August Jobs On Your Allotment

Maintaining soil and structures and planning ahead​

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• Green manures such as Mustard and Phacelia and Grazing Rye can be sown now.

• Continue regular weeding to avoid build-up of work later.

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​Sowing and growing​

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• Sow oriental vegetables such as mizuna, pak choi and mustard greens for salad leaves- they bolt less at this time of year.

• Sow parsley to last through till spring on a sunny windowsill.

• Sow Swiss chard and perpetual spinach at the beginning of the month.

• Make a last sowing of beetroot at the beginning of the month.

• Sow fast-growing ‘catch crops’ for autumn use, such as radish, lettuce, rocket and turnips.

• Plant out winter brassicas, broccoli, kale and cabbbages in soil which has been limed at least 6 weeks before, to reduce club root infestations.

• Plant new strawberries now, either as detached runners or new plants.

• In dry weather keep runner beans well-watered twice a week to aid setting.

• To reduce risk of tomato blight, water directly onto the roots not the leaves.

• Feed courgette plants weekly with a high potash liquid feed to continue fruiting.

• Summer prune trained fruit trees such as fans, espaliers and cordons.

• Prune plum and damson trees after fruiting. On grape vines shorten fruit bearing branches to two leaves beyond the fruit bunch.

• Prune out fruited canes of summer raspberries.

• Tie in new canes on raspberries and blackberries.

• On grape vines shorten fruit bearing branches to two leaves beyond the fruit bunch.

• Cut back chives if showing signs of rust and new shoots will quickly appear. Remove mint plants showing signs of rust. The disease will persist over winter and re-infect new plants next year.

• Pick off and destroy rosemary leaf beetle which are active at this time of year.

• In the greenhouse avoid splashing water onto leaves. Moisture triggers spore germination of fungal diseases.

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Harvesting

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• Harvest sweet corn when a grain exudes milky juice when tested with a fingernail and the whiskers are brown.

• Harvest onions and shallots when the stems are dry and papery.

• Start harvesting runner beans, parsnips and cucumbers when ready.

• Complete harvesting of second early potatoes and begin to harvest main crop potatoes as they begin to flower.

• Harvest early ripening apples and pears.

• Harvest carrots, but leave protective insect mesh on carrots until autumn.

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Gardening for wildlife

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• Leave some flower seed heads on plants as source of food for wildlife.

• Cut and shake ripe seed heads of annuals over suitable patches of bare soil for flowers next year.​