10 Jobs for August

The garden is in full swing and pumping out produce on a daily basis. You may be waiting patiently for your Tomatoes to ripen, your Sweetcorn to sweeten and your Cucumbers to swell, all of which should be starting to happen by the end of the month. You’ll also see the first fruits appear on your Pumpkins and any Autumn Raspberries should now be in flower.

  1. Cut off all the leaves below the first truss of Tomatoes to let the light ripen the fruits, continue to feed them and water them little and often
  2. Pinch out growing shoots on pumpkins once they have set 3 or 4 fruits
  3. Shake your Sweetcorn plants to help them pollinate 
  4. Fold over Onion tops if they haven’t done so by themselves. This is to let more light in to the Onion.
  5. Plant out Radicchio and Endive seedlings
  6. Keep cutting off runners and diseased leaves from Strawberry plants
  7. Prune Blackcurrants by cutting down this year’s fruiting wood
  8. Cut Summer Raspberry canes down after fruiting and tie in Autumn Raspberry canes as they grow
  9. Water Runner Beans, Celery and Pumpkins if the weather is dry
  10. Sow green manures in vacant ground – try Rape or Mustard but remember to dig them in before they start to flower.

If you have any more suggestions for August jobs, add them to the list.

One Comment on “10 Jobs for August

  1. Tomatoes, water little and often – how little and how often? I have two growing in a greenhouse in pots, and I’m wondering if I’ve been overwatering – I was afraid for a while that I was under-watering!