This weekend you can do something for the environment — and your garage: Recycle your plastic plant pots.

You can drop off clean plastic pots between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at metro-area garden centers, including Linder’s, Highland, Gertens, Lotus, Mickman, Dundee and area Bachman’s. (For a complete list of participating garden centers, go to www.GardenMinnesota.com.
They’ll take garden pots of any size and color, but hanging pots should have the hangers removed. (No household plastic.)

Plastic plant pots are the bane of green-leaning gardeners. Most nurseries don’t re-use them because of the risk of spreading plant diseases, and many cities (including Minneapolis and St. Paul) don’t recycle them. This is your chance to see that those pots stacked in your garage become landscape lumber instead of landfill fodder. C’mon green gardeners! Do your part!

Even though this weekend marks the unofficial end of summer, the garden season ain’t over. There’s lots more we can — and probably should — do in the garden now and later.

For now, it’s enough to keep on harvesting veggies as they ripen. (Even if you’ve got more than you can handle, keep on a’ picking. It keeps the plants productive. And leaving veggies to rot just attracts wasps.)

If I’m up for it, I usually divide some overgrown plants and transplant them in the fall. (It’s easier to do before the plants have leafed out in the spring, but there are so many things to do then that I like to even out the work load.)

I also stick a few new plants in. Prices on perennials are as low as they go and if you get plants in the ground by the middle or end of September, they should have plenty of time to get established before the ground freezes.

The one late fall chore I hate? Cutting back. I’ve been leaving more and more plants standing during the winter. I think it helps my so-called winter landscape. How ’bout you? Where do you stand on cutting back perennials? What’s your most dreaded fall chore?

I was hanging out in the garden last night. It was soooooo beautiful that I didn’t want to go in. (Besides, I had dishes to do.) I was picking up sticks from the storms, doing some deadheading when I happened to look at a big clump of ornamental grasses. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? Weeds! Lots of big, tall, weeds — with big, fat seedheads.

Needless to say, I spent the rest of the night weeding. The whole time, I kept trying to figure out how it happened. I had put down a thick layer of mulch and weeded kinda sorta regularly throughout the summer. I mean, weeds can sneak up on you and all. But these things were more than a foot tall! Guess they outsmarted me by growing up in the grasses, which gave them cover.

I’ll be spending the weekend weeding. (I know I have to get those weeds out of there before they go to seed.) But I’m wondering if anyone’s got any great weed-prevention practices? Do you put newspaper under your mulch? Do you weed every week? Or, at this stage in the game, do you just let them go?

Gad zooks! It’s supposed to be a hot one this weekend, with temps topping 90. You can seek shelter in air-conditioned comfort, take an ice bath or hide out in a movie theater watching “Transformers” over and over, but what can your plants do? Here are some ways to help your garden beat the heat:

Water. Early morning is best, because there’s less loss to evaporation. But if you can’t water early, water in the evening, once it’s cooled off a bit. (Nighttime watering isn’t the best because it can encourage plant pests and diseases.) And remember, water thoroughly rather than often. Set the sprinkler or soaker hose and leave it go for a while. Watering with a watering can will likely leave your plants thirsty.

Mulch. If you haven’t mulched already, add an inch or two of organic material (hay, straw, shredded leaves, partially completed compost, etc.) to your garden beds, around trees and shrubs, even in your containers. Mulch helps hold soil moisture in and keep soil temperatures down.

Move. Your potted plants, that is. Group containers together in the shade, at least during the hottest part of the day. That will help keep them from wilting.

Be nice to your grass. Continue to water your grass at least once a week, even if it’s starting to turn brown. If you give up and stop watering completely, you can permanently damage the little grass plants. If your grass is drying out and browning, stay off it as much as you can.

Keep chemicals at bay. Plants (including grass plants) are likely to be stressed by the hot, dry weather, so it’s not the best time to fertilize or treat for insects. Wait until the weather cools.

Don’t panic. At the end of a really hot, dry day your plants may look wilted, but they’ll likely survive. Just water when they’re dry — and wait for cooler weather.

What do you do for your plants when it’s this hot?

Sitting at my desk Tuesday morning is rather uncomfortable. My back is stiff. My legs are sore.

I dug out a dozen paver bricks from the front yard. I yanked up hundreds of thistle. I transplanted some seedlings and a struggling clematis. I mixed dirt with peat moss and compost.

I worked in the yard all weekend, but only a few pepper and tomato plants actually made it into the ground. Two garden beds sit empty. Seed packets cover my dinning room table. Four bags of seed potatoes (yes, the same seed potatoes Robyn gave me a MONTH ago) wait patiently in the corner.

Unplanted seeds

Unplanted seedlings

I promised myself, I’d have everything planted by the end of May. I try to knock off a little each day, but I still fall behind. At this rate, I’ll be planting in July.

Is your garden all set for the growing season? How do you keep up with all your gardening to-dos?