Thanks to a warm, dry spring, Southcentral Alaska's having a terrific year for apples

We can all feel the chill in the air, I know, but I can't be the only one holding out hope for record heat in September … and October!

First, let me (once again) push a stake into the heart of the big lie about lawns needing fertilizer every spring and fall. Go look at your lawn. I am betting it is as green as can be. Oh, sure, there may be a few dog or moose spots and some places you really could toss down some seed, but it is green, isn't it? I know ours are. And if you follow this column you have not fertilized. How come it is green? Hmmm. Maybe it is because you really don't need to fertilize a lawn unless you regularly remove clippings and don't mulch up leaves at the end of the season.

I've had a lot of questions about those lilacs in bloom. You have seen them. They are known as "Miss Kim" or Korean lilacs. These always bloom in the late summer. They make terrific hedges and extend the lilac season by a month. You can find them at local nurseries and now is a fine time to plant them. While there, you will find all manner of deals as we edge toward the end of the season.

Next, drive around Southcentral Alaska, and all of a sudden there are fruiting apple trees everywhere! Actually, they have been here all along, but those who have apple trees, be they crabs, Norlands or whatever kind, are experiencing a terrific crop. This is due to the perfect spring with all that warm and dry weather.

We have never had so much potential cider hanging around. Here is a warning, however. Usually we have to wait until the very end of the season to have ripe fruit. Not this year. Yours should be ripe now. Just check the seeds of a sample. If the they are brown or darker, the apples are ripe and ready to eat or make cider. Check yours. Who wants a pulpy apple?

European mountain ashes (Sorbus aucuparia L.), relatives of apples, should also be getting more attention this year. Yes, they are beautiful and similarly laden with fruit, but each tree produces thousands of seeds with a dormancy of up to five years or so. They can spread, so keep an eye on your lawn and woods for seedlings. Those seeds are viable for 5 years.  If you want, you can de-bitter-ize the fruits for making jelly and liquor (perhaps the subject of another column), by first letting the fruits go through a frost. You can cut whole clumps off.

Next, this is the time of year to take cuttings from outdoor plants for use indoors this fall and winter. With the exception of pelargoniums (you may still call them "geraniums"), there are simply too many flowers to try to list. A simple trick, however, is to just look for the plants that have square stems (coleus always comes to mind). The leaves on these stems are always located symmetrically, opposite each other. These will root easily. You can take a stem with several sets of leaves, cut off the bottom set of leaves and put the stem in water or damp perlite, sand or the like. Roots should form in two weeks. Your clones will develop into exact replicas of their parents.

Cuttings of pelargoniums, the loyal reader knows, should be rooted in damp sand after they have been exposed to air for a couple of days. They will bloom in the middle of the winter given just a modicum of light.

Next, because our state and local governments are taking their sweet time fulfilling the will of the voters and setting up legal sales of cannabis plants and seeds (at this rate, we may never see legal sales), you might consider rooting cuttings from existing plants. Given the glacial pace in approving sales, this may be the only way an Alaskan can ensure a legal supply.

Cannabis cuttings are known in the business as clones. Do some Google research on rooting cannabis clones and try it. It is really easy. So easy you may be tempted to go beyond the legal limit of 12 plants. One other warning (and it isn't a legal one): Clones will start to flower just like their parents when light gets below 12 hours. You may need to set up your lights now, to ensure decent plants later.

And, finally, harvest the gardens. Don't wait. Flowers and vegetables.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar

Seed collecting workshop: September 3, 2-4 p.m. This is a do-not-miss event at the Alaska Botanical Garden. ABG's horticulturist Mike Monterosso will lead a lucky group around the garden teaching seed collecting and storage techniques. Leave with seed samples from garden plants. Space is limited and there's a small fee. Go to alaskabg.org/event/seed-collecting-workshop/ for more information.

Potatoes: It's too early. They need a frost or two. Sure, you can dig in and take a few spuds, aka "new" potatoes.

Snapdragons: Pick off seed heads. You may get more flowers.

Butter and Eggs: These are not snapdragons. Pick the whole plant. Don't let those yellow flowers go to seed and spread their plague.