For many of us, August means vacations but in the garden the season is in full swing. Vegetables to harvest – and cook! – are plenty. It is also time to sow or plant for the coming seasons while maintaining the crops.
Harvests
Before sowing and planting, you need to clear everything up. In August, summer harvests don’t take a break after July. We harvest tomatoes, zucchinis, peppers, chilis, aubergines, cucumbers, green beans, beans to hull, onions, the first celeries, chards, lettuces and summer leeks, corn, melons, watermelons... The objective: indulge but also progressively free up space for upcoming crops. In the kitchen, also think about cans for winter: tomato coulis, canned ratatouille, pickled chili... Sunrays for gloomy days!
Seedling and plantations
For those who are not going on long vacations, it is time to sow or plant autumn and winter vegetables: salads (chicory, frisée, lamb’s lettuce, rocket, mesclun, angelica...), parsnip, carrots, winter leeks and radish, white onions, all-year-long spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels’ sprouts and premature types of cabbage... Be careful with the heat and lack of humidity: don’t hesitate to add shade, a light mulch or cover seed with a wet hessian until sprouting. Some harvests are over? You can sow green fertilizer to feed the soils.
Maintaining
In August, it can still be quite hot: keep on watering cautiously early morning or evening, protect sensitive vegetables with shadow (upside-down crates, raised boards...) and check on the potential appearance of diseases or destructive insects. You can also mow and bury green fertilizers after it bloomed. It is also time to recover seeds for future seedling (tomatoes, courgettes, bolting plants like lettuce, coriander or chervil...). The vegetable garden never stops!