August is a suitable time for planting these 10 garden plants on your property.
August Gardening: Preparing for Future Harvests and Winter Growing
August is an ideal time to start planting a variety of crops for future harvests and winter growing. With the right care and planning, you can enjoy fresh greens, first flowers, and berries at the start of the next season.
Leafy Greens
Leafy greens such as spinach, kale (especially hardy types like Lacinato), chard, bok choy, mizuna, and spring cabbages are excellent for overwintering and early spring harvests. These hardy greens thrive in cooler temperatures and can be started indoors or in a greenhouse before transplanting outdoors. Kale, in particular, withstands harsh winter cold better than many crops.
Root Vegetables
Root vegetables including beets, radishes, carrots, and turnips are another great option for August planting. These crops prefer cooler weather and often improve in flavor after frost. Radishes mature quickly in 3-5 weeks, allowing for multiple successions from sowing in August.
Legumes
Legumes like bush or pole beans can be direct-seeded and mature relatively fast (around 50 days), providing harvests into early fall. They require minimal fertilizing and grow well when sown directly in the ground.
Warm-season Crops
For those living in warmer climates like Arizona, August is also a suitable time for planting tomatoes, squash (summer and winter types), cucumbers, corn, peppers, eggplants, pumpkin, and tomatillo. These crops are generally for harvest before frost or in mild winter zones.
Other Considerations
- Shallots love light and well-drained soil without excess moisture. It's best to plant shallots after legumes or beets, without burying the bulbs too deep - the distance between them should be at least 7-8 cm. Garlic is planted with cloves at a depth of 4-6 cm.
- Currants and gooseberries should be planted with a 'head start' in August.
- Perennials such as phlox, peonies, geraniums, baby's breath, asters, and lavender thrive when planted 1-1.5 months before frost.
- Radishes can be planted again in August, ensuring robust sprouts and crisp harvest due to shortening days and still warm soil.
- In August, early varieties of onions for green onions and winter onions (shallots) are planted.
- Sorrel germinates well in cool and damp conditions, which is exactly August weather. Turnips and daikon are also suitable for August gardens, allowing for experimentation with various varieties.
- Hardy roses can be planted in August, requiring a calm, sheltered spot with morning sun and afternoon shade, a raised bed enriched with compost and manure, and mulching and pruning after planting.
- In southern regions, late August is the ideal time for planting winter garlic.
Caring for Your August Garden
After planting, it's essential to help plants adapt by watering regularly, avoiding creating swamps, gently loosening the soil, mulching beds to retain moisture and prevent weeds, choosing mild fertilizers, and monitoring the weather to protect plants with cover material on cool nights if frost is expected.
Planted in the fall, winter garlic roots faster and produces a more abundant harvest. A new strawberry patch can be established in late summer, with plants having time to root before frost for early growth in spring. For success, add some superphosphate and ash, and in hot conditions, plant other crops nearby for shade.
Preparing Your Soil
Cover crops such as mustard and clover, sown on empty land, enrich the soil, suppress weeds, protect from erosion, and serve as an excellent green fertilizer when tilled in. Before planting, it's beneficial to "harden" it in the cold and then disinfect it from pests.
With the right planning and care, your August garden can provide a mix of quick harvests in fall and crops that can overwinter or persist into early spring. Happy gardening!
[1] Garden Myths: Can You Plant Kale in August? [2] When to Plant Winter Vegetables in Arizona [3] Radish: Growing Guide [5] Bean: Growing Guide
Maintaining a home-and-garden lifestyle, one can start planting leafy greens such as kale, spinach, and chard in August for overwintering and early spring harvests, as these hardy greens thrive in cooler temperatures. Additionally, root vegetables like beets, radishes, carrots, and turnips can be planted in August and grown for their fresh produce at the start of the next season, as they prefer cooler weather.
