August is another busy month in the garden, filled with harvesting vegetables, fruits and flowers and preparations for the autumn and winter. Here’s how to keep your garden thriving through late summer:

Harvest Time:
When gardening with children, harvesting your own produce to enjoy together is really satisfying, and tasting food that has just been picked from the plant is such a delight! If you’ve grown them, August is the time to harvest flowers like dahlias and sunflowers, along with vegetables such as potatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweetcorn, French and runner beans, and soft fruits like raspberries, blackberries and plums. If you have herbs, you can preserve them by freezing them in ice cube trays with water or oil, or dry them hanging-up in bunches, in a cool, well-ventilated area.

Seed Saving:
August is ideal for saving seeds for next year, helping you save money and preserve your best plants. Collect seeds on dry days, ensuring they’re ripe (brown and papery). Dry them completely before storing in paper packets within an airtight container. Properly stored seeds can last up to three years. You could make a pretty seed-drying mobile, read our blog post here and make your own origami seed packets, read our blog post here.

Build a Bug Hotel:
Not only is this a great project to do with kids, but it also supports the health of your garden ecosystem. Read our blog post on how to make one here. Our August box includes this activity, you can purchase a box here.

August Planting & Care:
Give flowering plants extra care with all-purpose plant food. Sow hardy salad crops like rocket and lamb's lettuce for fresh winter pickings. It’s also your last chance to sow chard, which we include in our August boxes, which you can purchase here. For late-season color, plant autumn-flowering crocus or nerine bulbs. Both are suitable for planting in pots and will flower year after year!

Author: Alison Kenehan, RHS-qualified gardener and mother

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