Gardening This Weekend: August 6, 2026
I wouldn’t send you out there if I didn’t think it was worthwhile. Let’s look at the prime tasks for this early weekend of August. And while you’re doing these, take breaks, drink plenty of water, and slather yourself in sunscreen.
PLANT
• Fall vegetables – bush beans, squash, cucumbers, corn (20- x 20-ft. blocks to ensure pollination).
• Fall annual color: zinnias, marigolds, celosias, pentas, angelonias, all from 4-in. potted transplants growing vigorously.
• Fall-flowering bulbs as you find them in better nurseries. Spider lilies, naked lady lilies, oxblood lilies and sternbergias (fall crocus) are all outstanding in Texas.
• New lawngrasses. St. Augustine must be planted this month in most of its zone. September plantings risk loss to cold. Bermuda should be seeded this month. Sod can be planted later. New turf cannot be allowed to dry out, so you’ll need to water 5-10 minutes morning and evening daily for the first couple of weeks.
PRUNE
• Keep mowing grass at recommended height. Raising your mower blade does not aid in drought tolerance, nor does it help turf survive the heat. Tall grass becomes thin, weed-infested turf.
• Do light pruning to shrubs that have grown erratically, but avoid formal shearing whenever possible. Hand shears and loppers will do a much more natural job. Save major pruning for winter.
• Bush roses by one-third, making each cut just above a bud facing out from the center of the plant to encourage spreading growth. Check plants carefully to be sure they are free of rose rosette virus. See my website for help in identifying it.
FERTILIZE
• Container plants to replenish nutrients leached out by daily waterings. Use water-soluble, high-nitrogen food weekly. Supplement with timed-release encapsulated food for sustained feeding.
• Iron-deficient plants with iron/sulfur additive while they are still growing actively. Watch for yellowed leaves with dark green veins most prominent on newest growth at ends of branches. Keep iron products off masonry and painted surfaces that could be stained.
ON THE LOOKOUT
• Nutsedge (“nutgrass”) with Image or Sedgehammer. Nutsedge will always have triangular stems when you roll them between your thumb and index finger. True grasses are round. Look for the Image product labeled specifically for control of nutsedge. Two applications will be required 30 days apart, with the second one being made no later than September 15. See more detailed story this issue.
• If you have lost pecans in past crops to pecan weevils (devoured kernels and left small exit holes out of the pecans) and hickory shuckworms (caused pecans not to fill out properly and not to fall at the proper time), those insects are controlled with sprays made at this time of the year. Timing and techniques are detailed. See fact sheets from TAMU, Oklahoma State, and LSU for information on how they are controlled commercially.