If you get a much needed shower of rain, it’s a good idea to mulch. Use well-rotted compost material, cardboard, or part decayed grass clippings between the rows and around the plants. This stops evaporation losses, and will also give your crop nutrients and helps the next shower soak into the soil.
Mulching also helps to keep down the weeds – another benefit!
This is the last time that it is possible to sow carrots, you should harvest at the end of October
The lack of rain being more of a problem than the heatwave. Plants will generally cope well with a period of hot weather but lack of water is a major problem. Now they’ve declared a drought, expect more restrictions and hosepipe bans.
Just to be clear, if you have put in rainwater harvesting and storage, you can use a hosepipe to water your plot from your own tanks or butts. You will most likely need a pump to provide enough flow - either mains powered or by battery. There’s a wide range to choose from but I’ve had a couple of people praising the Bosch system so that may be worth shortlisting.
Remember, the ban applies to using a hosepipe for mains water, not harvested water from your tanks.
There’s been a lot in the press about using grey water from the bathroom and ways of reducing how much water you need for the garden. All valid but the thing is, if we are going to get more hot, dry summers then we will need to set up our own water systems ready to catch the winter rains.
Putting a decent volume of water capture and storage in is quite an investment. Even with climate change, we’re possibly looking at one in five years being too dry – maybe more in the south east of England.
Not so long ago they were telling us we were going to have wetter summers with climate change. Confused? I am!
Incidentally, whilst there are variations between water companies with a hosepipe ban, most are allowing pressure regulated drip watering systems that are fitted with a timer. Registered disabled are also allowed to use a hosepipe in the garden.
Weeds.. weeds.. weeds
August might be a time when you take time off , however, a drop of rain and the weeds are up, jumping right out of the ground and cultivating. It just takes one plant to seed to keep your cultivator occupied into the indefinite future.
If by some stroke of good luck our vegetables developed as well - we'd sow bunch of seeds and never do one more stroke of work, aside from gathering. Indeed, a man can dream as he has some time off! Presently, back to the weeding
Seeds to Sow in August:
You can direct sow in August, below is a few ideas:
There are still a significant number things you ought to sow in August. Spring Cabbage and Chinese cabbage, which is a late yield as well as strong lettuce.
Despite the fact that we consider lettuce a mid year crop, it is a very strong plant and under cloche and in the nursery can, without much of a stretch, be accessible for a Boxing day salad as opposed to some boring import from sunnier climes.
Sow spring onions like White Lisbon, which will develop, and, to add a punch to that plate of mixed greens alongside a few quickly developing radishes.
Late spinach can be planted in August alongside a last planting of kohlrabi and turnips.
When all said and done, the best way to rid your crops of pest is to use a hose pipe and blast them off with water.
Do this every couple of days.
The draw hoe is useful for making a shallow trench of the sort we might use for planting peas, which is why we call it drawing a trench, but for weeding I don’t think you can beat the Dutch hoes. The draw hoe just isn’t as easy or effective for weeding.
It’s really important to keep your Dutch hoe sharp, I’ve a metal file in the shed for this or you can use a sharpening stone. Just a few strokes every 10 minutes or so keeps it in optimum condition.
The idea is to cut through the weed stem just below ground level. Blunt hoes or hoeing when the soil is wet tends to pull the weeds out with the roots intact. This means that if there is a drop of rain the weed will re-root and grow back. Sharp hoes are far more effective and easier to use than blunt hoes.
