August - overview
The vegetable garden will be in full swing, continuing to harvest
peas, broad beans, courgettes, cabbage, lettuce, french beans
and sweet corn should be ready.
Now
is the time to harvest the onions, they should have bent their
necks and the bulbs should be a good size if any are still growing
you can leave as they are or bend the neck over. You can leave
them in the ground to dry for a few days. When ready to harvest
use a fork to loosen out the ground, don't pull them by the
neck as this can damage the base around the roots and can affect
their storage. Remove the soil from the roots and dunk in water
to wash any excess soil off and leave to dry in the sun for
a couple of hours. Sort the onions into ones that will keep
and others to eat straight away.
Any
remaining Potatoes should be harvested as leaving in the ground
too long will result in pest damage, particularly if August
is wet.
Courgette plants; towards the end of the month it's worth leaving
some to grow into marrows
If you are growing pumpkins, check their condition and make
sure they are not sitting on damp soil, if they are put something
like an old slate under them.
During
the month check to see if the sweet corn is ready, the tassels
on the end of the covered cobs should be going brown. If you
think the corn is ready, pull open the leaves and check to see
if the corn is yellow, if it is, squeeze a piece of corn with
your thumbnail. If the liquid is creamy colour then they are
ready to harvest. Fresh sweet corn is best eaten as soon as
you have picked the cobs when they contain the most amount of
sugar.
Some
crops will be past their best, harvest the produce and remove
the foliage and compost. If it's the legume family (peas, beans)
make sure you leave the roots in the soil as they will have produced
nitrogen.
You can consider trying to grow onions over winter, such as the
Japanese onion which will grow slowly over the winter months,
giving you onions usually next January onwards. It can be worth
a chance to try to grow new potatoes for Christmas, you need specially
prepared seed which will sprout as soon as planted. Their success
depends on how mild the weather is. It is advisable to use a fleece
or cloche to protect the crop during cold weather.
Add
Comfrey leaves to rain butts to make liquid fertilizer
Greenhouse; plants such as tomato, peppers and cucumbers should
be harvesting well, water in the evening and morning. Tomatoes
will need supporting and side shoots will need pinching out.
To help pollination shake the main stem daily. Check for any
pests such as greenfly and whitefly.
Key dates:
If you have any advice or tips about gardening relating to
this month contact us and if suitable will add to the page - please
local to Haworth and the surrounding area only.
