What to sow & do in the August kitchen garden

An August kitchen garden brings us rich pickings, plenty of maintenance, and opportunities to prepare for the next growing season. It isn’t too late to get some kind of kitchen garden started during August either, as long as you take action soon.

There are several different seeds you can sow this month, and a few more jobs to get on with after that. Whether you’re growing your own food right now, or you’re thinking about growing your own next year, read on.

My August kitchen garden diary

It’s all systems go for the tomato plants, and we have plenty of herbs to go with them too, including basil, oregano, thyme, chives and coriander.

I’ve also made some successional sowings of radish, spring onion, rocket and other baby leaves to keep the salads coming. Speaking of salad, we have two nicely productive cucumber vines this year too, even though we lost a couple of plants to the bad weather.

Our autumn raspberries, French beans and chard plants are growing strongly so we’re picking them regularly. There’ll be some for the freezer soon too, joining last month’s extra rhubarb crop.

Seeds to sow in August

It’s high summer and most edible gardens are well established, but there are still some seeds you can sow now to provide food later this year and into the next. As always, check individual seed packets for sowing dates as certain varieties have different ideal planting times.

• Carrots (Autumn maincrop varieties)
• Chicory
• Endive
• Japanese onions and hardy White Lisbon Spring onions (to overwinter)
• Kohl rabi
• Leaf beet (perpetual spinach, to overwinter)
• Lettuce (baby leaf and hardy types such as Winter Density)
• Oriental greens and mustard leaves
• Radishes
• Rocket
• Spinach
• Spring cabbage (to overwinter)
• Swiss chard (eat some as baby leaf in a few weeks, eat the rest next year)
• Turnips
• Winter radish

Some of my favourite places to get seeds and small plants include:

• Dobies – great seed catalogue from long-established company
• Marshalls Garden – good variety of seedlings and plants
• RHS – good for ‘Garden Merit’ tried and tested varieties
• Suttons – lots of 99p seeds and handy advice for beginners
• Thompson & Morgan – all kinds of seeds, strawberry plants, fruit bushes etc
• Wilko – the bargain seeds are back, plus lots of multi-buy offers

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Apart from sowing seeds, there’s plenty to do this month while the garden’s growing in the warmer weather.

Garden jobs to do in August

1. Planting out in August

• Sprouting broccoli seedlings
• Winter cauliflower seedlings

2. Care of vegetables in August

• Check tomatoes & potatoes for blight, remove yellowing leaves at the base of stems
• Pinch out (‘stop’) cordon tomato tips if you haven’t done so already
• Remove one or two pumpkin leaves if they’re shading fruit (end of the month)
• Put straw or upturned saucers between ripening pumpkins and the soil
• Lift and dry onions and garlic

3. Care of fruit in August

• Cut back old canes of Summer-type (floricane) raspberries if fruiting is over
• Tie in new canes of Summer-type (floricane) raspberries
• Plant out new strawberry plants for next year
• Summer prune damsons, peaches, plums, nectarines etc if they’ve finished fruiting (check pruning requirements of individual varieties)

4. General jobs to keep on top of in August

One of the main things to do in August kitchen garden is to pick loads of fresh crops as they ripen. This often keeps them producing for longer, which means more food.

Here are your other reminders:

• Check crops for pests and diseases
• Deadhead flowers of companion plants
• Earth up potatoes & Jerusalem artichokes
• Feed plants with liquid feed every 7 – 14 days
• Protect fruit from birds
• Slug and snail protection
• Tie in plants as they grow
• Turn compost
• Ventilate greenhouse or cloche
• Watering
• Weeding

Enjoying this article? You may also like:

• What to sow & do in a July kitchen garden
• British seasonal food in August (what to pick this month)

Are you growing your own fruit, vegetables and herbs this season?

How’s your plot looking right now?