August is a funny month for a nursery. It can be bitterly cold and fairly quite around the place, or the days can be blue and buzzing with people. No wonder the wholesale growers have no clue as to how many they should actually have grown for this month. I guess their assurance is that there are good months to follow, and most of the plants will end up with homes. As spring begins to approach, you can feel a low level of excitement start to build. By the time it comes around, gardeners across the land are chaffing at the bit, and the buds on the plants are popping out of their skin.
You may well have neglected the garden for a while so it could be a good month to clean up. Those dead fronds on the ferns could come off and those deathly looking conifers could be ripped out along with that camellia that has never really performed. What about hacking back that dreadful ivy before it has another summer of running riot? And the weeds, well they are always popping up – but if you are always pulling them out or spraying them, you can stay on top of them and stay fit at the same time.
Whatever looks ordinary in
the vegie patch now, get it out, because soon there will be a plethora
of vegie types you will be able to plant. You could slip in some broccoli,
lettuce, snowpeas or red onions right now, and harvest them in late
October, therefore still having the same space for zucs cucs and tomatoes.
Ok, so the onions would be small, but they would be very tasty.
Other chores may include giving any evergreens a light prune to neaten them up before the new spring growth and prune harder the hibiscus as they flower on their new growth. Start giving the hungry looking plants a light liquid feed. These will be plants with yellowing or purpling leaves or leaves with veins showing. Make sure you feed the azaleas, camellias and daphne while you are there.
If you’re a seed sower, spring flowers can be sown now. These include petunias, salvias, marigolds and rudbeckias. If you do this now, you will avoid having to buy seedlings later on. There is a real sense of achievement in sowing your own seed and if you get it right, you will only need to choose the strongest plants, culling out any runts.
As the days get longer, the
frosts will still threaten, and the freezing cold southerlies will still
linger – but in the back of any gardeners mind is the prospect of
a new season just around the corner. A season that will come to life.
Bulbs to plant this month: Gladioli, Canna lillies, Alstromeria, Asiatic Lillies and herbaceous Peonies.
Foodcrops: Asparagus, Beetroot, Broad beans, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Coriander, Lettuce, Leek, Parsnip, Onions, Potatoes, Rhubarb, Radish, Strawberries, Shallots, Snowpeas
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