August

Harvest and preserve. 

Summer harvest is still in full swing, and my canner is running about every other night. When you’re over it (it happens), think of all the comfort and convenience you’ll have in February. Then make yourself a gin & tonic. 

Sow autumn seeds & prepare cold frames for winter. 

Yes, it still feels like summer, but autumn is only six to eight weeks away. Continue sowing seeds for autumn and winter crops, which will help you have a succession of harvestable plants from September through February, if you’re lucky. 

Now is also the time to make sure your protected winter growing areas — like covered beds, cold frames, hot beds and greenhouses — are ready for those autumn and winter crops that need a bit of protection from direct frosts. I check that my clear plastic covering for my raised beds is clean and free of tears. I replace the soil in our cold frame in late August with fresh mushroom compost. That timing gives the compost a few weeks to cool off before I need to plant my new seedlings into it. They’re growing strongly by the time cold weather arrives. 

Sow winter cover crops or livestock feed. 

Now’s a good time to sow winter cover crops or livestock feed on patches of bare ground. One of my favorites is red clover, and if you sow it now, it can bloom before winter hits — providing late-season food for pollinating insects and nitrogen-rich green winter food for livestock. The cover crop will be turned back into the soil in late winter or early spring. Other good winter cover crops (or livestock feeds) include rye, oats, vetch, peas, winter wheat, buckwheat and even mustard greens.  

I also allow some select weeds to grow in my garden beds beginning in autumn, including chickweed and henbit. Both are perennial or self-seeding weeds, but are easy to remove and grow best in cool weather — meaning they provide fresh, green growth when little else in the garden is fit for livestock to eat. They die back in our hot summers and cause no issues with my plants, so I’m happy to have them. 

Weed. 

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. 

Order garlic, perennial onions, flowering bulbs and fruit trees. 

Now is the time to order garlic, perennial onions, and flowering bulbs (tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, ranunculus, and the like) for planting later in the fall. It’s also the time I order fruit trees, which will be delivered in winter for planting.  

Deadhead flowers. 

Keep turning the compost.