What to do in August

August is the month of plenty — a good harvest on every visit — but also the start of the turn towards autumn. The main jobs are harvesting, keeping everything watered, squeezing in a few late sowings, and beginning to prepare beds for the months ahead.

Harvest now

• Courgettes (pick them young, or leave one for a marrow), plus runner and French beans
• Sweetcorn — ready when the tassels turn brown and the kernels are milky
• Tomatoes as they ripen, plus beetroot, carrots and cucumbers
• Second early potatoes now; maincrops from the end of the month
• Onions, shallots and garlic — lift and dry in the sun before storing
• Soft fruit in full swing: raspberries, blackberries, currants and blueberries

Still time to sow

• Quick salads — lettuce, rocket, radish and baby spinach — for autumn picking
• Early in the month: kale, pak choi, turnips and chard
• Towards month end: spring cabbage, winter lettuce and hardy spinach to overwinter
• Green manures (mustard, clover or phacelia) on any bare beds to feed the soil

Jobs for the month

• Keep picking — regular harvesting keeps plants cropping, and cutting salads often stops them bolting
• Pinch out the tips of outdoor tomatoes so energy goes into ripening the fruit
• Weed before weeds set seed, and keep beds tidy
• Net brassicas and soft fruit from birds; peg down strawberry runners for free new plants
• Summer-prune trained apples and pears, and prune plums now to avoid silver-leaf disease
• Going away? Sink pot tomatoes into the ground, mulch well, and ask a neighbour to water

Watering tip

In dry spells, water deeply two or three times a week rather than a little every day, in the early morning or evening, and mulch to lock in moisture. Remember drip irrigation must run from your own water butt.

Watch out for

Warm, damp spells bring out slugs and snails, cabbage white caterpillars, and flea beetle on brassicas — and raise the risk of blight on tomatoes and potatoes. Check crops often and act early.