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Remember successful planting beds by taking picture

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Know it and grow it
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It just seems like many crops are maturing earlier than they normally would. However, when I look back in my archive of garden advice, we’re not too far ahead of a typical season.
Summer always becomes a blur because we have waited so long for it to arrive and then we’re back to facing another winter. Well, that is where a camera becomes our encouragement.
If your planters or perennial flowerbeds have been a good success, take a picture so next year you remember what you were most pleased with … or maybe not pleased with. I’m always in favor of trying a new variety, but in my vegetable garden, I usually replant varieties that have proven to be reliable. 
Deadheading is important at this point in the garden season to not only keep the garden looking neat, but also to prevent plants that reseed freely from becoming pests next year. 
If you are having a problem with creeping Charlie in your lawn, this is a good time to work at eradicating it. Bayer broad leaf and crab grass herbicide is a newer brand of weed spray that seems to be working well for me. It pretty well cleans up everything you don’t want in your lawn and is rain-safe in an hour, a huge improvement over most brands that require a 24-hour interval. Doing an application of weed spray now will leave time for an additional application in four weeks for the really hard to control weeds.
I have had excellent results using rose systemic to both protect my shrub roses from insect attacks and produce lush growth and color. Mid-August is when we stop feeding the roses so that we are not encouraging new growth. We want the stems we have now to mature so they will survive the winter. However, do keep up with deadheading to prevent the plants from pumping energy into the seed heads.
 
 
 

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