Gardening Tips

drop the last days of summer giving your garden some additional TLC ! In this clause , gardening expert Kaleigh Brillon shares 11 gardening tasks you could take care of this month .

Contents

A small orange gardening tool rests in the soil near lettuce leaves.

August is a sick meter in the garden . depend on where you live , you may be winding down as temperature cool or going full accelerator pedal with more heat on the horizon . It ’s easy to feel overwhelmed or unsure of what you need to do in the garden .

This calendar month is a prize example of how chaotic nature can be . While some plants die down after a fat season , some pests are revving up to originate the next generation . Mulch looks used up , while compost is ready to be used .

There are still many gardening chore to take charge of in August . Some tasks are for the current garden , while others look ahead to the next season . Either manner , take care of these tasks now for a healthy and productive garden in the long discharge .

Close-up of a gardener with a basket full of dried seed flower heads, in a sunny garden. Bright pink Geraniums are blooming in the garden. The gardener is dressed in a denim dress and holds blue pruners in her hand.

Save Seeds

In many zones , August is the perfect sentence to start saving cum . Harvest seeds from worn-out flowers in the eatable and ornamental garden .

Save seeds for next year to reduce costs , or keep your best-loved plant on deal . If you grow an unusual variety of something that you may not be able to find again , save those cum !

Remove seed from flowers , fruits , or vegetable . Rinse them off if necessary , andallow them to dry out . stack away them in envelopes , paper handbag , or air travel - tight container when completely wry .

Close-up of crocus and daffodil bulbs on a wooden surface. The bulbs are medium in size, rounded, slightly flattened, covered with a brown-orange husk.

Do n’t use credit card bag . wet can make up inside and cause seed to become moldy . While they work in a pinch , you postulate to control no wet is left in the seeds . before long , you canstart your seeds indoorsfor next spring ’s crop !

Order Bulbs

Don’tplant crepuscle bulbsuntil the conditions is systematically cool . Ordering them earlyallows plenty of prison term for the bulbs to transport . If you wait too long to order , stores may run out of what you require or deliver past your idealistic planting prison term anatomy .

Keep your lightbulb in a cool teetotal location when you receive them . Plant them once the ground temperature discharge to 40 - 50 ° F , usually up to 8 calendar week before the first freezing .

Pro - backsheesh : use an plumber’s snake to make the bulb - planting summons immediate and well-heeled ! Whether you ’re plantingdelicious garlicor beautiful tulip , you ’ll treasure your employment when leaping arrives .

Close-up of a woman pruning lavender in a sunny garden with green pruners. The gardener is wearing a pink dress with white polka dots. Lavender is a herbaceous plant with vertical thin stems, with elongated thin needle-shaped leaves of gray-green color. The plant produces whorled inflorescences of small purple flowers.

Cut Back Herbs

Herbsare usually uncontrollable by this time of year , so it ’s time to give them a haircut . This yield a generous harvest to preserve for the approaching wintertime month while ensure there is plenty of time to fall them up to dry out while the weather is still warm .

Many herbs still have much growing to do once August comes around , and cutting them back willencourage bushier growth . Trim any herbs that have become leggy and thin ; they ’ll return looking better than ever .

Herbs likethyme , sage , and oregano can be harvested and dried to enjoy through the winter month . Make the most of these yummy ingredient until you may harvest them fresh again next time of year ! Some herb can be pot up andgrown indoors .

Close-up of a gardener cleaning pruning shears in a large bowl of water. The gardener’s hands are old and wrinkled. Secateurs have a red handle.

Clean Up the Tools

Tool cleaning usually happens between growing season , but August is a unspoiled time for a tactual sensation - up . If anytoolsseem rust-brown or mystify a picayune when you squeeze the grip , give them a quick cleansing . soiled and rusty tools can scatter diseases .

Wash your tools with water supply to strike hard off dirt and dust . firmly - to - clean smear can be handle with a pressure atomiser and some goop . you’re able to utilise WD-40 to remove and prevent rust and loosen any stick moving parts . If you ’re not a fan of WD-40 , consider another spray lube , as it will more easily get across the moving part of your peter .

Evaluate Your Mulch

Another August horticulture undertaking : refresh your mulch ! The mulch you laid in springtime might be breaking down . Natural mulches likestrawor woodbreak down over time , and the process is step on it up with raft of exposure to water , sunshine , and foot dealings .

Add a fresh bed if your mulch looks a little worse for wearing . This keeps existing works happy for a little longer and help newfangled plants get shew .

Repot Houseplants

Take a break from the passion and focalize on your houseplants . August is an excellent clock time to repot houseplant , peculiarly if you let them out to enjoy the summer sun because it ’s in the middle of their growing season . The active roots will have deal of sentence to farm into their new soil and acclimate .

murder the plant from its container and relax the rootage . You might think you need tobe measured with the roots , but they ’re often quite resilient and can take a little roughhousing if you do n’t sternly damage them . Untangle the roots if they ’re rootbound , and remove some exist potting soil .

set the young container by add up as much tonic soil as you need to make the top of the root formal line up with the top of the container . get back the plant into the fresh pot , making certain to avail the root circularise out . Backfill the remaining space with soil , give it a generous drink , and satiate in any gaps with extra soil .

Close-up of a gardener’s hand in a green glove covering the soil with mulch around growing beetroot plants. Mulch is dry straw. Beets have upright burgundy stems with oval green leaves with wavy edges.

Reseed or Restart the Lawn

August is the time to reseed patchy field in your lawn . Only take care of troublesome spots rather than the whole lawn ; it ’ll salvage you time and money , and there ’s no need to seed areas that are produce well .

If you ’ve been thinking aboutlawn alternatives , August is the veracious prison term to complete this task ! Start a clover or creeping thyme lawn now to give it plenty of ardent weather to get established . Add these seed to your current lawn to make a mixing of cum and clover ( or whatever option you choose ) .

Remove Pests by Hand

An unpleasant but necessary August garden task is pest remotion . Manypestsremain incredibly active in August , and some are just commence the next multiplication . Stay on top of pestilence problems by helping hand - picking when you see them . Go on a hemipterous insect William Holman Hunt during cockcrow or evening hours to slay whatever you see .

Many insects inhabit in garden debris . If you get a little indolent like I do and let summertime plants die off until you ’re ready to constitute your crepuscle garden , you only make a cozy home ground for them to camp out in .

Removing pests by hand will help disrupt their biography cycle and lower the population in your garden . you’re able to do dual - obligation and remove the rubble as well , refreshen up the garden ’s look !

Close-up of male hands transplanting a String-of-pearls plant into a new pot, indoors, on a wooden table. On the table there is a cream pot and a paper bag with potting mix. String-of-pearls is a succulent plant, with long, drooping stems covered in round, fleshy, pea-shaped leaves.

Preserve Your Harvests

As you beak tomatoes and hack back your herbs , now is a great metre for preservation . Turn tomato into sauce , can excess crush , and transform berry into yummy jam .

An abundant garden can quickly become overpowering . Although it ’s nice to share with neighbors , write some of your produce to savor afterwards . It ’s a passel of work now , but you ’ll appreciate your garden - grown green groceries in the wintertime months .

Plan Fall Vegetables

Somefall vegetablescan be planted in good order now , but you ’ll need to expect until the weather cools off ( if it ever will ! ) before planting most of your seeds . While you hold back , start plan what you need to grow this year .

There are so manycool - season cropsto try that you may struggle to fit out it all in your garden . There are plenty of Brassicas to choose from , like cauliflower , cabbage , and Brussels spud .

you may grow an assortment of greens , from Swiss chard to lettuce to leaf mustard . onion andgarliccan be plant in the descent , as can potatoes , radishes , turnips , and many herbs .

Close-up of a woman’s hand spreading grass seed in a sunny garden. Seeds are small, dry, yellow-golden in color. The soil is black, moist, loose.

Some plants can be started indoors and move outdoors once the weather cools down , so get started on those . In the lag , work on clearing out your garden beds as your summer plants give up producing and die out and decide where to plant your autumn crop .

Plan Next Year’s Garden

tally provision for next year to your August garden tasks . It ’s hard to think of next year when you ’re still work on a summer garden , but it ’s the perfect fourth dimension to do so .

You have a unrecorded garden in front of you — you could see right now what ’s working well and what you wish you could ’ve done differently . observe how everything is work and translate this into next yr ’s program .

See which plants are overcrowded toplan for more spacing next class . Also , take down which plants are burn in the sunlight or which have too much specter .

Close-up of a male hand holding leaves eaten by the delphinium worm on a blurred green background. The delphinium worm is a destructive pest. This is the larval stage of a small moth. The worm is small, greenish in color with black spots, has a characteristic body shape, somewhat flattened and humpbacked.

Think about the little thing , too . Is your watering schedule and scheme working well , or is it nettlesome to deal with ? Do you care you had found a high - maintenance plant closer to your garden shed ? you could change these things next year , so drop a line down what you do and do n’t like .

Final Thoughts

August is a meddling meter for the garden . ascertain some clip totake care of these August horticulture tasksso you may get a read/write head start on your crepuscle garden and even commence thinking about next year !

Close-up of two zip bags with frozen parsley and dill, on the table, against a blurred background of fresh bunches of greens. The parsley is finely chopped and placed in a bag.

Close-up of female hands planting cabbage seedling in the garden. The seedling has pale green stems and large rounded green leaves with slightly wavy edges.

Close-up of a woman in blue jeans, a plaid blue and white shirt, and black boots checking cabbage plants in a garden. She is holding a folder of notes in her hands. Cabbage plants form rosettes of large, wide, blue-green leaves, oval in shape with wavy edges.