By Steven Biggs
As August rolls around the mid-summer vegetable garden harvest includes heat-loving crops such as tomatoes, okra, and eggplant.
(August is also when many people realize they've planted too much zucchini!)
And by early August there's usually space open for succession crops as early crops finish:
The garlic and onions are done
Pea vines have withered in the summer heat
Early beans are kaput
There's still lots of the growing time left before the snow flies. Early August is a good time to sow seeds for fall vegetable gardening.
Not sure what to plant in August? Keep reading for ideas about what to plant in August.
Vegetable Garden Crops to Sow in August
August is the time to sow cool-weather crops for the fall garden.
It’s also last call for some fast-growing heat-loving crops too, such as bush beans.
By August, the remaining frost-free window is getting shorter. So our focus is crops that mature fairly quickly.
Tips for Planting in August
Summer conditions such as dry soil and scorching heat can be hard on seeds sown outdoors.
Here are tips for direct-sown crops:
Water regularly for faster, more consistent seed germination in hot weather
Where possible, shade young plants of heat-sensitive crops such as lettuce with row cover or mini hoop tunnels
Grow varieties that are fast to mature
Find out your first frost date so you can pick suitable crops (Here in Toronto I know that I can expect my first frost in late October.)
Top Late-Summer Crops for August Planting
Wondering what to plant in August?
If you are looking for ideas of what to plant in August, here are some of my favourites.
Beets
Beets are an excellent crop to plant in August.
My grandmother always made us pickled beets from perfect little cherry-sized beets. If you want smaller beets for a fall harvest, keep planting beets into August.
(Experiment with varieties and planting dates to figure out what works well in your area. The worst case scenario if you plant too late is that you will have lots of beet greens for your fall salads.)
Summer-Sowing Tip: Throw some radish seeds over top of your newly planted beet seeds. The radishes mature more quickly than the beets.
Find out more about storage crops such as beets.
Bush Beans
Keep harvesting beans all summer by sowing more bush beans in early August.
This is the last call to sow bush beans!
Summer-Sowing Tip: Speed up bean germination by soaking seeds in water overnight before planting.
Find out how to set up for success, pick great crops, and care for them. Container Vegetable Gardening Masterclass gives you the information and ideas you need for high-yield container vegetable crops.
Cabbage Family
August is a good time to transplant broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage seedlings
Now is a good time to transplant broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage seedlings into the garden. There’s not enough time to seed these directly in the garden at this time.
If you haven't already started your own seedlings, there’s no shame in buying them!
Don't worry if you don't have broccoli, cauliflower, or cabbage seedlings. There are other cabbage-family crops that don't need as much time to mature.
Kale. Planting kale seeds outdoors in August works well.
Rapini. A favourite of mine in the summer garden.
Carrots
Carrots are a must-have crop for serious succession gardeners.
Summer-Sowing Tip: Carrot seeds are fairly small, and can have a hard time breaking through dry, crusty soil in the summer. So water daily. Or, cover the bed to keep it moist. (I use old boards; and some people use burlap.)
Carrots and beets are root vegetables that store well in the ground for an early winter harvest. Find out about storage crops.
Keep sowing carrots in August.
Leafy Greens
Start planting lettuce for fall harvest in August. Grow lettuce in partial shade, or protect plants from full sun with row cover or a hoop house.
Many of the cooler weather leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach have faded by mid-summer. But August is the time to start planting more for a late summer and fall harvest.
I plant these cooler weather leafy greens about 8 weeks before the first fall frost.
Swiss chard usually keeps going in my garden all summer long. But in August I plant more, so that I have lots of small chard leaves to enjoy in the fall.
Green Onions
Get extra onion sets in the spring for planting in August.
When I buy onion sets in the spring I get extra sets to store in the fridge until August, when I start planting more so that I can enjoy green onions into the fall.
Turnip and Rutabaga
Often overlooked, and easy to grow.
And don’t forget that with turnips you have both an edible root and greens. Find out about other plants with more than one edible part.
Still not sure about turnip and rutabaga? Mom’s rutabaga casserole includes apple, and is topped with buttered bread crumbs…a nice way to enjoy these crops.
