TINA WOODHAMS GARDENING NOTES FOR AUGUST
September is traditionally associated with the harvesting of our abundance of crops, continuing on from the summer’s produce of salads, tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes. Temperatures remain warm with a fresher and cooler feel to the air as we head towards the autumn season, with the daylight hours gradually reducing.
It’s time to lift your maincrop potatoes and dry before storing – use hessian or paper sacks and keep in a cool, dark place away from nibbling rodents! Ensure that your potatoes are all undamaged as it can take only one rotten tuber to spread disease throughout the entire crop.
Fruits of squash and pumpkin ready for harvest next month should be raised off the surface of the soil to keep them away from dampness and avoid slug damage. Removing leaves from the plants will allow the sun to ripen the skins and increase air circulation between the fruits.
Fruits such as tomatoes, aubergines and peppers will have already provided harvests but to keep them producing for longer keep well fed once a week with a high-potash liquid feed. Any green tomatoes can be picked to ripen on windowsills indoors.
Check brassica plants such as cabbages, broccoli and Brussels sprouts for signs of the white cabbage butterfly – a cluster of small yellow eggs laid on the underside of the leaf which will rapidly hatch into caterpillars - and wipe or hose off. If you have not been vigilant enough and the caterpillars are already munching on the leaves then control by picking them off or treating with a biological control otherwise in no time your crop will be devastated!
There is still time to sow lettuce, spinach and rocket outside for a crop later on this year. Keep a close eye out for those slugs which will thrive in the damper conditions.
Prolong the flowering of summer bedding with regular deadheading and removing any dead foliage to help prevent mould and fungus attacks. Continue feeding with a liquid fertiliser and you will be rewarded with colourful blooms well into mid-autumn.
Make use of the shorter evenings by leafing through catalogues for spring bulbs which will need to be planted at the end of this month, and into next, and consider any shrubs or perennials on your wish list for next year. Planting conditions are perfect now with the soil still warm and (fingers crossed) a moderate rainfall. Pot up ‘prepared’ narcissi and hyacinth bulbs (these are specially treated) for fragrant flowers indoors at around Christmas time. Leave them in a cool, dark area to force them and then bring them out into the light as soon as the first green shoots emerge.
There is a certain tranquillity and calmness about the autumn days, however keep up the good work and enjoy the great outdoors!
HAPPY GARDENING!