Grow Your Own · 3–9 August

A garden full of food

August brings plenty to pick, but there is still time to sow quick-growing salads and vegetables for autumn and winter.

Early August is one of the most rewarding times of the growing year. After months of planting, watering and waiting, gardens and allotments are beginning to provide something for the table most days.

Courgettes seem to double in size overnight, runner beans need picking regularly and tomatoes are finally beginning to change colour. It can feel as though the sowing season has finished, but there are still plenty of seeds that can be planted now.

The trick this week is to keep harvesting what you already have while making a little space for fast-growing salads and vegetables that enjoy the cooler days of autumn.

A note for Yorkshire growers: August weather can move quickly between hot sunshine, heavy rain and cooler evenings. Use this post as a guide, but check your soil before watering and protect young seedlings from particularly hot or wet conditions.

What to sow indoors or under cover

There is less to start indoors at this time of year, but a few carefully chosen sowings can provide fresh leaves through autumn and winter.

Winter lettuce

Sow thinly in modules or small pots. Choose a hardy winter variety if you plan to grow it in an unheated greenhouse.

Spring cabbage

Sow in modules or a seed tray now for planting out later. Protect the young plants from slugs and caterpillars.

Herbs for the windowsill

Try coriander, parsley or chives. A bright windowsill will provide useful herbs after outdoor growth begins to slow.

Pea shoots

Sow dried marrowfat peas closely in a shallow container. Cut the shoots when they are approximately 10–15cm tall.

What to sow outdoors

Sow little and often rather than emptying the whole packet. Small rows are easier to look after and prevent everything becoming ready at once.

Radishes: sow a short row in a clear patch or container. Keep the soil moist to help prevent woody roots.
Spinach: late-summer sowings are less likely to bolt than those planted during very hot weather.
Rocket and mixed salad leaves: sow in partial shade if the weather is hot and harvest the leaves while young.
Pak choi and other oriental leaves: these enjoy the shortening days, although young seedlings may need protection from slugs and flea beetle.
Turnips: sow a fast-growing variety for small, tender autumn roots. The young leaves can also be eaten.
Spring onions: sow a hardy variety for an autumn crop or to overwinter.

Planting out this week

Plant out winter cabbage, kale, purple sprouting broccoli and leeks if they are ready. Water them well after planting and cover brassicas with fine netting to keep cabbage white butterflies away.

What you may be harvesting

What is ready will depend on when it was planted, but gardens and allotments can be wonderfully productive this week.

Courgettes: pick them while they are still fairly small. Check beneath the leaves because they are easy to miss.
Runner and French beans: pick every few days to encourage the plants to keep producing.
Tomatoes: harvest them as they ripen. Slightly underripe fruit can finish ripening on a warm windowsill.
Potatoes: carefully lift second earlies when the plants have flowered and the leaves begin to fade.
Carrots and beetroot: pull a few as you need them, leaving the smaller roots to continue growing.
Cucumbers: harvest regularly before the fruits become oversized or bitter.
Onions and garlic: lift them when their leaves have naturally yellowed and fallen over. Dry them before storing.
Soft fruit: autumn raspberries, blackberries and late blueberries may be beginning to ripen.

Jobs around the plot

Water containers thoroughly because pots can dry out surprisingly quickly, even after a light shower.
Water established plants deeply at soil level instead of giving the surface a quick sprinkle.
Feed tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and courgettes with a suitable liquid feed if they are producing fruit.
Tie tall tomatoes to their supports and remove unwanted side shoots from cordon varieties.
Remove yellowing leaves from courgettes and squashes to improve airflow around the plants.
Check potatoes and tomatoes for dark patches or rapidly dying foliage, which can be signs of blight.
Continue pulling weeds before they flower and scatter seeds.
Add healthy plant trimmings to the compost heap. Avoid adding diseased leaves or weeds carrying mature seeds.
Support heavily laden fruit branches and squash plants before their weight causes damage.

Growing with children

Go on a courgette hunt

Courgettes hide surprisingly well beneath their large leaves. Ask children to look carefully and count how many they can find.

They can compare the different sizes, choose one that is ready and help carry it to the kitchen. Remind them not to pull the plant or touch any prickly stems.

If you don’t grow courgettes, try a colour hunt instead. How many red, green, yellow and purple foods can they find growing?

Photo: Jonathan Kemper via Unsplash

This week’s quick checklist

Pick beans and courgettes regularly
Sow a small row of salad leaves
Check tomatoes and potatoes for blight
Water pots and containers thoroughly
Feed fruiting tomatoes and courgettes
Net newly planted brassicas
Remove weeds before they seed
Plan how to use or preserve spare produce