It's somewhat late to plant most tropicals this month, except in coastal zones. Among tropicals that can be planted along the coast now (or during any summer month) are papayas, bananas, and palms.

Papayas (Carica) and bananas (Musa, Ensete) will grow and bear fruit in all frost-free zones, but they do best near the coast and thrive on sheltered, south-facing hillsides. Papayas are tall, single-trunked, succulent trees with a palmlike cluster of leaves on top. It's a common misconception that bananas, like papayas, grow on trees, but they actually grow on a large, green, herbaceous, perennial plant. The apparent trunk of a banana plant is actually formed of a group of leaf stalks. Surprisingly, the fruits themselves are technically berries.

If you compost papaya skins and seeds, many papaya plants will come up here and there during the summer. Look for these seedlings now and plant a group of three to five of them in full sun, 4 to 6 feet apart. (You need both male and female plants to get fruit.) Feed your papayas for growth and provide them with good drainage and plenty of water. Or start papaya seeds in flats. For the quickest germination, rub a handful of seeds gently on a piece of screen under running water to remove the aril (the protective seed covering). Sprout the seeds in the kitchen on a plate that's covered with a wet paper towel and surrounded with a plastic bag. As soon as the seeds sprout plant them carefully in a premoistened flat of fast-draining potting soil like Kellogg Potting Soil. Keep them damp in bright-not dark-shade; a warm shady spot with an hour of morning sun is ideal.

You can also purchase papaya plants at nurseries specializing in rare and tropical fruits. The babaco papaya is a popular type because, though it's expensive, it's hardy to 28 degrees Fahrenheit, and  the plant is small enough to grow in a whiskey half-barrel. Babaco papayas bear fruit when young, often while they're still in a 5-gallon can, and you only need one plant to get fruit. The fruit is large - sometimes a foot long - and equal in health-giving properties to other papayas, but the cool thing is that it tastes more like a melon than like an ordinary papaya. The fruit starts to ripen between now and the fall. Pick it when it's yellow and the skin gives slightly to the touch.

When growing bananas, begin with a good variety, such as Ice Cream or Enano Giganti. (The plants are small, but the fruit is quite large.) Fertilize them often with a complete fertilizer, such as 16-16-16. Bananas are big eaters. They are also thirsty, so be sure to water them well. You can keep them barely alive with less water and fertilizer in drought years, but their growth will slow down and they won't bear fruit.

As suckers, or pups, form around the main trunk,  use a sharp spade to slice off all but one, and plant them elsewhere in the garden. The one pup you leave will remain to replace the mature stalk after it's borne fruit. (Each stalk of a banana plant is monocarpic and won't bear fruit again.) At thirteen to fifteen months after planting, you should have a landscape covered with fruit.

When it comes to palms, summer is a good time to plant or transplant. They really take off when planted in warm soil. Before transplanting any palm, be sure it's a species that can be transplanted successfully. Most can; a few cannot. Trim off all faded fronds and cut back the remaining fronds by one-third to make up for the loss of roots. Bend these upright and tie them together on top with stout twine to protect the meristem layer (the area of actively dividing cells at the bud of the plant). Each single-trunked palm has only one bud; if it's damaged the tree will die. After transplanting leave the fronds tied for a month or two to shade the bud. (Be sure to water palms well after planting and keep them well watered for at least a year, until established.)

Palms can lend a tropical atmosphere to any garden, and not all are high water users; some are drought resistant. They're incredibly interesting and varied, so before choosing a palm, study the options and your requirements. Notice that some palms have fronds (leaves) shaped like feathers and others have fronds shaped like fans. Some palms form a clump while others are solitary. Some palms are self-cleaning, meaning the fronds fall off without pruning. The fronds of others cling to the trunk after they're dead and require pruning; in some cases the old fronds look best left on the tree. Among those with persistent fronds, some have trunks that are easily cleaned off by pruning while others have leaf bases that tend to stay on the trunk for many years. An important factor to consider if you have children is that some palms are armed with spikes while others have no spikes.

The main jobs in the vegetable garden this month are harvesting, watering, and pest control. All summer vegetables can be planted now, especially the heat lovers, but most gardeners prefer to wait this month out and start planting winter crops in mid-September. Most vegetable gardens in interior zones get pretty well burned up by the end of August.

Start seeds for cool-season crops. By midmonth seeds can be started in flats or peat pots for bedding plants to put in the ground in fall. Keep them in semishade. Good candidates are celery and all members of the cabbage family, including broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts. Home-grown transplants will be ready to put out in the garden in late September or October. If you need only a few it's much less trouble to buy transplants at the nursery.

Unfortunately, the plants bought at the nursery are usually labeled generically rather than by variety. Learn about good varieties for your zone, and ask your local nursery to carry them as transplants. Shop with companies that grow "gourmet varieties." They're more expensive, but there's a good reason: the seeds cost more. If enough gardeners become informed buyers, bedding plant growers and nurseries will gladly give them what they want.

Control corn earworm. If your corn is badly attacked by corn earworm now and you're not an organic gardener, try dusting the silks with Sevin. (Treat when the silks first emerge and continue to treat every three to five days until the silks turn brown.) Mineral oil on the silk has been tried with varying success by organic gardeners. If your corn is being rendered inedible by these pests, it could be that you are waiting too long to harvest the corn.

Corn needs lots of water while it's forming ears. Once you've picked them, cook the fresh corn no more than three minutes after the second boil.

Continue to harvest, and take stock for next year. This is the time of year when people who love to can and freeze are happily stashing away jars and bags of produce for winter use, and those of us who don't are giving away armloads of vegetables and perhaps vowing to plant less next year. By now first-time gardeners have learned that you don't need a whole row of zucchini to feed a family of four - three plants are plenty, but you never can plant enough corn - it goes fast.

By Tamara Galbraith

Just as Pippin relished his "second breakfasts" in The Lord of the Rings, many gardeners enjoy the opportunity for second summer plantings in mid-August.

In milder climates where the first frost doesn't show up for several months (if at all), growers can get busy with a new crop of tomatoes, peppers and other heat-loving veggies. A few things to watch out for, however:

* Make sure you add a generous amount of compost when putting in transplants. We recommend you use Gardner & Bloome Soil Building Compost. This will ensure your plants get off to a quick, healthy start in soil that's already been working hard all summer long and is probably in need of a nutrient boost.

* Keep a close eye on pest infestations. After all, they haven't been lounging by the pool drinking margaritas all summer like you have; by the time August rolls around, they've gotten really good at breeding and munching on your crops.

* As fall rains increase, watch out for fungus-related diseases like powdery mildew. Practice good gardening hygiene by cleaning up dead plant material from around the bottoms of plants, thinning out overly bushy veggies, and adding a fresh layer of mulch. All of these techniques help keep fungal spores from splashing up on plants.

* Pay attention to weather reports if your area is susceptible to fall frosts. A bit of frost cloth goes a long way in saving your hard-earned second summer crop from the compost pile.

By Tamara Galbraith

Ok, it's not like worming your dog...you're actually going to ADD worms to your yard. And not just any worms - these are microscopic eating machines called beneficial nematodes that chow down on harmful pests in your soil.

Several different types of beneficial nematodes are available: the Heterorhabditis Bacteriophora Nematodes (HB) are the "toothed" version and generally considered the most effective as they go down into the soil, hunting such pests as beetles, cutworms and everybody's nemesis: grubs. Meanwhile, the Steinemema Carpocapsae Nematodes (SC) tend to stay closer to the surface but are good for controlling such pests as fleas and termites.

Nematodes are available in several different application formats, such as sponges, gel packets or clay bricks that are dissolved in water then sprayed onto the soil. Applying beneficial nematodes should be done in the fall in northern regions and during the cooler part of the late summer day in the South. Nematodes will die if exposed to light or heat. Give the treatment area a good, deep watering first, so the nematodes can easily move into the soil once applied. Beneficial nematodes are sold by the million, so you'll need to figure out how much you need. The general rule is 1 million nematodes for every 2,000 square feet to be treated. Although they can be stored in the refrigerator for a short time, it's best if you use them right away.

Lastly, beneficial nematodes are completely safe to mammals, fish, and plants. But if you're a grub...watch out.