Last updated on August 2nd, 2014
IN AUGUST, the perennial garden winds down…and the veggie garden explodes. It’s time to pickle the cukes, sauce the tomatoes, and freeze the broccoli and beans. Then there are annuals to propagate, bulbs to order, and…anyone else need a Valium? My essential chores for August:
Container Plantings. These will keep their looks until frost if you remove spent flowers regularly. Remember that container plants must be fed and watered daily — twice daily, in fact, during hot, dry spells.
Annuals. Take cuttings from impatiens, petunias, and wax begonias, and root them in pots of good soil. Brought indoors before frost, these colorful annuals will bloom all winter in a sunny window.
Bulbs. It’s the early gardener who gets the best tulips, hyacinths, narcissi and other spring bulbs. Order now to avoid disappointment. I obtain most of my bulbs from this source; for special, heirloom varieties, I shop here.
Compost. Fork over the pile, and soak it well with a slow-running hose. If you wish to contain, not pile, your garden debris, consider these inexpensive composting bins.
Daylilies. Following a heavy rain, divide and transplant big clumps. (I hope you have fragrant yellow ‘Hyperion,’ pictured above, in your daylily collection.)
Lawns. Let the weather, not the calendar, dictate your mowing routine. Do not mow at all during times of drought.
Perennial Seeds. If you are feeling energetic, sow next year’s crop of delphiniums, asters, hollyhocks and other perennials anytime now. Or, you can wait — as I do — and winter-sow these seeds during the less-harried months of January and February. In any event, consider planting something unusual, like the cocoa-scented Chocolate Flower.
Roses. Continue to deadhead; fertilize one last time for autumn bloom. If blackspot is a problem, you’ll find an organic treatment in you refrigerator. (Above, climbing R. ‘Blaze.’)
Vegetable Garden
Beans, Green. Better harvest and preserve these before they get old and woody. How I freeze green beans for winter use.
Beets. If you hurry, you can get another crop in for autumn harvest. Otherwise, dig up roots and freeze or can them. I freeze mine.
Broccoli. Keep an eye on the green heads, and be sure to cut them before they go to flower. Want to freeze your crop? The directions are here.
Brussels Sprouts. Stake tall plants that have fallen over. Begin to harvest the green, cabbage-like sprouts from the bottom of the stalk. Sprouts higher up will mature later. They become even sweeter after being exposed to frost.
Carrots. Sow now for winter use. Or, keep this last crop in the ground, as I do, and harvest during the first spring thaw.
Cucumbers. Turn the large ones into this refreshing Cucumber & Chive Soup. Use small cukes to make Super Easy Refrigerator Pickles.
Kale. Keep picking, and the plant will keep producing leaves until checked by the first hard frost. These are a healthy substitute to potato chips. How I freeze kale (and other leafy greens) for winter use.
Onions. Harvest when green tops fall over. How I harvest, cure and store onions.
Shallots. Harvest when the green tops show brown at the tips. Cure and store just as you would onions.
Peas. Sow your storage-crop early this month.
Potatoes. Although you can harvest these anytime after vines die back, I always leave mine underground until October. Why? Because my cellar isn’t cool enough before then to store the crop. How I harvest and store potatoes.
Tomatoes. Trim excess foliage to promote exposure to sun. Use big, unripened fruit for Fried Green Tomatoes. I hope you’ll try the big ripe tomatoes in this crowd-pleasing Classic Tomato Pie.
Zucchini. Too many to deal with? Freeze the squash. And be sure to try this easy Zucchini-Jack Casserole, and these Angelic Zucchini Fritters.
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Sheila says
Overwhelmed is right. If I eat another zucchini I’ll turn into a zucchini! Thanks for all the great preserving advice!
Olaf says
Kevin, I’m a new gardener, so I really like that you list chores for the month. Of course I also like the recipes, the garden tours, the hours tours…and your writing! Keep this site going!
badger gardener says
I finally have a sugar baby watermelon growing. We shall see if it has time to mature. This should have been an ideal Summer for heat-loving plants, so don’t know why it is dragging it’s feet (or tendrils). Still waiting for my Brandywines to ripen so I can make your tomato pie recipe. I have literally been thinking about it all Summer.
Lu'Ana Whitmarsh says
Hello I really enjoy reading your articles and I have tried this year … again to have a garden. My Father had the prettiest… well maybe I should not say prettiest but he had the nicest vegetable garden. The soil was a rich black with the rich green plants that he grew. I knew that he put rice hulls in it from the local rice place in Beaumont. But there were minimum weeds!!! Weeds take over my garden and I pull and pull. I use a weedeater but THEY come back and THEY win!! I can’t even get into my garden.
I work downtown and come home late and tired. Weeding every day is really not possible, especially when its a hundred degrees outside. I live in Spring Texas now and have a 10 X20 foot fenced in garden. What can I do to have a garden with less weeds? Help! please….
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Lu’Ana Whitmarsh – You can newspaper mulch, even around your existing plants. Works like a charm — no weeds for at least one season. Details here.
Diane says
Thanks so much for the tips
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Diane – Thanks for stopping by. This post was feeling mighty lonesome!
melody says
Luana! That sounds like my veggie garden. I finally gave up..those weed seeds will continue to torment you. This year I am sheet mulching with cardboard, I am getting my boxes from the movies and fast food places. You may have other options. Lay the box down—don’t open flat . 6 layers is recommended…I am almost finished with my first 2 (small town)
But then I am going to build raised beds on top of these and bring in mulch or gravel to cover the cardboard. Now if I can just keep my goats out of the pretty garden I have tried to plant this year…..
Abe Yonder says
There is nothing lonesome about your posts, it is read by many people who would never respond, like me.
Your tips and advice has saved my garden so many times, and I owe you a debt of gratitude for this amazing website you have put together, but did I ever think to reply and thank you? no no never, as most people; not until I read above your response to Dianne;
Diane – Thanks for stopping by. This post was feeling mighty lonesome!
I had no idea, so just to let you know, there are many like me who eat up your words and there is never a response, unless I have a problem that I ask an answer to. Your words are the words of a wise man of the ways of the garden. YOU SHOULD BE CALLED THE GURU OF GARDENING or something similar; not to give you the big head, but if anybody on line deserves that title, you do.
much obliged,
Abe Yonder
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Abe Yonder – What kind words to read this morning! Thank you.
Yvonne Bilbrey says
I am so glad I have found this site.
Kevin Lee Jacobs says
Yvonne – Nice to meet you.