August wraps up summer and prepares for the fall. The farmers must roll up their sleeves and prepare for a long chore list while the heat bears down. Truly, it is only now that we have begun to heat up. A cool and wet spring led significantly into our summer, which could possibly mean we wear shorts to Thanksgiving. Who know!
August, however, is the perfect example of the work of transitioning the garden from summer to fall. In some cases, our preparations will also benefit the winter garden IF we are successful. Much of the bounty is already here in the freezers and cabinets, or passed along to any visiting friend. And though it is hard to imagine a cool down ahead with a current heat index of 126F, she’ll come.
Here’s what we are chipping away at this month:
Zone 8a August Tasks
- Remove spring tomatoes and remaining spring crops (cucumbers, early zinnias)
There is always the option to leave your surviving spring plants for the fall because they will have a resurgence of production once the temperatures begin to cool. We noticed some flowers, and even a few cucumbers on our spring plants as we removed them. However, our spring production of paste tomatoes was so low that we are putting more trust into fresh seedlings for an abundant fall sauce harvest. If flowers, like zinnias, have reseeded, this would also be the time to move them where you’d like them to be and remove the mothers.
- Transplant fall tomatoes (early)
4th of July is my trigger to get some things rolling for the fall: namely fall tomato seeds and pumpkins. The first half of the month is when I transplant the fall tomatoes into their beds. I wait until they are fairly large, wanting to up pot to a larger size, and heavily water to keep soil temperature down some.
- Process peppers, tomatillos, jalapenos and watermelon
If your garden has been happy about the summer heat, you should be dealing with an abundance of peppers by now! Unlike tomatoes, I don’t have as many ways to consume peppers so I have had to be creative: roasting and freezing to use for pasta and hummus. We have diced and salsa’d and freshly eaten as much as we can.
- Monitor pumpkins
July pumpkins have vined out and have started producing male flowers. With a wet spring, we have had heavy bug pressure. I’ve been a bit lazy with proactively treating them, and am not expecting the abundance we had last year. Typically, I will spray BT on the stems near the dirt every other day to prevent vine borers. I attempt a daily search for squash beetle eggs. This year, the cucumber beetles are crushing anything with a yellow flower. I plan to have yellow sticky traps available next year.
Things to monitor/research for pumpkins:
- Vine borers
- Squash beetles
- Cucumber beetles
- Powdery mildew
- Start overwintered flowers (feverfew, strawflower, nigella, snapdragons)
Cool weather flowers have been a topic for research in 2024. We tested some cool weather flowers by starting seed super early and transplanting out even sooner than we ought to have. And still, these flowers require some heat to bloom, not producing well until April or May. How do these farmers have flowers for mother’s day?! Overwintering. So instead of testing new plants or varieties this year, we are trying a new way of planting. We start these flowers by seed 10 weeks before the first frost. Then, we transplant 6 weeks before the frost and plan to cover them through the winter/spring with our hoop tunnels. (Alas, we will try this and still try new plants… Suckers for a difficult go!)
- Start leeks and onions for October transplant
Successfuly, we have always started our onion and leek starts in February and harvested in May. As I space out room for the plants that must be planted in spring, I really have room for about 200 onions. However, if I start some in October, I will be harvesting them in March-April! Again, another planting test, but I have seen it done locally!
- Up Pot fall crops (brussels, broccoli, beets, broccolini, cabbage)
As we learn to plant only what we like to eat, I’m recognizing that I don’t have to grow an enormous amount of fall crops. I am the solo broccoli fan around here. But we will grow some! Supplementing these crops will be direct sewn carrots, spinach, kale, cilantro, parsley and bok choy.
- Transplant asparagus starts
I started asparagus from seed! So our three year adventure begins. This will also officially seal in our last raised bed with perennials.
- Separate strawberry mothers from babies
Our 45 strawberry plants have become 200+ over the year and very healthy. But I just learned that separating the mothers from new babies will help everything be well spaced and continue to produce at volume. It will be so fun to share after receiving the generous gift of plants to begin with!
- Cut back blackberries and raspberry primacanes
- Order next year’s seeds and fall cover crop
- Distribute last round of compost and
For All Summer Garden Things:
It’s a full time job keeping these people well fed! We’re stocking up the fridge and larder. Larder, doesn’t that just make things feel even more Little House on the Prairie-esque?
While canning may take a bit of prep and time, quick pickling and stovetop jams have become some of my favorite to-do’s during the summer. It by far trumps mopping.
Processing summer produce:
- Tomatillo salsa
- Canned tomato sauce
- Frozen spaghetti sauce
- Summer fruit jams
- Pickled jalapenos + cucumbers
- Heirloom Red Salsa
Read on:
- Bunny Book Club Summer Book List (coming soon!)
- Garden Updates
- Bunny Book Club: “Tomatoes for Neela” (coming soon!)
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