August Allotment Tasks: A Guide to Late Summer Gardening
Welcome to late summer, where the rich rewards of your allotment garden await. August is a crucial time for gardeners, as it presents a unique opportunity to maximize your harvest and prepare for the changing seasons ahead. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through our top tasks that will ensure a thriving and productive allotment garden. Get your gardening gloves ready and let's dive into the world of late-summer gardening!
II. The Benefits of Late Summer Gardening
Whilst summer might be drawing to a close there is still plenty to be doing and planning for this month. As well as maintaining your plot this month you can be sure to boost your exposure to vitamin D, increase your happy hormones and keep your heart rate up; all of which will help keep you happy and healthy as our shorter British autumn nights start to draw in.
As well as the physical benefits to you, now is a great opportunity to plan ahead ensuring the best of Autumn and to get ahead for Spring.
III. Soil Care and Improvement
Maintaining the health of your soil remains a priority during the late summer month of August. The most obvious task is keeping your crops hydrated and not allowing the ground to totally dry out if we have a long dry summer. Whilst weed growth should have slowed right down by this point in summer it is still worth dedicating some time to looking out for and clearing them.
It won't be long until some areas of your plot are ready for clearing ahead of winter so take the opportunity to use the last of any rotted-down compost before you start filling your bin up again!
IV. Planting and Sowing
There is a surprising amount of planting and sowing that can happen towards the end of the season; some of our favourites include;
Cauliflowers - You can now transplant winter and spring cauliflowers ahead of overwintering.
Swiss Chard - Now is your last chance to sow chard and some other Oriental leaves.
Cabbages - Spring varieties can be prepared and sowed.
Strawberries - One your existing plants have runners that have rooted you can transport them to a fresh area (where strawberries have not grown for the last 3 seasons) ready for next year....we recommend plastic sheeting on top of the soil to protect from the coldest of temperature's.
V. Harvesting and Preserving
August is a glorious month for fruit, vegetables and colourful salads, you should be returning daily with fresh produce ready to eat.
The crops we're most looking forward to are; Aubergines, Pak Choi, Summer Squashes, Sweetcorn, Courgettes, Onions and Tomatoes.
We also cannot help but get excited by the abundance of fruit that is ready to harvest, many varieties we will spend Autumn preserving for jams!
Our favourites include - Blackberries, Morello Cherries, Plums, Figs and Peaches.
VI. Planning for Autumn and Winter
As the shorter days and cooler temperatures set in Autumn can be a tough one to get motivated for when our bodies are shouting 'begin the hibernation process'! But we find that taking some time out to create a plan of action for September and October ensures that not only do we actually complete the task but we end the year with a plot that is ready to come back to early in the new year with new enthusiasm, ideas and hopefully not too much work to do!
We hope out Autumn Allotment Jobs blog has reminded you of a task or two and helped given some final enthusiasm for the last 6-8 weeks of work before we can start bedding down and switching off for a cosy winter of planning for next season.
Join us next month for Septembers list of jobs!
See our polytunnels and cold frames here;
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Polytunnel 3m x 2m
Regular price £149.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per
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3m Replacement Polytunnel cover - Metal Door
Regular price £69.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per
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Large Polytunnel 6m x 3m
Regular price £229.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per
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6m Replacement Polytunnel cover - Metal Door
Regular price £89.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per
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Wooden Cold Frame
Regular price £129.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per
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Small Cold Frame Greenhouse
Regular price £44.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per£52.99 GBPSale price £44.99 GBP
Sale -
Raised Trough Planter
Regular price £44.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per£52.99 GBPSale price £44.99 GBP
Sale -
Large Vegetable Planter
Regular price £99.99 GBPRegular priceUnit price per£129.99 GBPSale price £99.99 GBP
Sale
Please get in touch with any questions;
Let customers speak for us
Large vegetable planter
Absolutely thrilled with my planter! Very well made & very sturdy, having the central support. I also chose this one for its size, lining & upright support. Can’t wait to start growing veg!
Julie McGovern
Large Vegetable Planter
Aviary
Looks good customer service superb very helpful regarding delivery as we had an appointment for the day it should have been delivered so very kind sorted it for us
Pauline Smart
Bird Aviaries and Extensions - AV02
Excellent delivery great price easy to assemble looks great would recommend and I be buying again
Vicki
Medium Chicken Coop - Windsor
Poly
It was with help easy erected good fit
Ann Baxter
3m Replacement Polytunnel Greenhouse Cover - Zip Door
End cover
Brilliant quality.....covers
Exellent fast delivery
Will be ordering more quality products
5 stars from me
Nadeem ULLAH
End cover
Good tape
Arrived on time and easy to put on frame but could have done with more. Fortunately a neighbourly plot owner had a spare one.
tcc
Anti Hot Spot Polytunnel Tape
So far so good
Well packed and delivered on time. It is wider than 2m which is great. I've only just put it up on my allotment with help from a friend. It was straightforward, each piece was numbered with easy to follow diagrams. Yet to see how it holds up to the strong winds and storms.
tcc
Polytunnel 3m x 2m
Budgie towers.
We were happy with our budgie avairy. Put it on a wooden base and legs so don't have to bend down. Overall very happy.
D.o.
Bird Aviaries and Extensions - AV02
polytunnel 3mx2m
We are very pleased overall. There are two suggestions which could improve the instructions in future: They say "all poles are to be placed on the inside of the polytunnel". In fact, the two side braces (number 20) go on the outside. Also, there is no info on where to put the 6 black plastic bungs. The tunnel itself is well made, but no water butt could ever fit under the gutter and leave room at its bottom to draw water out of a tap into a can. Good value and we are looking forward to our first crops.
Anthony Graf
Polytunnel 3m x 2m
Easy to assemble
Attractive looking hutch for one or two rabbits. Really cosy if you buy the rain cover to go with it.
Rachel Dickinson
Double Height Rabbit Hutch