August can be a glorious month on the plot, full of colour, produce, and warm days
—but it’s also a time to stay on top of a few key tasks to keep things thriving into autumn.
- Keep harvesting regularly – Many crops-courgettes, beans, tomatoes-will produce more the more you pick them. Don’t let anything go overripe on the plant or it may stop producing.
- Water wisely – If it’s hot and dry, early morning or evening watering is best.Prioritise thirsty crops like squash, cucumbers, and anything in pots. Mulching can help retain moisture too.
- Sow for autumn and winter – It’s your last chance to sow salad leaves, spinach, chard, spring onions, radish, and turnips for autumn harvests. You can also start planting overwintering crops like spring cabbage and hardy lettuce under cover.
- Watch for pests – Cabbage whites are especially active now-check brassicas for eggs or caterpillars and cover them with fine mesh. Keep an eye out for blight on potatoes and tomatoes.
- Tidy as you go – Clear away any spent crops to reduce the risk of pests and disease. Chop and compost green waste, or dry out seed heads to save for next year.
- Save some seeds – If you’ve got heritage or open-pollinated varieties, now’s a great time to start saving seeds from crops like peas, beans, and lettuce.
- Plan for next season – Start thinking ahead: do you need to order garlic or onion sets? Are you making notes on what worked (or didn’t) this year?
August is a rewarding month-enjoy your harvests, keep things ticking along, and take a moment to appreciate all your hard work.
Beans and courgettes can quickly turn too big or stringy if you leave them for even a day too long. Try not to leave even the tiniest potatoes in the soil when you are harvesting – they are delicious and quick to cook. If you overlook them they can re-emerge next year as ‘volunteers’ and may carry disease, as anyone familiar with the tragic history of Ireland can tell you.
Some other tasks for this month
- Spread well–rotted mulches after rain to keep moisture in the soil.
- Pinch out the tops of climbing beans to encourage growth lower down.
- Pinch out and feed tomatoes.
- Give extra support to peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers as the fruits get heavier.
- Plant out new strawberry plants.
- Keep earthing up potatoes, to stop them from turning green in the light.
- Dry out garlic, shallots and onions.
- Prune currants, gooseberries and summer-fruiting raspberries.
- Prop up heavily-laden fruit trees so the branches don’t break.
- Sow Italian vegetables, such as radicchio and cima di rapa, and orientals, such as mustards, pak choi and mizuna. It is also possible to still sow beetroots and carrots – some people say they are sweeter when sown in August.
Green Manure
With bare patches appearing after your harvest, now is a good time to think about putting some goodness back in to the soil with some green manure.
Green manures are great for keeping the weeds down too. Be careful to use the right green manure to go with your crop rotation.
Here’s some good advice from across the internet…
https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/expert-advice/garden-management/soil/green-manures
Other things you might want to do…
Watch out for tomato blight – if your plants are affected please burn them or bag them up and remove from the site. Don’t compost them.
Now is the time to sit back, look around your plot and make a note of what has been a great success and what you would like to do differently next year.