August Round-Up in My Zone 3 Potager Garden

August is a funny thing. To me, is still smack dab in summer but I hear so many people saying that it is almost fall! I am not even worrying about that, just living in the moment, enjoying the sunshine and happy that we still have like 5 or 6 weeks of good growing time. Boy, let me tell you, I need every minute of it! I got much of my stuff in late as the beds were not ready, or they were after thoughts, lol, so bring on the summertime heat!

The potager garden is going crazy, everything has exploded with growth and most things are growing exceptionally well, better than ever, while others are just weird.

It's pickling time! My wee Gherkins are coming along nicely. I am going to pick and pickle them a jar or two at a time, as long as they keep giving.

What to Sow Now!

First of all... if you are growing late summer veggies that can grow in October here on the prairies, you need to have them in the ground now or be planting them right away, like today, right after you finish reading this. My broccoli, broccolini, rutabaga, cabbage starts are in the garden.

You have a bit more time on the coast though need to get them in pretty quick. Sowing seeds, do them right now, doing starts, the sooner in the ground, the better.

This is NOT the time to be planting CARROTS, it is the wrong time of year no matter where you live.

On the island, your next carrot sowing will be around winter solstice (December 24th to very early January). Order your seeds now. Sow as per usual, maybe a titch deeper, cover, walk away, no need to water. Label the spot so you remember in spring. When they start germinating, water weekly if you are not getting regular rains. You will be harvesting whoppers just after spring solstice.

Here on the prairies, you will be sowing seeds in October. Sow deeper than usual, about double the depth. Sow a bit heavier than usual as not all will germinate. I know this works well in an in ground garden, not sure about raised beds (though it should). Will let you know in spring as I will sow a patch in both spots to trial them.

My winter/spring garden. Shallots at the end of the bed, they just keep multiplying. The shallots were sown earlier and I let them keep going, but the other veggies were sown in February to harvest in April.

Lettuce and Spinach - on the island, you can sow these in the next week or two, for crops this fall and in spring, too. Spinach grown outside can be harvested this fall, goes soggy in the winter rains, but will reappear in early spring for you to enjoy. Grown under cover, it will produce longer in fall and earlier in spring. Winter lettuces will thrive in the cooler temps, providing you with fresh greens till a really hard frost.

On the prairies - wait to sow until October. I sow my lettuce seeds close to a wall so that the snow melts in spring, waters the seeds, they start to grow when temps are right (plus in the greenhouse). Spinach I will sow in greenhouse and in-ground beds, plus will try a few in the raised beds, as well. In this new yard, I need to trial all the places to see where it thrives the best.

Shallots - if you can get them, seeds or bulbs, plant them this fall. In both areas. On the prairies, just go a bit deeper than you would if planting in spring, and never close to the edges of raised beds. I loved to grow Renee's purple scallions in winter and spring on the island. Easy to grow everywhere. Sow now if growing for fall and spring harvests.

That is about all we can sow or grow for winter here on the prairies for next year, other than garlic. If you are on the island, please refer back to the ngp for what to sow and grow in August. Check the other years, the other months. I will keep it up forever, you just keep on going back to it like it is all brand new ; )

In The Food Garden

My tomatoes are going crazy. Tons of blooms, lots of growth, but nothing ripe. Sigh. I was hopeful that they would ripen in mid August, as they did on the island, but I think with the cooler nights, we are looking at early September. Honestly, I do not even care when it happens, just as long as it does happen so I can turn these tomatoes into some nice sauce, chow chow, and ketchup!

The 3 remaining brussels are doing well. Yes, they are holey and have had caterpillars, the white moths flitter about daily over here. I have squished some of the caterpillars and have also seen wasps buzzing about in there, so they are doing their thing to help be get rid of them, too. I read something saying that baby birds eat hundreds of caterpillars (and bugs) daily so other than squishing, I am doing nothing to them.

I just keep reminding myself that I am not growing leaves, I am growing sprouts.

Check out this 'Incredible Escalator' zucchini plant. Look at those long stems. Holy moly! The leaves are perfectly normal, btw, are variegated.

My zukes and cukes are producing like mad. We are picking one or two zucchini every few days and they are just loaded with blossoms, both male and female. This climbing zuke, in the picture above, really intrigues me. Will keep you updated on how they make out. Right now, I have 2 lovely zucchinis on it and lots of flowers. If I love it, will stop growing the regular ones so that I have more garden bed space for beets, carrots, brassicas... something.

Carrots look so good, the orange ones are Triton and the others are Atomic Red.

The beets and carrots look really great! Cylindrical beets are ready to made into pickled beet slices but hubby not home at the moment so will be pickling in two weeks time. I never do my canning, except jams, without hubby as he is a chef so everything goes faster and better with his help ; ) I never thin carrots, btw, I just try to sow fairly evenly and then harvest carrots growing close together. These are the close togethers ; )

My celeries are huge. I have to start harvesting as I have lots of it... way more than any one person needs. I have heard people say that celery needs a bog, needs tons of water, is hard to grow... all sorts of things. Let me dispel those myths. Super easy to grow, even in drought seasons. I plant my starts wherever I have room for them in spring. This year they are in the tomato bed, sometimes they are in the squash bed. They just end up tucked in wherever I have room for them to grow. I place the weeping hose right beside them so that they get lots of water when I turn on the tap. I deep water them twice a week and they are always spectacular, even in sandy island soil. For tender pale stalks like you see at the grocers, you can blanche them by placing a milk carton around them while they are small and young. Some blanche with newspaper but that sounds a bit trickier to me. I never blanche. I like the dark green stalks, and that deep flavour. We use the celery in our canning, it adds great flavour to tomato sauces but I have read lots of great ideas for what to do with it all. That will have to go into another post as this is getting a bit long to read already.

Yellow of Parma storage onions.

The onions - I had just made the decision that last weekend was to be my last time watering them so that they cure better after they are harvested, and then we got an inch of rain this week. Eek. So, no more additional water from me from now on, just what comes from above. As with garlic, you do not want onions bloated with water when you lift them, or they are more apt to go mouldy, will not store as well or long.

Potatoes... the Red Norland tops are yellowing and dying back. We harvested a row already for fresh eating, are leaving the last row till the stems die off so that they get a nice thick skin for storage.

The Jazz potatoes are still going strong. No yellowing yet. We will harvest as we needs spuds, and will just leave the rest be till they die back. Then they get cured for a week or two before going into storage.

Garden Clean Up

The front garden bed is full of weeds going to seed. I won't share that picture, hahaha, but here is small corner of the bed. I have not been able to deadhead, weed, or plant it up with the new plants I bought, as Yellow Jackets come after me each time I go out front. I think I finally got them to move on, am now just hoping their new home is not somewhere else in my yard.

I have some lovely purple dianthus that was gifted to me, veronica in two colours, some salvia and pink dianthus that I bought at full price, just days before it went on sale. Sigh. These are all destined for the small garden up front by the pathway to the front door.

August is early clean up time. Lots of weeding to do, pulling out tired looking plants, replacing them with a new seed, a new starter veggie, or a pretty annual flower.

Pinch off spent flowers to get a big new flush of blossoms in 2 weeks time. Will rejuvenate your tired looking baskets or planters. If the flowers is done for, just too much trouble... pull it out and pop in a fresh new plant. This is a great time to renew tired looking planters.

My long English cucumbers are all growing on the lower part of the vines. They never did grow tall and climb, stayed compact this year due to the cool temps in June, but they look great. No mildew in sight. Now to figure out how to get them off the ground!

If your cucumber or squash leaves are starting to get mildewed, cut them off and get rid of them. Take off the bottom leaves and remove as many as needed till you get to the fresh looking green leaves at the top. Leave those ones be, the plant needs them for nutrients, leave the flowers and the fruits. Throw them in your compost bin or the green wheelie bin.

The Tangerine Gem marigolds are huge! Grow marigolds in the greenhouse for organic pest control.

May your garden bring you much bounty and joy ~ Tanja