Dog Days will come to an end on Tuesday. The Dog Days of the summer of 2020 will end on Tuesday, but this does not mean the heat is over. The humid days of summer are still with us. The days are now getting shorter by a minute each evening and the dews are getting heavier, stickier, and linger longer each day. This, plus the presence of the mornings of fog, are all subtle reminders that autumn is much nearer than we think.
A perk-up for cut flowers of summer. To increase the life of cut flowers of summer mix two tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide in a vase of water and place cut flowers in the vase. If flowers outside begin to look droopy, mix hydrogen peroxide with water in a sprinkling can and pour around base of flowers in pots and containers. This will give them a quick boost.
Cooling off the hummingbirds of mid-summer. Mid-summer is now officially here since Saint Lammas Day occurred last week that marked summer’s halfway point. We still have plenty of summer to deal with and also plenty of hummingbirds that we can help to cool off. Even though we have plenty of flowers for them to visit (and quite a few of them are red), they still like to visit feeders, and probably because we have spoiled them! Whether you have flowers or not, keep plenty of nectar in the feeders. You can make a gallon milk jug full of nectar with three-and-a-half quarts water, adding six cups of sugar and several drops of red food coloring. Funnel it into the milk jug and keep in refrigerator. Change nectar in feeders every three days. Clean the feeders to prevent ants or wasps.
Gambling on a row of Strike green beans. It is now near the middle of August with more than two months before the first frost date arrives, even though the first frost date arriving does not mean a killing frost. This fact builds up hope and faith that a pound of Strike green beans sown in the next week or so has much, much more than a chance at producing a harvest. By boosting them along with hand fulls of Garden-Tone organic vegetable food every two weeks and hilling it into the soil and placing a layer of peat moss on top of seed in the furrow when you sow them and tamping down the contact, we should be prepared to experience an early autumn harvest. This will certainly be a worthwhile gamble.
A green bean and white corn casserole. Let’s celebrate the odds of an October harvest of Strike green beans by preparing a green bean and white corn casserole. You will need two cans of cut green beans or one quart canned green beans, one can white corn (drained), one eight ounce cup sour cream or cream of mushroom soup, one pack of Ritz crackers or saltine crackers (run through blender in “grate” mode), one envelope Recipe Secrets Beefy Onion dry soup mix, one stick light margarine, two eggs, two tablespoons mayonnaise. Mix green beans and corn and pour into a casserole dish sprayed with Pam baking spray. Mix cream of mushroom soup, sour cream, shredded sharp cheese, mayonnaise, envelope of Recipe Secrets, two eggs. Mix in with green beans and corn mixture. Run packet of Ritz or saltines through blender in “grate” mode and mix with a stick of melted light margarine. Spread over top of casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. For color and flavor, add a two ounce jar of diced pimentos (drained).
Queen Anne’s Lace gives a dainty and majestic touch to mid-summer. There is a hidden amount if royalty in the lacy white flowers of Queen Anne’s Lace that graces the meadows and roadsides all through North Carolina from east to west. Queen Anne’s Lace grows in the Midwest in Wisconsin where it thrives on the roadsides near miles or corn fields and acres of pastureland. Iowa also has its share of the lace growing around barns, covered and meadows and fields and along the long stretches of wide open country roads. The most amazing display of Queen Anne’s Lace we have ever seen was along railroad tracks outside Milwaukee, Wisconsin, sprawling along both sides of the tracks on a late July afternoon. Queen Anne’s Lace was my mother’s favorite flower to brighten up floral arrangements of Zinnias to place on the alter table at church on a Sunday morning. Only a loving and caring God could create such a wild flower to look so pure, dainty and white!
The Katydids are singing a prelude to autumn. The mighty oaks are alive with the songs of the Katydids as they serenade us every twilight from the front porch. Their tune has a subtle message of autumn in it. It is not a serious melody or one of urgency, but one of warning that the season of autumn is slowly approaching. The crickets in the grass are chirping their over-tune to the approaching season of autumn also. It is a soft and low melody that will get louder as the month moves along.
August is certainly a month of transition. And now that Dog Days are over, we reach into the midst of August which can be considered the month of transition from one season to another. The crickets and Katydids are singing about it. The dogwood leaves have a hint of red and covered with tiny berries. Weeds are growing faster and have to be pulled up more often. The crow population is getting noisier. The morning dew’s are getting heavier and lingering around longer each day. Mother Nature is slowly pointing us in the direction of the upcoming season of autumn.
Extra care for the tomato plants of late summer. The tomato plants that will produce a late harvest of fruits and green tomatoes to harvest before the frost comes that will ripen indoors, need a little extra care as we move into the late part of August. Keep soil hilled up around both sides of the plants after side dressing both sides of the row with Tomato-Tone organic tomato food or Dr. Earth’s tomato food. Do not water the tops of the tomato plants, but use the water want in “spray” mode to apply water to base of the plants. Later, as we move into month of September, apply powdered lime (calcium carbonate) around bottom of the tomato plants. Use a quart of lime to a sprinkling can of water and pour around base of tomatoes.
Late rose blooms all the way until frost. With just a small amount of care, roses can produce blooms all the way until the first frost. Deadhead all spent roses that have passed bloom stage. Spray roses for mites and insects. Apply a plant food such as Rose-Tone organic rose food. Water base of roses every four days when no rain has fallen. Trim back long canes that suck the production from roses. One positive thing about roses is you can trim them when they need it.
A rainbow of color in the August sun. A large container of portaluca or desert rose, and also known as cactus rose or rose moss, has produced colorful flowers of red, orange, yellow, white, pink, tan, wine, and burgundy flowers since the middle of May. Every day that the sun shines, there are new blooms and cactus-like foliage that cascades over the sides of the container that produces even more flowers.
Hoe-Hoe-Hoedown: “Operating Room?” A husband took his wife to a small town doctor’s office. The nurse escorted the wife to the examination room as the husband seated himself in the waiting room. For the next few minutes, he could hear the doctor barking out strange orders to his medical assistants. The husband heard, “Knife,” “Screwdriver,” “Pliers,” then “Sledgehammer.” The husband couldn’t stand the suspense any longer. He burst into the examination room saying, “Doctor, what is wrong with my wife?” The doctor replied, “We have no idea. Right now we are trying to open the medicine cabinet.”
“Try, Try, Again” Father: “You never know what you can do until you try it.” Son: “I guess you don’t know what you can’t do until you try either.”
What part if an automobile causes the most accidents? The nut behind the wheel.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com