Wichita gardener’s almanac for Aug. 29
THE time to fertilize fescue — September is the single best time to fertilize tall fescue or Kentucky bluegrass lawns – and it starts Tuesday, believe it or not. (I can’t.) Apply 1 to 1.5 pounds of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. “The settings recommended on lawn fertilizer bags usually result in about 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet,” Ward Upham of K-State writes in the Horticulture 2015 newsletter. “We recommend a quick-release source of nitrogen at this time. Most fertilizers sold in garden centers and department stores contain either quick-release nitrogen or a mixture of quick- and slow-release. Usually only lawn fertilizers recommended for summer use contain slow-release nitrogen. Any of the others should be quick-release.
“The second most important fertilization of cool-season grasses also occurs during the fall. A November fertilizer application will help the grass green up earlier next spring and provide the nutrients needed until summer. It also should be quick-release applied at the rate of 1 pound actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet.”
Plant — Lettuce, radishes, spinach, turnips, fescue grass seed.
Oak vein gall — The master gardeners’ hotline continues to receive reports of oak vein gall, mainly on pin oak, causing swelling near the veins of leaves. There’s nothing that can be done about it at this point, and it shouldn’t hurt the tree.
Osage orange update — I wrote earlier this month about instances of sections of Osage orange trees dying. It wasn’t known at the time what the cause was, but community forester Tim McDonnell says it now appears to be bot canker.
Watering spring-flowering bushes — Spring-flowering shrubs set flower buds for next year from August through September, Ward Upham of K-State says. So it’s good to water them when they need it through this period, he says. Examples include forsythia, flowering quince, almond, beautybush, deutzia, pyracantha, lilac, mock orange, cotoneaster, weigela, viburnum and witch hazel.
Garden events
Daylily sale this weekend — The Wichita Daylily Club will have a sale of daylilies from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the Lotus Room at Botanica. All varieties and all colors (except true blue or all green, which are not seen in daylilies) will be available. Prices will be $5 to $20. Admission to the sale is free.
Tuesdays on the Terrace — The Jim Vegas Band will perform at Tuesdays on the Terrace from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Botanica. Shastas & Snake Eyes is the theme. Admission is $7, $3 for members. Dinner will be for sale for $8, and drinks also will be sold. The gardens are open until 8.
Talk on gardening in fall — Extension agent Matthew McKernan will be at Botanica on Wednesday to talk about plant selection, insects and how to prepare for the following season. His lunchtime lecture, at 12:15, is included in Botanica admission or membership. Lunch is sold for $8 from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Date night at Walters Pumpkin Patch — Walters Farm in Burns is offering adults a chance to come out and play in the pumpkin patch without the kids. Its date night on Sept. 13 will also include a country-music concert by Leon native Rusty Rierson, dancing and barbecue. Doors will open at 3 p.m. for play on the jumping pillows and riding the zipline among other activities in the pumpkin patch, followed by dinner at 5:30 and then the concert. Tickets are $25, with part of the proceeds going to Numana’s Butler County Homeless Initiative. Make reservations by Sept. 5 by calling 316-320-4150 or emailing info@walterspumpkinpatch.com. The patch’s website is thewaltersfarm.com.
Annie Calovich
This story was originally published August 27, 2015 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Wichita gardener’s almanac for Aug. 29."