COLUMNS
1) Reap what you sow. Plant fall crops of vegetables in August. I always plant lettuce and arugula (a spicy little salad green) in late summer. Both are super-easy to grow. We pick them from the garden and eat them all fall, and sometimes well into the winter.
2) Give it up. Make sure that any vegetables or fruits turning ripe in your yard don't go to waste. Last year, after I picked all the plums from our two plum trees, we had more than we could eat. I donated them to the St. Mary's Food Bank, and they were glad to get them. If you can't pick your fruit trees, volunteers may be able to come to pick them and give the fruit to people who will use it. To set that up, call Seattle Tilth's Garden Hotline at 206-633-0224 or e-mail help@gardenhotline.org (they may not be able to respond to all requests).
3) Put away the sprays. Do you really need to nuke the bugs or the weeds? Use toxic chemical sprays only as a last resort, and consider natural alternatives to pesticides (http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/house/yard/problems).
4) Stay true to your roots. Big trees and shrubs in your yard that have abundant roots may not need much water in the summer, especially if they are in the shade. Our neighbor has some huge hydrangeas tucked between their house and ours. They never water them, but they bloom like crazy every year and seem very healthy.
5) Stop runaway water. For your plants that do need water, try to make sure that most of it doesn't run down the sidewalk and into the storm drain. What a waste!
6) Put the sun to work. Although it may be cooling down a little bit, August is still a great time for partying out on the deck. With the nights getting shorter, you need some light out there, so consider the cool new solar-powered deck lights, which you can find locally at Goods for the Planet (http://www.goodsfortheplanet.com), many hardware and home improvement stores, or online.
7) Burn better. Plenty of folks around here enjoy sitting around fires in the backyard. But try to avoid burning green wood (sometimes it's 50 percent water by weight). It puts out a lot of smoke, which is bad for our air quality. If we're in the middle of a stretch of hot, hazy days, consider forgoing the fires all together. When you have ashes to get rid of, keep them in a metal can for several days to make sure they are out. After that, it's okay to put them in the garden, although they probably won't help your plants that much.
8) Let it rot. August is a good time to turn your compost. You also need to make room in your compost bin or bins for the influx of leaves in September and October.
9) Cut grass without gas. You may not need to mow the lawn much in August, but soon it will start growing again. So think about getting rid of your stinky, polluting gas lawn mower and replacing it with a manual push mower or a spiffy electric model.
10) Think big and green. Make plans for other serious green improvements in your yard and garden. For example: Have a new deck installed made from composite lumber (which includes recycled plastic); replace your driveway with porous pavement, to avoid runoff; put in a new walkway in the backyard made from used, scavenged bricks. Fall can be the perfect time for those types of projects. Plan them now, and you'll be ahead of the game.
And last but not least - Don't feel guilty about what you don't do. It's great to get some of these things done, and go green and save money, but the summer is for relaxing too!
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