbs you'd like to plant for your spring garden. Order now and buy early for the best varieties.
• Source garlic bulbs from a local farmer or reputable seed company to have them ready for fall planting.
• Continue to trim herbs like mint, chives, dill, etc., to encourage flavourful new growth.
• Cover ripening fruit to protect from birds and critters.
• Sow seeds of beans, beets, spinach, and turnips for a fall harvest.
• Check fruits, vegetables, annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs for pests and diseases and remove, as necessary.
• Use Japanese beetle traps to control populations. Remember, 1 is enough for urban landscapes.
• Apply nematodes in mid-August, or sooner, to control white grub populations in the lawn.
• Continue to deadhead annuals and perennials to promote new blooms.
• Continue fertilizing containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets with a water-soluble fertilizer once every two weeks until Thanksgiving or you dispose of them for the season.
• Apply a new layer of rich compost to garden beds.
• Continue to weed your lawns and hardscapes.
• Remove small errant shoots from topiaries, shrubs, and hedges.

Find Down the Garden Path on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube: @downthegardenpathpodcast.  

You can also email your questions and comments to [email protected], or connect with Joanne and Matthew via their websites:  

Joanne Shaw: down2earth.ca 

Matthew Dressing: naturalaffinity.ca

Resources mentioned during the show

Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden

Down the Garden Path Podcast

Each week on Down The Garden Path, professional landscape designers Joanne Shaw and Matthew Dressing discuss down-to-earth tips and advice for your plants, gardens and landscapes.

As the owner of Down2Earth Landscape Design, Joanne Shaw has been designing beautiful gardens for homeowners east of Toronto for over a decade. A horticulturist and landscape designer, Matthew Dressing owns Natural Affinity Garden Design, a landscape design and garden maintenance firm servicing Toronto and the Eastern GTA. Together, they do their best to bring you interesting, relevant and useful topics to help you keep your garden as low maintenance as possible.

In their book, Down the Garden Path: A Step-By-Step Guide to Your Ontario Garden, Joanne and Matthew distill their horticultural and design expertise and their combined experiences in helping others create and maintain thriving gardens into one easy-to-read monthly reference guide. It's now available on Amazon.

Don't forget to check out Down the Garden Path on your favourite podcast app and subscribe to be notified of new content. You can now catch the podcast on YouTube and Patreon.