Garden in August: that's to be done now

Gardening in the spring was worth it: in August the summer garden overwhelmed us with colors and flowers and we enjoyed the sunny days in the fresh air. Nevertheless: Garden care is also part of summer days: watering diligently, fertilizing moderately and harvesting properly.

Table of contents Table of contents Garden in August: This has to be done now

• Gardening in the ornamental garden
• Balcony and terrace
• fruit and vegetables
• Pests and crop protection

Table of contents Table of contents Garden in August: This has to be done now

• Gardening in the ornamental garden
• Balcony and terrace
• fruit and vegetables
• Pests and crop protection

Gardening in the ornamental garden

Rose care

In August, flowered side shoots of the roses should be shortened. The cut stimulates strong new shoots with flowers. Ensure good ventilation on the floor regularly. After rainfall, loosen up the rose beds carefully. This will prevent it from becoming too compact. In the first half of August, perennials and roses are fertilized one last time before the rest period. Potash fertilization is best suited for wood maturation. Now in summer you should pay particular attention to fungal diseases: powdery mildew and mildew attack leaves and young shoots. You can spray horsetail broth for prevention and strengthening.

Fertilize

When harvesting, you remove a lot of nutrients from the soil. So give it back what you have removed: Now is the best time to fertilize moderately. In gardens with mixed crops, fertilization is only necessary to a limited extent at this time.

Water plants

In August it's time to water properly! This month with longer dry periods must be watered sufficiently. Above all, everything that is newly planted needs a lot of water to form roots. Better watering instead of irrigation systems, that saves. And: pour vigorously once instead of a few times. You should also delay watering in the evening or early morning (especially in the case of snail infestation, it is better in the morning) when the sun is still sloping. After heavy downpours, check the soil moisture before watering extra.

Due to the high temperatures in August, a lot of watering is necessary, preferably in the morning or in the evening.

Photo: iStock / SbytovaMN

Shorten strong hedges a second time

After the first cut at the end of June, fast-growing trees such as privet, beech and hornbeam now need to be cut again. However, the plants should only be brought into shape by the beginning of September at the latest so that their cuts can heal until the winter months.

Take care of the lawn

Now in summer your lawn should be fertilized again for strengthening. Ideally with a slow release fertilizer that continuously releases its nutrients. Mowing should be done once a week (dry grass only) for a dense, compact lawn. Now would also be a good time to sow new lawn, for example to close gaps in the lawn.

If you have not limited your lawn with a stone edge, you should also use a lawn edger to prick its edges. So the grasses don't grow in the beds.

In midsummer you should mow your lawn once a week.

Photo: iStock / StockWithMe

Plant steppe candles

August is the ideal time to plant the beautiful perennial with its candle-like flower clusters. To do this, dig out a planting hole about 20 to 30 centimeters deep and collect sand as drainage. Put the bulb on it and use loose soil to close the planting hole.

Put autumn bloomers

The saffron crocus can be planted this month. In a sunny place, plant its bulbs 10 to 15 centimeters deep in the ground. From September to October it blooms light purple with orange-red pistils. Autumn timeless and gold crocus have the same planting time.

Shorten faded daylilies

As soon as the day lily blooms, the foliage often turns brown. Cut back early day lilies to 10 to 15 centimeters above the ground. The plant will surprise you with a new bloom just two to three weeks later. Late-blooming daylilies only require a maintenance cut in late autumn.

Cut lavender

The fragrant lavender only blooms well if it is trimmed regularly. In August the dwarf shrub had almost completely faded and should now be cut by about a third with hedge trimmers.

Wait until the lavender has been pruned until the flowers are largely withered. So he stays healthy for a long time and spoils us with his fragrance.

Photo: Friedrich Strauss / Strauss, Friedrich

Remove algae in the pond

The water temperature of your pond heats up on hot summer days and causes thread algae to thrive on it. To contain digested sludge, clean the water at regular intervals with a rake.

Tip: The algae are ideal as mulch under trees and shrubs.

Balcony and terrace

In August, the terrace sometimes gets really hot. Some plants especially love this heat, others now need special care.

Cacti

Cacti now want to get some fresh air! Even in high heat, you can put the plants in full sun, the plants will form buds. As a water reservoir, cacti belong to the group of succulents that need little water. Even in strong sunlight, it is enough to water with stale water every seven days.

Maintain geraniums

Do not overpour the soil of the geraniums too much, but do not let them dry too much. Geraniums can get brown leaf spots if they are not regularly watered. To care for offspring, you can cut cuttings from the geraniums. They quickly form roots and can overwinter.

The vigorously blooming geraniums are popular balcony plants.

Photo: Friedrich Strauss / VisionsPictures

Multiply fuchsias

You can cut summer cuttings in the middle of the month. How to proceed: Use a pair of secateurs to cut cuttings below the third pair of leaves from strong shoots. Then carefully remove the bottom two sheets. Dip the ends of the cuttings in rooting powder and move them to seed soil. Finally, cover the container with glass or transparent film and place it in a bright place. The earth must not become dry.

Cut gentian shrub

The gentian bush blooms wonderfully from May to October. Its flowers and shoots are cut several times during this time by at least half. So the crown of the plant remains compact. Side branches are also removed with scissors.

Pull out the heyday of the changing beauty

With a little trick, the flowering herb blooms until autumn: Cut off its green fruits after flowering! The plant otherwise stops flowering because it has taken care of reproduction.

The hydrangea (Endless Summer) needs a lot of water in August.

Photo: Friedrich Strauss / Strauss, Friedrich

Provide flower boxes with autumn pile

At the end of August, many balcony flowers had already faded. Then you can clear the affected flower boxes for the autumn pile. Dispose of the withered flowers on the compost and supply the boxes with autumn bloomers such as gentian, heather or chrysanthemum. You should use fresh potting soil!

fruit and vegetables

Fruit and vegetables full: Clear your garden now! You can either freeze the crop, cann it, or cook lots of delicious dishes right away.

Plant strawberries

If you want to harvest sweet strawberries next year, you must plant them in early August. Make sure that the area is moist and free of weeds. The plant should not be planted too deeply, otherwise it will rot more easily. Then cover the floor with manure, peat or chopped straw and water.

Harvest eggplants

Many types of aubergine are ready for harvest from July / August as soon as they are no longer as hard, their skin shines and their seeds are white to slightly green in color. However, the inside of it must no longer be greenish, after all it contains too much solanine (toxic).

Harvest cucumbers

Consistent harvesting keeps cucumbers growing. The more the plant is picked, the more it forms seeds. As the autumn grows, the cucumber slowly stops growing. Courgettes and melons are still growing vigorously. So that it stays that way, you should water abundantly, but only moderately. Organic fertilizers produce abundant harvests, mineral fertilizers strengthen the plants, prevent the leaves from discolouring and the fruit shedding.

Delicious vegetables such as zucchini, cucumber and tomatoes can be harvested and enjoyed in August.

Photo: Friedrich Strauss / Strauss, Friedrich

Sow lamb's lettuce

If you want to enjoy delicious lamb's lettuce in autumn, sow it in a warm bed by the middle of the month (optimum sowing depth: one to one and a half centimeters deep). You can then press the seed rows firmly using a board. Then water.

Harvest blackberries

With blackberries it is important to let them ripen well: if the berries have been jet black for a few days, they can be harvested. Now that fruit ripens again and again, you should harvest the shrubs every three to five days.

Plant bulbous fennel

For planting in August, sow this type of vegetable in seed trays until the end of July. With four leaves, place the seedlings in a bed 30 cm apart (row spacing: 35 to 40 cm) in loosened and moist soil. After six to eleven weeks, the harvest can be enjoyed.

Plant endives

The endive seedlings must be planted by the end of August at the latest. To do this, sow them in pots with growing soil until the seedlings have developed three to four leaves, and then place them in the bed with moist soil (distance: 30 to 40 centimeters). The roots of the roots may only be covered with soil, otherwise there is a risk that they will rot. After the head has formed, water the young plants two to three times a week (about 20 liters per square meter).

You can plant endive lettuce in late summer. To do this, press the young plants well into the bed.

Photo: Friedrich Strauss / Strauss, Friedrich

Fertilize fruit trees

In August you take Kalimagnesia (patent potash), because this ensures that young fruit trees become more vital and stronger against diseases and pests. Spread the fertilizer on the edge of the tree disc and rake it in. You need 40 to 60 grams of the product per square meter.

Pests and crop protection

It's harvest time now! Ripe fruit and vegetables want to be processed. But some pests are also targeting your garden products.

Vegetable flies

You and other flying pests can be prevented with protective nets, usually made of fine-mesh synthetic fiber nets. Spread out the nets shortly after sowing or planting. The sides should be fixed so that no animals can enter from the side. You can get the nets from gardening retailers.

Apple wrapper

The fruit maggots are particularly noticeable due to heavy fruit falling before harvest. Hang attractant traps for flight monitoring, Trichogramma parasitic wasps have proven to be effective in combating them. Look out for fruit that you have already harvested. The apple wrapper also hatches in storage rooms: fruit rots particularly easily afterwards.

A clear case of the apple wrapper (Cydia Pomonella, family of the wrapper): The caterpillar is an annoying pest in fruit growing.

Photo: iStock / weisschr

Glass wing

They affect apple and pear trees, as well as currants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries and grapevines. In the warm months they prefer to lay their eggs on sick trees. The larvae penetrate the bark and can cause cancerous sores on the shoots. You can recognize an infestation by the drilling dust of the larvae, which adheres to the bark. Watch your trees for a longer period of time and cut out damaged areas. Sometimes it helps to put a wire in the hole. As with the apple wrapper, pheromone traps support flight monitoring.

Cherry leaf wasp

As can already be seen from the name, the cherry tree is the preferred target of this parasite. But he also affects pear or apple trees. The cherry leaf wasp damages the leaves of the fruit trees on the top of the leaf, so that the leaves fall prematurely; The growth in the next year will be reduced. The wasp's larvae are easily confused with the snail.

Aphids

The heavily branched subshrubs of the real lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) deter aphids when planted between roses.

Overview of the August garden

harvest now	plant now	sow now
Beans	Picking salad	Autumn tarnish
tomatoes	Radicchio	Winter radish
zucchini	cauliflower	Lamb's lettuce
Corn	Kohlrabi	Swiss chard
Blackberries	Chinese cabbage	Rocket
Plums	Bulbous fennel	spinach
Beetroot	Kale	Salsify
melon	leek	Tobinambur
Herbs	Mock cypress
Onions	yew
garlic	Cyclamen
Eggplants	Fall timeless
	Strawberries
	Peony
	Bearded iris