Vegetable Garden in August - Hints and Tips

We are that time of the year and garden season when hints and tips for the vegetable garden once more include the phrase "depending upon where you live". In warmer regions you will be able to get away with late sowings while cooler regions may wish to take a risk or accept that there may not be enough warm weather to come to get crops to maturity.

Tomatoes

I make no secret of the fact that I am an enthusiastic grower and eater of tomatoes.

Early in the season I can buy locally grown tomatoes from a market gerdener but there is nothing like that taste that comes from those freshly picked from your own vines.

Pick those tomatoes that are ripening quickly now and enjoy the abundant harvest.

Irregular watering can lead to problems with blossom end rot in tomatoes so it is advisable to water well during dry spells.

Keep up with potato blight control on outdoor tomatoes to prevent further infection of the crop.

Also keep your eyes peeled for ghost spot, blotchy ripening and greenback. Problems with ripening can be caused by heat damage, lack of feeding or water, or by a genetic tendency in some varieties. Tomato viruses are another problem.

Reading back over this it may not at first glance look like a good advert for growing your own tomatoes but with a sensible care and good housekeeping regime most problems are avoided.

Quick Maturing Crops

Here we go with one of those depending upon where you live:

In warmer areas you can still sow quick maturing salad crops such as summer lettuce, radish, rocket, sorrel, chicory and fennel. Continue to sow spring cabbage, turnips, Oriental vegetables and overwintering onions.

If like me and you have a greenhouse, try sowing salad leaf crops such as lettuce, matzuna, rocket, greek cress and golden purslane in seed trays on the greenhouse benching. Sow seeds thinly, grow to maturity in the seed trays and graze the young leaves so that they cut and cum again.

Remember to regularly pick fast maturing vegetables such as French beans, runner beans, courgettes and cucumbers which will prevent stringiness or toughness and encourage further cropping.

Onions, Shallots and Garlic

Onions, shallots and garlic should be liften when ready. Harvest when the necks start to turn brown and papery and bend over naturally. Do not bend over the necks before they are ready to do so as this can result in the introduction of disease.

After harvesting let the tops dry until they rustle like brown paper and then remove them.

Enjoy or carefully store for later use.

Check stored onions for softness and the grey or black mould of neck rot.

Eelworm can cause swelling and distortion of plants and rotting of stored onions. Crop rotation is the best wat to prevent this.

Carrots

It might be August but the carrot root fly have not gone on annual vacation, take care when thinning out late-sown carrot seedlings to prevent the scent released attracting carrot fly females.

Marrows

Marrows should be slightly raised off the ground which will prevent them rotting from contact with the soil.

Remove some older leaves to maximise sun upon the fruit.

Celery

Continue earthing up celery by putting a layer of paper between the stems and the soil.

Potatoes

Now is the time to finish harvesting second early potatoes. This is essential if it turns wet as slugs become active.

Keep up with potato blight control on potatoes to prevent further infection of the crop. Cut off the haulms of blighted potatoes and burn them. The good news is that the tubers can still be harvested.

Sweetcorn

As if you need encouragment, harvest sweetcorn as it ripens.

To test if they are ready push a fingernail into the kernel when the tassels at the end of the cob start to shrivel and brown. If the liquid is milky it is time to enjoy the fruits of your labour.

Please excuse me while I take a moment to imagine the butter running down my chin. Sorry about that.

Herbs

Parsley can be sown in warmer areas for cropping during the winter.

Now is a good time to take cuttings of rosemary, bay and hyssop.

Remember that herbs can be potted up and taken into the house for use during autumn and winter.

Encourage a second flush of flowered herbs such as marjoram by cutting them back.

Green Manure

Not everyone believes in green manure such as crimson clover and Italian ryegrass.

Many believe that they act as a soil improver, covering bare soil and that when dug in conserve nutrients and improve soil texture.

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