August
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Late Summer which can be August, often the kindest month for gardeners, warm and sunny, growth is slowing now, the pressures off, mostly harvesting to get on with, oh yes- beware thunderstorms.
OUTDOORS
Reduce watering for pot grown plants to say twice daily Feed pot plants with comfrey liquid or seaweed solution weekly Last weeks in which you should feed almost everything perennial as from next month feeding will make any more growth too soft to over-winter Spray everything growing with diluted seaweed solution, and anything with deficiency symptoms more heavily Few weeds germinate now- but hoe, hoe, hoe fortnightly anyway Cut the grass at least fortnightly, preferably weekly and reduce the height of cut of the mower a little as you don’t want weeds and tussock forming grasses getting away Deadhead roses and cut back most flowering plants as flowers die Tie in new growths of climbing plants Trim back shoots on Wistaria by three quarters Cut leylandii and similar hedges now so re-growth is tough for winter Cut sticks, especially hollow stemmed ones, into lengths, bind in bundles and hide these inside evergreens and hedges as nests for ladybirds and lacewings for winter Sow hardy biennial flowers for next year’s blooms If off on holiday exchange produce with friend for watering Use driest period to repair, clean and paint metal gutters, pipes and tanks
Turn and re-mix your compost heap as it’ll really cook this time of year Don’t forget to put out water for the birds in dry spells Cut off and save ripening seed heads from almost any plant for feeding birds in winter especially oily ones such as sunflowers Save seed heads of your favourites for your own use, or packet the up for presents Bored kids- get them grubbing weeds from lawn for proportionate treats Freshly fill bird baths as water can be very short this month
AND in the orchard and fruitcage
Leave grass to grow long under fruit trees for better fruits as it takes up water and nitrogen making fruit colour better and store longer Stone fruits should be pruned asap to avoid Silver leaf disease If you didn’t prune your blackcurrants when picking then cut out at least a third or more of the oldest branches - and water and feed generously for more new growth Summer prune soft fruit and apples and pears further, remove three quarters of almost every young shoot except leaders (extensions) Remove all runners from strawberries except those potted up for new plants Early apples will be ripening- pick and use them before they go over, make apple puree and freeze it for example or juice, or dry Go over all your late apples and pears thinning out any misfits so the rest will be the better Do not collect up all windfall fruits- chop some in half to leave to fob off the wasps and birds Put paper bags over prize peaches, pears and apples to keep flies, birds and wasps off Pick blackberries early as they’re more digestible than late crops Plant out newly rooted strawberry runners and keep watered Now is a good time to destroy wasp nests before they eat all your apples and pears- hire a professional! Admit you have left too many bunches on your grapevine and remove at least a third now to give the other’s a chance… Don’t leave ripe fruits to go to waste, pick and preserve them all asap
AND in the vegetable plot
Sow green manures and winter ground cover on any bare soil that is not mulched now cleared of crops Sow spring cabbages asap for over-wintering Sow Pak-choi, Miners, Lamb’s, and loose leaf lettuces, saladings, spring onions, winter spinach, turnips, Chinese greens and hardy and biennial flowers Sow suitable and Japanese varieties of onions in the the last fortnight of the month for an much earlier ripening crops next summer Nip the tops off tomato plants as any future flower trusses are unlikely to ripen Gently lift pumpkins, melons and squashes onto pieces of wood or tile so they ripen off the soil Put stockings or tights over ripening heads of sunflowers you want to save seed from so it’s not be eaten by birds Keep picking courgettes, cucumbers, French and runner beans and sweet peas or they’ll stop cropping, water well, and you can get another month or more of cropping Don’t make it easy for slugs- dig potatoes as soon as their tops wither Sort your potatoes as you dig them, store the best, save some nice tubers for next year’s sets from healthy plants, and eat damaged and odd ones up first Start to get in early maincrop potatoes as their haulms wither, late maincrops need to keep growing on into September for full yields Watch main crop spuds for any unearthing themselves and cover with soil or much to prevent greening If blight is a problem don’t dig your spuds yet, cut the haulms off and dig them in a fortnights time once the spores have died off Ensure your onions are dried off really well, and garlic and shallots, use hot sunny days to dry off your onions- ideally in nets or even strung from the washing line, they’ll then keep much better If your sweet corn goes over (the grains become firm to touch not creamy) the cobs can be left to dry to be stored and used in winter Pick and dry or freeze summer’s herbs before they finish Harvest and use, store or preserve everything
ORDER
Get the catalogues and order your soft fruit bushes and new fruit trees for planting in just two months time
UNDER COVER
Prepare and clean your apple, potato and root stores for filling next month Steep ripe plums or damsons in white rum, then add sugar syrup – it’s better than sloe gin by a mile Dry apple rings, pear slices and sweet and hot peppers too Too many tomatoes to eat turn them into puree/passata and freeze them Make sure your onions and garlic are storing nicely, remove any rotters those with thick necks or looking unlikely to keep are better used first or for chutneys etc.
GREENHOUSE
Root tips cuttings of sweet potatoes into small pots to over-winter Pot up the specially treated (or just some saved from the spring planting) seed potato sets and grow under cover for ‘new’ potatoes in winter Watch out for slug damage on and worse, in, ripening sweet and surprisingly hot peppers too