August 1, 2025 • 25 mins
Welcome to your essential guide for August gardening success! As summer peaks and the first harvests fill our kitchens, smart gardeners are already planning their next moves. This episode unpacks exactly what you should be sowing now to maintain productivity through autumn and beyond.
The transition from July to August brings significant changes in the garden. I've just returned from holiday to find dramatic growth (and sadly, some losses in the heatwave), reminding me how crucial proper planning becomes this time of year. While summer crops like tomatoes, potatoes, and onions reach their prime, the spaces they'll soon vacate offer perfect opportunities for late-season plantings.
August represents a strategic shift in our sowing calendar. Though the list of suitable crops has shortened since spring, this month offers unique advantages for establishing winter-hardy varieties. Cooling temperatures and decreasing daylight actually benefit many plants, extending their productive periods before bolting. I walk through comprehensive recommendations for successional crops (spring onions, spinach, loose-leaf lettuce), winter salads (mustard, tatsoi, rocket, claytonia), herbs (coriander, chervil, dill), and substantial vegetables (Florence fennel, kale, spring cabbage). For polytunnel gardeners, I share my experimental approach to pushing traditional sowing calendars with protected crops of carrots and beetroot.
Beyond sowing, August demands vigilance with existing crops. From proper tomato maintenance and blight prevention to protecting ripening fruit from birds, I cover the essential maintenance tasks that ensure continued harvest success. Remember—the secret to year-round productivity isn't just what you plant, but when and how you plan. By thinking six weeks ahead and continuously filling gaps, you'll create a garden that provides fresh harvests in every season. What will you sow this month?
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
How's it going everybody, and welcome to
episode 287 of Master my Gardenpodcast.
Now, this week's episode beingthe first Friday of August,
we're doing the usual seedsowing guide for the month ahead
and kind of looking at whatseeds we can be sown and other
gardening jobs, and this one isthe first.
This episode is the first onethat I've actually recorded
(00:34):
since coming back from holidays.
It's yeah, I was the first twoweeks in July, released the
episodes as normal, but I was onholidays during that time and,
yeah, in my own garden lotschanged in two weeks and there's
kind of as I've done for thelast couple of years once I know
(00:58):
I'm going away at a particulartime.
I kind of stopped sowing for acouple of weeks prior to that,
because I suppose the onus is onsomeone else to mine them then.
And I did have some.
I did have some sort of wintercrops, so I had some savoy
cabbage, a couple of trays ofsavoy cabbage, a couple of trays
of purple sprout and broccoli,spring onions and a couple of
(01:21):
other bits that I'd sown fromseed.
You know, a while ago they wereready to be planted out, or
nearly ready to be planted outwhen I got back and during that
first week of July I think,there was really warm weather
here and when I came back theywere all crisped in the tunnel
and fit for the bin.
So, yeah, that's exactly why Idon't't, you know, I don't sow
(01:44):
too much or plant out too muchat that time.
So that means I kind of end upwith a little bit of a gap not
too much, but a little bit of agap.
Um, and then the first weekfirst week back is really
catching up and trying to getyour tomatoes back into check,
because again I have somebodythat waters them a little bit
when I'm gone, but not much.
So it's just basic care to keepthem alive.
(02:09):
Obviously, that warm weathercaught them out in relation to
the little plug plants, but thetomatoes were fine, they were
growing well, but just a hugeamount of side shooting and
cleaning up to be done.
I suppose when I got back,that's all back in check now and
, yeah, sowing has started.
I had to go off and actuallybuy some trays of plants to sort
(02:34):
of replace the ones that gotcrisped up.
But the important thing, Isuppose, is to keep sowing and
to keep something in the in thepipeline as as we move through
the seasons.
You know say that the wholetime that the the biggest
challenge is utilizing the spaceall year round and that's where
many of us fall down.
(02:55):
And August is a great monthgenerally because it's probably
the month where anything that isavailable to harvest has sort
of is has and is coming intofruition at this stage.
So you know, june is kind ofwhen your real harvest starts.
I know you will have some priorto that, but you're sort of
(03:17):
bulkier.
You know the more of your ofyour harvests are coming in,
your first of your brassicas arecoming in, your cauliflowers or
broccolis and so on, and thatcontinues through July and
August.
Then you know that's matched inwith certainly some potatoes,
tomatoes, onions.
You know there's lots ofharvest and of course those
(03:41):
harvests when they come outthey're going to leave spaces
and voids and this is where weneed to have to be sowing and to
have crops coming along behindit so that we don't have these
gaps and that we're able tocontinue to produce.
Doesn't have to be big amounts,but we're able to continue to
produce a little bit all thetime.
On the harvesting front, youknow some.
As I said, a couple of weekswhen I'm away is great because
(04:04):
there's been like some seriousgrowth obviously when I was away
and seemed to have kind of anice combination between some
nighttime rain and then warmtemperatures.
So definitely you know there'sa lot of crops.
They're going really reallywell.
So just to kind of give sort ofan overview of what is
happening, carrots absolutelyburst out of it while I was away
(04:28):
, to be fair.
So when I was leaving they werereasonably sized, not a huge
amount of leaf growth up on top.
You know it was small and thecarrots themselves were forming
but they were quite small.
But in the two weeks they havegrown really really well and I'm
not harvesting them much.
I've just taken a few here andthere but they're after getting
(04:51):
so much bigger now they're fitto harvest now as nice little
sweet ones and I'll continue toharvest them over the next
couple of months.
Parsnips they're doing reallywell, flying out of it actually
A couple of different batches ofonions, just one batch of red
and white ones.
That was the first sowing fromseed that I did there, ready to
(05:12):
harvest.
They've just fallen over, stillhave loads from the polytunnel,
so no shortage of onions at themoment.
Turnips actually coming in atthe moment.
Cauliflower had a lovely batchof broccoli just before I went
and they were forming a tinylittle head when I was going as
(05:34):
in about the size of yourthumbnail, for example, and in
the two weeks I expected thatwhen I got back it'd be kind of
a nice size and kind of a decentsize to harvest.
So clearly, when I was awaythere was huge growth because
when I came back they were allgone to seed Big yellow flowery
heads on them in the space oftwo weeks.
So that was a huge, huge burstof growth and that's, you know I
(05:59):
think I've said it before thelikes of broccoli and
cauliflower.
They're a lovely crop to havebut I just don't feel that they
give enough for for the amountof effort and space you know
you're getting.
You're getting this one harvest.
You get a glut together if you,you know, if you saw a tray of
six or a tray of nine, you getthis glut and then you, you know
(06:24):
, you can obviously freeze themand so on, you know, chop them
up and freeze them and blanchthem and all those things, but
you get a glut together and forwhat?
For the space to take up, Ijust don't know that there's
enough.
You know there's enough returnfor the effort.
If you have no shortage ofspace, they're grand.
But there's much morebeneficial and much more crops
(06:48):
that give you much morelongevity of harvest, which I'm
kind of always trying to aim for.
So, like you know, salads andso on.
So, yeah, that's kind of what'shappening in the garden.
It seems to be going.
It's going to be a great yearfor apples, particularly A
couple of fruit trees that Iplanted a couple of years ago.
You know there were small trees, enough going in, like two or
three year old trees.
They're fruiting really well.
(07:09):
There's one particular tree andI think I counted 45 now it's
still a small tree.
It did get pruned in thespringtime specifically for
fruit and it's, you know, it'sdoing really well 40 something
apples on it.
Hopefully they'll all start toripen.
So far, no damage from wasps oranything like that.
(07:32):
It's going really really well.
So, yeah, they're doingbrilliantly.
Raspberries they've been reallygood.
Same, I suppose, a lot offruits have been good this year.
So, yeah, all of that is doingreally well.
Broad beans are doing reallywell.
Just kind of going through thebeds here in my head as I'm
thinking, uh, british queensready to harvest out the ground.
(07:54):
I've already taken the ones outof the pots again, probably
because I was away and theydidn't get the attention that
they might have otherwise.
They were beautiful, arebeautiful, still eating them.
A tiny bit small, although notoverly happy with the, with the
size of the potato, but in termsof taste, fantastic.
Yeah, couldn't fault them fromthat point of view.
(08:15):
But the ones in the ground,they're going to be really
heading in that direction now.
So I'd say, within the nextweek or two I'll be harvesting
those.
They're.
They're good to eat at theminute but I'm just allowing
them to fill out because I don'tneed to harvest them just yet.
So they're still filling out.
No sign of blight on them.
Touch wood and yeah, I'll get,hopefully get a decent, decent
(08:38):
batch of a harvest off them.
Rhubarb just saying that tosomebody yesterday.
What a what Rubeb is, you know,harvesting off it from months
now and just for the sake of Ithink it's three, maybe four
square metres, and justconstantly harvesting off it for
(09:00):
heading for four months, fouror five months now I suppose,
and looks like it's going tocontinue for another good while.
So Ruber is a brilliant,brilliant crop to have, just in
terms of longevity and in termsof you know what I was saying
with the cauliflower just, youcan get so much more out of it.
I love these ones that you getcontinuous harvest for, you know
(09:21):
, not much effort.
That's kind of what the name ofthe game is.
So, looking ahead to what we'regoing to sow for the month of
August and the list hasshortened again as we go into
August so, as we say, may is thebiggest month in terms of
sowing seeds and what you cansow, and then it starts to dip,
dip, dip all the way through.
(09:42):
And yeah, we's.
You know we're reducing quite alot now this month again.
But to run through the list, asyou know, as we always do, what
we can sow is some of our sortof successional crops.
So spring onions, that's goingto continue to be sown.
I am switching later this monthto a winter variety.
(10:04):
So you know I'll still doprobably more, one more sowing
of just your standard whiteLisbon, and then later in the
year or later in the month, Iwould do a sowing of the winter
varieties.
Um, they're important becausewhen I get to the end of the
month I'll do a big sowing.
I plant them into thepolytunnel and I'll harvest
(10:24):
basically for the whole winterthere.
So I can sow a lot of seed.
They don't run, they're notgonna.
They're not gonna run to seed,they're not gonna bolt, they're
just going to be there availableto harvest for months and
months on end.
So I can do a lot of the sowingat that stage and essentially
guarantee that I'll have springonions all through the winter,
(10:44):
and that's kind of a good way ofdoing it.
Spinach can still be sowed againas we move now into into august
, and particularly as we movetowards the end of the month,
there's going to be less need tosow that as regularly because
we are getting, you know, we'regetting to the stage where
temperatures are going to bestarting to drop down.
There's going to be lesssunlight and as a result, it's
(11:05):
not going to bolt quite asquickly.
So spinach again as we get tothe end of the month, we'd be
able to do a little bit of abigger sowing there and that
will help to give us sort oflongevity in our harvest.
Next one that we can sow isradish, and we are going to you
know, we're going to go to awinter variety here and again
(11:25):
I'll probably do one more sowingof the standard variety and
then later in the month we'llswitch to a winter variety
Lettuce.
Again, I'm going to continuesowing that.
Looking for, if you are sewinglettuce, look at this stage of
the year, forget about youricebergs and anything that forms
a really tight head.
You're looking for loose, looselettuce like butterhead, you
(11:46):
know, little gem, those typeones.
You're looking for somethingthat's kind of leaf farming
rather than than head farming.
At this stage of the year youcan switch, then very much
switch to your autumn strokewinter salads, and what we're
looking at there is things likemustard, tatsoi, rocket, the
claytona, you know any of thosetype winter salads.
(12:08):
And again, heading towards theend of August, you can sow quite
big batches of those becauseyou will be able to harvest over
a longer period of time.
Small and often it's not goingto be run into seeds.
So you can do, you know, bigsowing that's going to
essentially get you all the waythrough the winter, more or less
all the way through the winter.
(12:29):
So definitely be sowing that.
They're invaluable at thisstage of the year because when
you're able to harvest thesegreens at that stage of the year
, it's, as I say, invaluable,and you can still sow cress.
Then there's some of the herbsthat we can sow.
Coriander you won't again,because, a little bit like
spinach, because temperaturesare dropping, daylight hours are
(12:51):
dropping, you won't have to sowit as regular.
So coriander is, you know, aswe mentioned, all through those
summer months when daylighttemperatures are long.
You're going to get a kind of ashort window of of harvest from
the time you sow till the timeit runs.
The seed is quite short, butthat'll extend, you know, over
the next few months and as weget later into the, you know,
(13:15):
into the august and intoseptember.
A sowing of coriander again, agood sowing of coriander at that
stage will get you nearly allthe way through the winter again
.
So the the frequency at whichwe have to sow from now on is is
reducing and we can do sort ofbigger, bigger sowings because
(13:35):
we're able to get longer periodsbetween sowing and harvest out
of it.
So that's, you know, it'sreally important and it sort of
makes life a lot easier at thisstage of the year in terms of
keeping up and making sure thatwe have all these gaps filled.
Another one that can be sowedthis month is florence fennel
it's not one that I've grownbefore, probably will grow this
year, though um, it's one thatI've been thinking about for a
(13:58):
while, so I think I will havethe space to do.
It can stick it into polytunnelas well.
So I think I will will growthat, but that can be so this
month.
Kale again, it can be, it canbe sown that.
And there's a couple of thecalabrese um or a couple of the
brassica family, calabrese andspring cabbage.
They can be all sold later inthe month and these are ones
(14:21):
that for me personally here I'llplant them into the poly tunnel
.
They'll do.
They'll put on a little bit ofgrowth now.
For the next month or twothere'll be no harvest, but then
early next year.
So as soon as the temperaturesstart to rise, as soon as a
little bit of growth starts tokick in, you'll get a really
early harvest of calabrese,cauliflower, spring cabbage, all
(14:41):
from the polytunnel, if you'redoing it outside, spring cabbage
spring cabbage will be will befine.
So you're going to plant thatout.
You know, maybe in septembertime it'll put on a little bit
of growth, then it'll sit withleaves on it.
You'll have to make sure thatyou're protecting from,
particularly from pigeons, allover those winter months.
But then come next spring, assoon as there's a bit of growth,
(15:02):
that'll form a really, reallyearly pointed head and yeah,
it'll be your first sort ofharvest of cabbage next spring,
of kind of spring cabbage.
You'll have your red, you'llhave your red cabbage, you'll
have your savoy cabbage, sort ofthrough the winter and the
early spring.
But they're those, you know,those earthy, red and savoy
(15:25):
cabbages.
The autumn sown spring cabbageis one that will give you that
kind of first, you know, thatfresh cabbage taste.
It's a different taste.
You're getting that York Yorkstyle cabbage and they can be
sowed.
They can be sowed in the monthof August, leave them towards
the end of the month or themiddle to end of the month and
then plant them out a few weekslater.
(15:46):
What else can be sown?
I'm still going to do anothersowing of carrots and again all
the books will say it's too late, can't be done.
But I'll be doing a sowing ofcarrots and a sowing of beetroot
in the polytunnel.
May or may not work, I suspectit will.
Temperatures are good.
There'll be a little bit ofminding on them.
(16:07):
But yeah, I just want to wantto see.
Can I get a sort of a halfdecent crop early next year from
the polytunnel?
There'll be a bit of minding onthem.
But yeah, I just want to wantto see.
Can I get a sort of a halfdecent crop early next year from
the polytunnel?
There'll be a bit of minding onthem, potentially over the
winter if they do start to forminto, you know, into an actual
carrot, might have to mind thema little bit from pests over the
winter time.
But yeah, I think it's worth ashot and no, no harm in trying
(16:28):
and, as I say, I have a littlebit of space there to use up
anyway.
So why not?
Some other leafy things that wecan sow this month pak choy and
chard Again, they're reallyuseful, again, harvesting, just
as you know, you can harvest thepak choy, obviously as a head,
using stir fries and so on, butthe chard I'll just allow it to
grow, harvesting outer leaves,and so you're getting a little
(16:50):
bit of sort of winter greens.
It to grow harvesting outerleaves, and so you're getting a
little bit of sort of wintergreens.
That nice stem has the beautyof having a crunch to it, but
also the leaf is a little bitlike spinach and yeah, it's a
really really good sort ofwinter green to have, ideal in
stir fries, stews, just satay,you know, even with something
basic, you know, tomato and eggit's, it's really, it's a really
(17:10):
nice uh.
Chard is a really nice uh.
Char is a really nice vegetableto have and really versatile,
can be used for so much andhardy.
So if you're planting itoutside it'll be perfectly happy
just growing away there,getting a small bit harvest off
it again.
Just protect, if you are, youknow, if you have a lot of
pigeons around, protect it fromthem.
But other than that, that'll,that'll work away there.
(17:31):
Um so, and yeah, that's kind ofit, there's not much more that
we can be sowing this month.
So to kind of run over it again, you're looking at your
successional crops still, yourspinach, your spring onion, your
lettuce, switching to yourwinter autumn, winter greens,
the likes of tatsoi, mustard,clayton, claytona, rocket, all
(17:52):
those Cress can still be sown.
Some of the herbs coriander,chervil, dill, parsley, any of
those can still be sownFlorenceveil, kale, beetroot and
carrots just I'm going to tryone personally in the polytunnel
, packed chai can still be sown.
Chard, and then your springcabbage and potentially
(18:14):
cauliflower and broccoli, againplanted into the polytunnel at
this stage and they potentiallywill give you an early crop.
And that's kind of the list.
There isn't much else that wecan be sown in the month ahead.
In the edible garden there issome flower seeds that we can
definitely be sowing, you know,starting from the end of this
month, some of your biennials.
(18:36):
I'll do a proper list, a seedsowing guide for flowers, a seed
sowing guide for perennials andbiennials.
That you know it likeswallflowers and a lot of the
perennials can be sowed, sort ofSeptember time, august
September time.
So I'll do a proper list onthat.
Other jobs that are kind ofongoing at the moment is you're
you're still going to beharvesting quite a lot, but also
(18:59):
it's still going to be aboutplant care and keeping an eye
out, vigilance for pests and soon.
Um, tomatoes, keep wateringthem on a regular basis.
You'll probably need to bewatering them two to three times
a week.
Remember the tips from earlierin time water to the base, so
(19:20):
not watering onto the leaves ofthe plant.
If possible, water in themorning time.
That will allow the plant todry out during the day so that
you're not carrying, you know,damp through the night, and then
that means that you'll haveless vulnerability to fungal
diseases, particularly soremoving all your leaves from
again we're talking withtomatoes and the likes of
(19:41):
courgettes any leaves that arediscolored, any leaves that are
showing any sign of disease atall, remove them.
Remove them from the house andcontinue to feed, continue to
water, but making sure you keepthe environment as dry and as
airy as possible.
So ventilate your tunnels,leave the vents open, allow
(20:02):
airflow through that house,making sure that you're keeping
up with your pruning of yourtomatoes.
Just again to help with airflow, to help with ripening.
Keep an eye out for things likeaphids and whitefly as well.
Blight on tomatoes, blight onpotatoes, keeping an eye out for
all those things, especiallymain crop potatoes.
As I said, most of you willhave your early potatoes
(20:24):
harvested already.
Potentially some of yoursecondarily still in the ground,
but definitely a lot of yourmain crops, or all your main
crops, are still going to be inthe ground and they're going to
need a good bit of protection.
Over the next month or two.
We're still getting these warmtemperatures, kind of clammy
temperatures, and again, that'sconducive to blight.
So just keep an eye on that.
Keep on top of that.
Uh, slugs not a little bit mixed?
(20:47):
Some people are saying theyhave kind of big problems with
them.
At the moment I'm not seeingtoo much activity here, but
potentially there could still bea problem.
The fact that it has beenrelatively dry, generally
speaking, over the last fewmonths means that the slug
levels are probably a little bitlower than they would have been
over the last few years.
Still keeping an eye out forcaterpillars on your brassicas,
(21:11):
all those things.
So Still keeping an eye out forcaterpillars on your brassicas,
all those things.
So just keeping an eye out forthose things.
Be vigilant on fruit as well, asthey become ripe.
I saw somebody yesterday nearlycrying in their polytunnel.
They had a beautiful couple ofbunches of grapes that were
ready to go, or nearly ready togo, but not quite ripe for
eating, and they opened thedoors to allow ventilation and
(21:35):
the birds copped it and got inand took every grape out of the
house and yeah, that's a littlebit frustrating.
It's understandable, but it's alittle bit frustrating.
So just watch out for that,especially outside.
On raspberries, black currantsMost of you will have them
harvested at this stage, but anyof those crops, just keep an
eye because, as we mentionedbefore, you won't be the only
(21:56):
ones that will be keeping an eyeon them.
The birds will be watching andas soon as they're ripe, they'll
be taking their share of them.
So, yeah, they're all kind ofall the jobs that you can be
doing this month, all the seedsowing that you can do.
It's, um, yeah, slightly a lotreduced list actually, but
there's still so much benefit,so much benefit.
(22:17):
And continue to sow because youknow, as we've mentioned
several times, you have thesebeds, you have these spaces, you
will have harvest coming outand you want to continue to
utilize that space and the onlyway to do that is to keep crops
in them and to keep, you know,to keep something on the go all
the time.
You mightn't get full harvest,you know, for the winter months
(22:38):
you mightn't be.
You know, in terms of beingself-sufficient you're not going
to be or anything like that,but at least you will be
utilizing that space, you'll bekeeping plants in the ground,
keeping that ground covered withplant material, and you'll
still have fresh harvests thatare going to be really, really
welcome, particularly over theseautumn and winter months.
(22:59):
So don't forget to keep sowing,keep planning, keep looking
ahead, keep your eye two monthsdown the line, six weeks down
the line, to see where is a gapgoing to come and what can I get
in there.
And that's really how you startto, I suppose, create a garden.
That's giving something to you12 months of the year, more or
(23:20):
less, and you know it extends.
It extends the benefit beyondthose few months where we sort
of get out early, get our plantsin and then get our harvest in
June, july, august, and thenwe're done.
Make sure we're extending thatand make sure we're taking
advantage of the space when wehave it.
So that's this week's episode,rather short episode.
(23:41):
Next week's episode is a reallyexciting one.
So some of you will have heardme talking in the past about a
really good documentary.
Was on Netflix I dondocumentary and was on netflix I
don't think it's on netflixanymore called kiss the ground.
It's a brilliant, brilliantdocumentary and I have josh
tickell on next week.
He's the producer of that andthere's a trilogy.
(24:01):
So there's the second one, um,the second one, which the name
won't come to mind now, but andthe third documentary in that
series is coming out in 2026 andwe're chatting about that.
But really, really brilliantdocumentary, one that I've spoke
about before, really worthcatching up and, as I said, next
week I talked to the producerof that and josh tickell.
(24:24):
So brilliant, brilliantinterview and some, really, some
really interesting stuff in it.
You know, if you're interestedin growing food, if you're
interested in food productionsystems, it's really worth
listening to.
But in terms of this week'sepisode, that's your seed sowing
guide for the month of Augustand that's been this week's
episode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
(24:46):
thank you.
How's it going everybody, and welcome to
episode 287 of Master my Gardenpodcast.
Now, this week's episode beingthe first Friday of August,
we're doing the usual seedsowing guide for the month ahead
and kind of looking at whatseeds we can be sown and other
gardening jobs, and this one isthe first.
This episode is the first onethat I've actually recorded
(00:34):
since coming back from holidays.
It's yeah, I was the first twoweeks in July, released the
episodes as normal, but I was onholidays during that time and,
yeah, in my own garden lotschanged in two weeks and there's
kind of as I've done for thelast couple of years once I know
(00:58):
I'm going away at a particulartime.
I kind of stopped sowing for acouple of weeks prior to that,
because I suppose the onus is onsomeone else to mine them then.
And I did have some.
I did have some sort of wintercrops, so I had some savoy
cabbage, a couple of trays ofsavoy cabbage, a couple of trays
of purple sprout and broccoli,spring onions and a couple of
(01:21):
other bits that I'd sown fromseed.
You know, a while ago they wereready to be planted out, or
nearly ready to be planted outwhen I got back and during that
first week of July I think,there was really warm weather
here and when I came back theywere all crisped in the tunnel
and fit for the bin.
So, yeah, that's exactly why Idon't't, you know, I don't sow
(01:44):
too much or plant out too muchat that time.
So that means I kind of end upwith a little bit of a gap not
too much, but a little bit of agap.
Um, and then the first weekfirst week back is really
catching up and trying to getyour tomatoes back into check,
because again I have somebodythat waters them a little bit
when I'm gone, but not much.
So it's just basic care to keepthem alive.
(02:09):
Obviously, that warm weathercaught them out in relation to
the little plug plants, but thetomatoes were fine, they were
growing well, but just a hugeamount of side shooting and
cleaning up to be done.
I suppose when I got back,that's all back in check now and
, yeah, sowing has started.
I had to go off and actuallybuy some trays of plants to sort
(02:34):
of replace the ones that gotcrisped up.
But the important thing, Isuppose, is to keep sowing and
to keep something in the in thepipeline as as we move through
the seasons.
You know say that the wholetime that the the biggest
challenge is utilizing the spaceall year round and that's where
many of us fall down.
(02:55):
And August is a great monthgenerally because it's probably
the month where anything that isavailable to harvest has sort
of is has and is coming intofruition at this stage.
So you know, june is kind ofwhen your real harvest starts.
I know you will have some priorto that, but you're sort of
(03:17):
bulkier.
You know the more of your ofyour harvests are coming in,
your first of your brassicas arecoming in, your cauliflowers or
broccolis and so on, and thatcontinues through July and
August.
Then you know that's matched inwith certainly some potatoes,
tomatoes, onions.
You know there's lots ofharvest and of course those
(03:41):
harvests when they come outthey're going to leave spaces
and voids and this is where weneed to have to be sowing and to
have crops coming along behindit so that we don't have these
gaps and that we're able tocontinue to produce.
Doesn't have to be big amounts,but we're able to continue to
produce a little bit all thetime.
On the harvesting front, youknow some.
As I said, a couple of weekswhen I'm away is great because
(04:04):
there's been like some seriousgrowth obviously when I was away
and seemed to have kind of anice combination between some
nighttime rain and then warmtemperatures.
So definitely you know there'sa lot of crops.
They're going really reallywell.
So just to kind of give sort ofan overview of what is
happening, carrots absolutelyburst out of it while I was away
(04:28):
, to be fair.
So when I was leaving they werereasonably sized, not a huge
amount of leaf growth up on top.
You know it was small and thecarrots themselves were forming
but they were quite small.
But in the two weeks they havegrown really really well and I'm
not harvesting them much.
I've just taken a few here andthere but they're after getting
(04:51):
so much bigger now they're fitto harvest now as nice little
sweet ones and I'll continue toharvest them over the next
couple of months.
Parsnips they're doing reallywell, flying out of it actually
A couple of different batches ofonions, just one batch of red
and white ones.
That was the first sowing fromseed that I did there, ready to
(05:12):
harvest.
They've just fallen over, stillhave loads from the polytunnel,
so no shortage of onions at themoment.
Turnips actually coming in atthe moment.
Cauliflower had a lovely batchof broccoli just before I went
and they were forming a tinylittle head when I was going as
(05:34):
in about the size of yourthumbnail, for example, and in
the two weeks I expected thatwhen I got back it'd be kind of
a nice size and kind of a decentsize to harvest.
So clearly, when I was awaythere was huge growth because
when I came back they were allgone to seed Big yellow flowery
heads on them in the space oftwo weeks.
So that was a huge, huge burstof growth and that's, you know I
(05:59):
think I've said it before thelikes of broccoli and
cauliflower.
They're a lovely crop to havebut I just don't feel that they
give enough for for the amountof effort and space you know
you're getting.
You're getting this one harvest.
You get a glut together if you,you know, if you saw a tray of
six or a tray of nine, you getthis glut and then you, you know
(06:24):
, you can obviously freeze themand so on, you know, chop them
up and freeze them and blanchthem and all those things, but
you get a glut together and forwhat?
For the space to take up, Ijust don't know that there's
enough.
You know there's enough returnfor the effort.
If you have no shortage ofspace, they're grand.
But there's much morebeneficial and much more crops
(06:48):
that give you much morelongevity of harvest, which I'm
kind of always trying to aim for.
So, like you know, salads andso on.
So, yeah, that's kind of what'shappening in the garden.
It seems to be going.
It's going to be a great yearfor apples, particularly A
couple of fruit trees that Iplanted a couple of years ago.
You know there were small trees, enough going in, like two or
three year old trees.
They're fruiting really well.
(07:09):
There's one particular tree andI think I counted 45 now it's
still a small tree.
It did get pruned in thespringtime specifically for
fruit and it's, you know, it'sdoing really well 40 something
apples on it.
Hopefully they'll all start toripen.
So far, no damage from wasps oranything like that.
(07:32):
It's going really really well.
So, yeah, they're doingbrilliantly.
Raspberries they've been reallygood.
Same, I suppose, a lot offruits have been good this year.
So, yeah, all of that is doingreally well.
Broad beans are doing reallywell.
Just kind of going through thebeds here in my head as I'm
thinking, uh, british queensready to harvest out the ground.
(07:54):
I've already taken the ones outof the pots again, probably
because I was away and theydidn't get the attention that
they might have otherwise.
They were beautiful, arebeautiful, still eating them.
A tiny bit small, although notoverly happy with the, with the
size of the potato, but in termsof taste, fantastic.
Yeah, couldn't fault them fromthat point of view.
(08:15):
But the ones in the ground,they're going to be really
heading in that direction now.
So I'd say, within the nextweek or two I'll be harvesting
those.
They're.
They're good to eat at theminute but I'm just allowing
them to fill out because I don'tneed to harvest them just yet.
So they're still filling out.
No sign of blight on them.
Touch wood and yeah, I'll get,hopefully get a decent, decent
(08:38):
batch of a harvest off them.
Rhubarb just saying that tosomebody yesterday.
What a what Rubeb is, you know,harvesting off it from months
now and just for the sake of Ithink it's three, maybe four
square metres, and justconstantly harvesting off it for
(09:00):
heading for four months, fouror five months now I suppose,
and looks like it's going tocontinue for another good while.
So Ruber is a brilliant,brilliant crop to have, just in
terms of longevity and in termsof you know what I was saying
with the cauliflower just, youcan get so much more out of it.
I love these ones that you getcontinuous harvest for, you know
(09:21):
, not much effort.
That's kind of what the name ofthe game is.
So, looking ahead to what we'regoing to sow for the month of
August and the list hasshortened again as we go into
August so, as we say, may is thebiggest month in terms of
sowing seeds and what you cansow, and then it starts to dip,
dip, dip all the way through.
(09:42):
And yeah, we's.
You know we're reducing quite alot now this month again.
But to run through the list, asyou know, as we always do, what
we can sow is some of our sortof successional crops.
So spring onions, that's goingto continue to be sown.
I am switching later this monthto a winter variety.
(10:04):
So you know I'll still doprobably more, one more sowing
of just your standard whiteLisbon, and then later in the
year or later in the month, Iwould do a sowing of the winter
varieties.
Um, they're important becausewhen I get to the end of the
month I'll do a big sowing.
I plant them into thepolytunnel and I'll harvest
(10:24):
basically for the whole winterthere.
So I can sow a lot of seed.
They don't run, they're notgonna.
They're not gonna run to seed,they're not gonna bolt, they're
just going to be there availableto harvest for months and
months on end.
So I can do a lot of the sowingat that stage and essentially
guarantee that I'll have springonions all through the winter,
(10:44):
and that's kind of a good way ofdoing it.
Spinach can still be sowed againas we move now into into august
, and particularly as we movetowards the end of the month,
there's going to be less need tosow that as regularly because
we are getting, you know, we'regetting to the stage where
temperatures are going to bestarting to drop down.
There's going to be lesssunlight and as a result, it's
(11:05):
not going to bolt quite asquickly.
So spinach again as we get tothe end of the month, we'd be
able to do a little bit of abigger sowing there and that
will help to give us sort oflongevity in our harvest.
Next one that we can sow isradish, and we are going to you
know, we're going to go to awinter variety here and again
(11:25):
I'll probably do one more sowingof the standard variety and
then later in the month we'llswitch to a winter variety
Lettuce.
Again, I'm going to continuesowing that.
Looking for, if you are sewinglettuce, look at this stage of
the year, forget about youricebergs and anything that forms
a really tight head.
You're looking for loose, looselettuce like butterhead, you
(11:46):
know, little gem, those typeones.
You're looking for somethingthat's kind of leaf farming
rather than than head farming.
At this stage of the year youcan switch, then very much
switch to your autumn strokewinter salads, and what we're
looking at there is things likemustard, tatsoi, rocket, the
claytona, you know any of thosetype winter salads.
(12:08):
And again, heading towards theend of August, you can sow quite
big batches of those becauseyou will be able to harvest over
a longer period of time.
Small and often it's not goingto be run into seeds.
So you can do, you know, bigsowing that's going to
essentially get you all the waythrough the winter, more or less
all the way through the winter.
(12:29):
So definitely be sowing that.
They're invaluable at thisstage of the year because when
you're able to harvest thesegreens at that stage of the year
, it's, as I say, invaluable,and you can still sow cress.
Then there's some of the herbsthat we can sow.
Coriander you won't again,because, a little bit like
spinach, because temperaturesare dropping, daylight hours are
(12:51):
dropping, you won't have to sowit as regular.
So coriander is, you know, aswe mentioned, all through those
summer months when daylighttemperatures are long.
You're going to get a kind of ashort window of of harvest from
the time you sow till the timeit runs.
The seed is quite short, butthat'll extend, you know, over
the next few months and as weget later into the, you know,
(13:15):
into the august and intoseptember.
A sowing of coriander again, agood sowing of coriander at that
stage will get you nearly allthe way through the winter again
.
So the the frequency at whichwe have to sow from now on is is
reducing and we can do sort ofbigger, bigger sowings because
(13:35):
we're able to get longer periodsbetween sowing and harvest out
of it.
So that's, you know, it'sreally important and it sort of
makes life a lot easier at thisstage of the year in terms of
keeping up and making sure thatwe have all these gaps filled.
Another one that can be sowedthis month is florence fennel
it's not one that I've grownbefore, probably will grow this
year, though um, it's one thatI've been thinking about for a
(13:58):
while, so I think I will havethe space to do.
It can stick it into polytunnelas well.
So I think I will will growthat, but that can be so this
month.
Kale again, it can be, it canbe sown that.
And there's a couple of thecalabrese um or a couple of the
brassica family, calabrese andspring cabbage.
They can be all sold later inthe month and these are ones
(14:21):
that for me personally here I'llplant them into the poly tunnel
.
They'll do.
They'll put on a little bit ofgrowth now.
For the next month or twothere'll be no harvest, but then
early next year.
So as soon as the temperaturesstart to rise, as soon as a
little bit of growth starts tokick in, you'll get a really
early harvest of calabrese,cauliflower, spring cabbage, all
(14:41):
from the polytunnel, if you'redoing it outside, spring cabbage
spring cabbage will be will befine.
So you're going to plant thatout.
You know, maybe in septembertime it'll put on a little bit
of growth, then it'll sit withleaves on it.
You'll have to make sure thatyou're protecting from,
particularly from pigeons, allover those winter months.
But then come next spring, assoon as there's a bit of growth,
(15:02):
that'll form a really, reallyearly pointed head and yeah,
it'll be your first sort ofharvest of cabbage next spring,
of kind of spring cabbage.
You'll have your red, you'llhave your red cabbage, you'll
have your savoy cabbage, sort ofthrough the winter and the
early spring.
But they're those, you know,those earthy, red and savoy
(15:25):
cabbages.
The autumn sown spring cabbageis one that will give you that
kind of first, you know, thatfresh cabbage taste.
It's a different taste.
You're getting that York Yorkstyle cabbage and they can be
sowed.
They can be sowed in the monthof August, leave them towards
the end of the month or themiddle to end of the month and
then plant them out a few weekslater.
(15:46):
What else can be sown?
I'm still going to do anothersowing of carrots and again all
the books will say it's too late, can't be done.
But I'll be doing a sowing ofcarrots and a sowing of beetroot
in the polytunnel.
May or may not work, I suspectit will.
Temperatures are good.
There'll be a little bit ofminding on them.
(16:07):
But yeah, I just want to wantto see.
Can I get a sort of a halfdecent crop early next year from
the polytunnel?
There'll be a bit of minding onthem.
But yeah, I just want to wantto see.
Can I get a sort of a halfdecent crop early next year from
the polytunnel?
There'll be a bit of minding onthem, potentially over the
winter if they do start to forminto, you know, into an actual
carrot, might have to mind thema little bit from pests over the
winter time.
But yeah, I think it's worth ashot and no, no harm in trying
(16:28):
and, as I say, I have a littlebit of space there to use up
anyway.
So why not?
Some other leafy things that wecan sow this month pak choy and
chard Again, they're reallyuseful, again, harvesting, just
as you know, you can harvest thepak choy, obviously as a head,
using stir fries and so on, butthe chard I'll just allow it to
grow, harvesting outer leaves,and so you're getting a little
(16:50):
bit of sort of winter greens.
It to grow harvesting outerleaves, and so you're getting a
little bit of sort of wintergreens.
That nice stem has the beautyof having a crunch to it, but
also the leaf is a little bitlike spinach and yeah, it's a
really really good sort ofwinter green to have, ideal in
stir fries, stews, just satay,you know, even with something
basic, you know, tomato and eggit's, it's really, it's a really
(17:10):
nice uh.
Chard is a really nice uh.
Char is a really nice vegetableto have and really versatile,
can be used for so much andhardy.
So if you're planting itoutside it'll be perfectly happy
just growing away there,getting a small bit harvest off
it again.
Just protect, if you are, youknow, if you have a lot of
pigeons around, protect it fromthem.
But other than that, that'll,that'll work away there.
(17:31):
Um so, and yeah, that's kind ofit, there's not much more that
we can be sowing this month.
So to kind of run over it again, you're looking at your
successional crops still, yourspinach, your spring onion, your
lettuce, switching to yourwinter autumn, winter greens,
the likes of tatsoi, mustard,clayton, claytona, rocket, all
(17:52):
those Cress can still be sown.
Some of the herbs coriander,chervil, dill, parsley, any of
those can still be sownFlorenceveil, kale, beetroot and
carrots just I'm going to tryone personally in the polytunnel
, packed chai can still be sown.
Chard, and then your springcabbage and potentially
(18:14):
cauliflower and broccoli, againplanted into the polytunnel at
this stage and they potentiallywill give you an early crop.
And that's kind of the list.
There isn't much else that wecan be sown in the month ahead.
In the edible garden there issome flower seeds that we can
definitely be sowing, you know,starting from the end of this
month, some of your biennials.
(18:36):
I'll do a proper list, a seedsowing guide for flowers, a seed
sowing guide for perennials andbiennials.
That you know it likeswallflowers and a lot of the
perennials can be sowed, sort ofSeptember time, august
September time.
So I'll do a proper list onthat.
Other jobs that are kind ofongoing at the moment is you're
you're still going to beharvesting quite a lot, but also
(18:59):
it's still going to be aboutplant care and keeping an eye
out, vigilance for pests and soon.
Um, tomatoes, keep wateringthem on a regular basis.
You'll probably need to bewatering them two to three times
a week.
Remember the tips from earlierin time water to the base, so
(19:20):
not watering onto the leaves ofthe plant.
If possible, water in themorning time.
That will allow the plant todry out during the day so that
you're not carrying, you know,damp through the night, and then
that means that you'll haveless vulnerability to fungal
diseases, particularly soremoving all your leaves from
again we're talking withtomatoes and the likes of
(19:41):
courgettes any leaves that arediscolored, any leaves that are
showing any sign of disease atall, remove them.
Remove them from the house andcontinue to feed, continue to
water, but making sure you keepthe environment as dry and as
airy as possible.
So ventilate your tunnels,leave the vents open, allow
(20:02):
airflow through that house,making sure that you're keeping
up with your pruning of yourtomatoes.
Just again to help with airflow, to help with ripening.
Keep an eye out for things likeaphids and whitefly as well.
Blight on tomatoes, blight onpotatoes, keeping an eye out for
all those things, especiallymain crop potatoes.
As I said, most of you willhave your early potatoes
(20:24):
harvested already.
Potentially some of yoursecondarily still in the ground,
but definitely a lot of yourmain crops, or all your main
crops, are still going to be inthe ground and they're going to
need a good bit of protection.
Over the next month or two.
We're still getting these warmtemperatures, kind of clammy
temperatures, and again, that'sconducive to blight.
So just keep an eye on that.
Keep on top of that.
Uh, slugs not a little bit mixed?
(20:47):
Some people are saying theyhave kind of big problems with
them.
At the moment I'm not seeingtoo much activity here, but
potentially there could still bea problem.
The fact that it has beenrelatively dry, generally
speaking, over the last fewmonths means that the slug
levels are probably a little bitlower than they would have been
over the last few years.
Still keeping an eye out forcaterpillars on your brassicas,
(21:11):
all those things.
So Still keeping an eye out forcaterpillars on your brassicas,
all those things.
So just keeping an eye out forthose things.
Be vigilant on fruit as well, asthey become ripe.
I saw somebody yesterday nearlycrying in their polytunnel.
They had a beautiful couple ofbunches of grapes that were
ready to go, or nearly ready togo, but not quite ripe for
eating, and they opened thedoors to allow ventilation and
(21:35):
the birds copped it and got inand took every grape out of the
house and yeah, that's a littlebit frustrating.
It's understandable, but it's alittle bit frustrating.
So just watch out for that,especially outside.
On raspberries, black currantsMost of you will have them
harvested at this stage, but anyof those crops, just keep an
eye because, as we mentionedbefore, you won't be the only
(21:56):
ones that will be keeping an eyeon them.
The birds will be watching andas soon as they're ripe, they'll
be taking their share of them.
So, yeah, they're all kind ofall the jobs that you can be
doing this month, all the seedsowing that you can do.
It's, um, yeah, slightly a lotreduced list actually, but
there's still so much benefit,so much benefit.
(22:17):
And continue to sow because youknow, as we've mentioned
several times, you have thesebeds, you have these spaces, you
will have harvest coming outand you want to continue to
utilize that space and the onlyway to do that is to keep crops
in them and to keep, you know,to keep something on the go all
the time.
You mightn't get full harvest,you know, for the winter months
(22:38):
you mightn't be.
You know, in terms of beingself-sufficient you're not going
to be or anything like that,but at least you will be
utilizing that space, you'll bekeeping plants in the ground,
keeping that ground covered withplant material, and you'll
still have fresh harvests thatare going to be really, really
welcome, particularly over theseautumn and winter months.
(22:59):
So don't forget to keep sowing,keep planning, keep looking
ahead, keep your eye two monthsdown the line, six weeks down
the line, to see where is a gapgoing to come and what can I get
in there.
And that's really how you startto, I suppose, create a garden.
That's giving something to you12 months of the year, more or
(23:20):
less, and you know it extends.
It extends the benefit beyondthose few months where we sort
of get out early, get our plantsin and then get our harvest in
June, july, august, and thenwe're done.
Make sure we're extending thatand make sure we're taking
advantage of the space when wehave it.
So that's this week's episode,rather short episode.
(23:41):
Next week's episode is a reallyexciting one.
So some of you will have heardme talking in the past about a
really good documentary.
Was on Netflix I dondocumentary and was on netflix I
don't think it's on netflixanymore called kiss the ground.
It's a brilliant, brilliantdocumentary and I have josh
tickell on next week.
He's the producer of that andthere's a trilogy.
(24:01):
So there's the second one, um,the second one, which the name
won't come to mind now, but andthe third documentary in that
series is coming out in 2026 andwe're chatting about that.
But really, really brilliantdocumentary, one that I've spoke
about before, really worthcatching up and, as I said, next
week I talked to the producerof that and josh tickell.
(24:24):
So brilliant, brilliantinterview and some, really, some
really interesting stuff in it.
You know, if you're interestedin growing food, if you're
interested in food productionsystems, it's really worth
listening to.
But in terms of this week'sepisode, that's your seed sowing
guide for the month of Augustand that's been this week's
episode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
(24:46):
thank you.
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