PUNCH LIST: Time to boost blooms, harvest veggies

Make the most of what’s left of summer. Maintain what’s blooming, so they keep on keeping on. And then, best of all, there’s the pleasure of the harvest.

In the landscape

•A little late August annual flower care will keep plants blooming well into fall. Deadhead spent flowers, pinch to keep growth in check and prune away dead leaves or branches for both in-ground and container grown plantings.

•Water and fertilize regularly to keep plants happy. Toss annuals full of powdery mildew.

•Replace worn-out annuals with fall mums, pansies and osteosperums. Or trend toward more foliage with coleus, ferns or indoor plants for an easy transition to fall.

•Perennial plantings can look a bit tired this time of year. Snip off spent flowers and dried foliage to give them a fresh look. It’s not too early to start dividing overgrown clumps and replant or share the divisions.

•Organic mulch breaks down quickly. Renew it now to keep soils cool and weeds easier to pull. Chemical-free grass from the lawn or straw works well for vegetable plantings. Wood mulch or bark chips to a depth of 3 to 4 inches reduces water evaporation, moderates temperature extremes and improves soil tilth as it breaks down.

•Rock and gravel mulches generally don’t require regular replenishment. Many native and low-water plants prefer rock type mulch. Use to a depth of 2 inches around perennials, 3 inches for larger plants including trees and shrubs.

•Fall bulb planting is just around the corner. Make your list and peruse online selections. They will be arriving in garden centers soon, shop early for the best selection.

•Enjoy the sun filled days of summer. Invite friends over to enjoy the harvest and send them home with some extra produce.

Harvest

•Early morning, after the dew has dried, is the ideal time to harvest. The next best time is when temperatures have cooled in the evening. Harvesting wet plants can spread fungal diseases.

•Harvest daily. Bring along a sharp clean knife or scissors and containers to hold the fruit and vegetables. Avoid bruising, which will reduce quality and lead to early rotting.

•Refrigerate harvested produce immediately. The exceptions are tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic and winter squash. Roots crops, including carrots, leeks, rutabagas, turnips and parsnips, can be harvested when ready (summer or fall) or left in the ground and harvested through the fall into winter.

•Tomatillos are ready for harvest when the fruit fills out the husks and the husks begin to break open. (In some cases, the fruit won’t break, so just feel for firmness.) Ripe tomatillos turn from green to pale yellow; some varieties turn to dark purple. Frequent harvesting keeps the plants producing until frost.

•Onions can be picked and eaten at almost any growth stage through the summer. When ready for harvest their leaves will weaken, lose their color and fall over. Once fallen lift each plant to separate from the roots, but leave them in place for a week or so to cure for storage. Bring indoors and cut tops when dry. Store in mesh bags.

•Melons are ready to harvest about 40 days after flowering when they are fully ripe. Read the seed packet, too — some early varieties can be harvested 80 days from direct seeding. Check the spot where it has been growing: pale green or white means immature, yellow-white or yellow-cream indicates ripeness.

•Tomatoes are best harvested when ripe. The fruit color is glossy and the texture gives slightly, but not too soft. Cherry tomatoes will ripen first (if split, usually due to uneven watering, pick and use right away). Heirlooms will ripen before they are fully colored, so feel for tenderness. Cut out any cracks and enjoy the rest of the tomato. Paste tomatoes, such as romas, will feel slightly hard to the touch when ripe.

•If wildlife is feasting on your tomatoes or other crops, fencing them out usually works well. If that’s not feasible, try a home brew of water and hot peppers soaked and strained. Or use several drops of Tabasco or similar sauce with some liquid dish soap and water. Direct the spray on the fruit — one bite and they’ll remember not to try that again.

Cicadas

•Their late summer sounds are unmistakable — a continuous, shrill whine, like a sustained circular saw. The males are showing off the loudest bug music in the hopes a female cicada will say yes.

•Cicadas click their legs like crickets or move their abdominal tymbals (muscles) to belt out their piercing love calls.

•Colorado is home to several cicadas species — not the 13- or 17-year periodical ones they have in the East. Here, they have a 2to 5-year life cycle.

•Females lay eggs in openings in tree and shrub branches. Hatched nymphs drop to the soil, where they spend the longest stage. Adults live two to six weeks.

•Cicadas are not locusts, which in Dust Bowl times were mistaken for swarming migratory grasshoppers.

•Adult cicadas feed on sap and the watery fluids from trees and shrubs. Their nymphs feed on plant roots. Little damage is usually caused to plants, so controls aren’t recommended.

•Rivers, streams and forests are natural homes for cicadas, but they’ve adapted well to urban landscapes.

•Dog-day cicadas are a large green-and-white species. They’re block-shaped, up to 2 inches long and have transparent wings. Common hosts are cottonwoods and maples.

•Putnam’s cicada, which is black with orange highlights, is found throughout Colorado. Hosts are honey locust, crabapple and maple trees.

•Natural enemies include the cicada killer wasp, which looks like a giant yellowjacket, and cedar beetles, which are mostly found in eastern Colorado. A predator that’s relatively new to the Arkansas Valley is the Mississippi kite, a predatory bird that eats cicadas as its primary main course.