I wrote today in The Sun about giving your gardens a boost in August, and Nancy Moitrier of Designs for Greener Gardens in Annapolis has some additional thoughts.

She is a big fan of the restorative powers of fish emulsion as a pick-me-up, especially if it is sprayed right on the leaves. That way, it gets where it needs to be without making that long trip up the roots.

Watering your gardens might be the most important thing you can do for them in August, but she says you might want to break up the mulch before you do or it will run right off. By this time of year, the mulch has formed almost a crust on top of the garden beds and it won't allow water - or rain - to penetrate.

By this time as well, slow-release fertilizers will have been washed out of that fancy container soil you purchased in the spring. That means the containers need to be fertilized at least once a week.

If the tips of leaves on container plants are looking brown, it could be a build-up of salt in the soil is burning the roots. That happens when you use too much fertilizer during the summer, she said. Leach the salts out of the container soil by watering thoroughly three or for times. letting the water run out of the bottom of the container.

"Then you can start fresh and fertilize again," she said.