“August is the month when harvest begins in many parts of the world, including here in the Southwest. You may have been harvesting vegetables and fruit from your garden for the last few months, but August is the time when there begins to be a bona fide bounty, maybe even a glut.”
Quoting A Book I Wrote
This is mostly from the original introduction to the chapter about August garden care in my book Month by Month Gardening for Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. The introduction got shortened and edited – mostly by me – trying to say it in less words because the editors nagged me and nagged me to make it shorter.
Yes, it ended up shorter, but it left things unsaid, and it left a swath of empty white page. Perhaps book publishers think that ink is blood coming out of their veins?
A Plethora of … Plants
“August 8 is a little known national holiday – National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. Hopefully, you will have some to share! If your neighbors have zucchini of their own, contact your local food bank and see if they would be willing to take some of the bounty off your hands.”
About that excess of fresh produce. “Maybe you, and your neighbors, could all “Plant A Row for the Hungry.” This program was started in 1995 by the Garden Writers Association to encourage gardeners to share healthy food with their community.” More about Plant A Row at the end of this article.
Animals Are Harvesting Too
“If you have a number of native songbirds in your area, you may notice an interesting phenomenon. The day after the full moon of August they are silent. They have spent spring and half the summer flitting about and chattering with their friends, but overnight that all changes. They get quiet. These birds are not less busy, if anything, they’re more so. They are silently intent on gathering enough food to get fat enough for their migrations, or to overwinter in place. Just like us, birds are harvesting now. It may not be a seed harvest either; insectivorous birds are rounding up the last of the summer bugs.
All species are harvesting food to get fat for the winter ahead. Bugs will try to eat your plants, or maybe eat other bugs. Lizards will scurry through the garden, looking for bugs to bulk up on. Rodents will make a run at your garden, and many species of rodent cheerfully snack on protein rich insects. Meanwhile rodents have predators, “and so on and so on, ad infinitum,” to quote Johnathan Swift.
If you pause an look around you, every yard or garden contains a slice of the universe, even in the middle of a giant urban sprawl.
Need Some Garden Help?
May I recommend the book I just quoted? The Month By Month Guide offers tips for your landscape (yes even lawns and roses) in every month of the year. I have a few copies left and am offering them to you – my loyal readers. The book is out of print and occasionally you can find a used copy. When you buy from me you get brand new signed copy.
From the review:
“A great reference book is key to successful gardening in the region where you live. takes the guesswork out of gardening for anyone residing in the Southwest. With this book, you’ll know what to do each month to enjoy a thriving garden all year, from January to December. Chronologically organized, this guide is full of critical gardening when-to and how-to advice, along with illustrated step-by-step instructions.”
More about Plant A Row (TM)
Back in 1995, the Garden Writers of America (GWA) launched the “Plant A Row” program. Since then, GWA became GardenComm, and the program caught fire and spread across North America, and even internationally.
So much food is grown and shared annually that GardenComm no longer updates the numbers because they would have to change the website monthly. Let’s just say millions and millions of pounds of produce providing many millions of meals have been donated to others through this program. All of this has been achieved without government subsidy or bureaucratic red tape – just people helping people.
From the GardenComm Website:
“A National Program with Local Impact
Plant a Row for the Hungry is a national program led by GardenComm and implemented through local community-based efforts across the country. Local Plant a Row programs are independently organized at the community level and play a vital role in growing, collecting, and distributing fresh produce to those in need.
GardenComm serves as the founding organization and national steward of the program—supporting awareness, providing resources, and helping expand participation nationwide.
Anyone can Participate
Home gardeners, community groups, schools, and organizations are all encouraged to participate.”
Find Local Plant A Row Programs
Search Plant a Row + your area. Use the plus sign because for some search engines it works. You might have to search a broad geographic area rather than a town (southern Nevada rather than Las Vegas). May I also suggest finding a “no AI” search engine option. AI will just keep giving you the most popular ones on the interweb, despite how many times you put in your city and state.
As a long-time member of GardenComm I humbly share how proud I am of my fellow garden writers. In so many different communities the programs got started. The programs operate independently while contributing to the broader national initiative founded by GardenComm. There is a database being compiled, but garden communicators are generally not computer techies, so don’t hold your breath.
I would close with this. You don’t need to join a group or even look up anything. You can do it all on your own. Just grow some extra food and share it.
Legal
© Article copyright Jacqueline A. Soule. All rights reserved. You must ask permission to republish an entire blog post or article. Okay to use a short excerpt but you must give proper credit. You must also include a link to the original post on my site. No stealing photos.
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