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Planting Calendar

Friday, May 22, 2009

August in your garden

At the end of August tidy up and prepare your garden beds for spring planting. Dig in generous quantities of compost into the soil to prepare it for planting. Add lime to acidic soils.

If the garden is wet and muddy don’t work in it. By walking around on wet soil you’ll only compact it. It’s also better and healthier for your plants to be planted into slightly dryer soil. If your garden gets particularly wet, dig shallow drainage trenches to drain water away from new plants, shrubs and trees.

You can still plant deciduous fruit trees. Water young trees at least twice a week, and keep them mulched as the season progresses to conserve soil moisture.

Protect tender plants from frosty nights by using a cold-frame, or draping with frost cloth of plastic.

Complete your rose pruning. Plant seedlings – pansies, viola, polyanthus, cineraria, stock, alyssum, aquilegia, poppy, cornflower, canterbury bells, forget-me-nots, hollyhock, delphinium and cosmos. Plant perennials.

Harvest Broadbeans, shallots, beetroot, radish, cabbage, carrot, pak choy.

Planting
Warmer areas: In frost-free areas start planting seed potatoes. Add potato food compost and well-rotted manure. In late August sow tomato seeds, radish seeds (sow these directly into the bed, not trays as they don’t appreciate being disturbed), strawberries, or feed established plants with strawberry food, beetroot, broad beans, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, corn salad,leeks, lettuce, onion, parsnips, peas, silver beet, turnips, spinach. Aspragus seedlings can be planted out.

For more of what to plant in your climatic zone, click here

Your comments:

by doris 11 Aug 11, 5 replies : Last Post

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doris 1 posts	carrots and beetroot Posted 11 Aug 11 2:38 PM every year I plant y seeds for carrots and beetroot, I have very poor crops. every thing else I grow is good but not these. Can anyone help me with this.

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Orchidmaniac 66 posts	Re: carrots and beetroot Posted 27 Oct 11 8:11 PM How do you prepare the soil for them? They like to have fairly free draining soil, so maybe next year, dig a bit of sand into it. Also, try digging down about 20/30cm, and make it nice and friable. Good luck!

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sustainablebackyard 1 posts	Re: carrots and beetroot Posted 13 Jan 12 4:09 PM I sow carrots into a depressed rows, but as they need light to germinate, I dont cover them with soil, rather lightly water them.

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Jane 10 posts	Re: carrots and beetroot Posted 14 Jan 12 10:37 AM Hi Doris, When you say poor crop......do you mean poor in terms of germination rate or size of roots?

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Anonymous 216 posts	Re: carrots and beetroot Posted 22 Jan 12 2:41 PM I didn't know they need light to germinate?? I sow carrots and radish together in the same row and get good results from both. The radish mature earlier and by harvesting them, they leave plenty of room for the carrots. I still have to thin the carrots.

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Orchidmaniac 66 posts	Re: carrots and beetroot Posted 23 Jan 12 4:06 PM I havnt had any trouble either. I have never heard of carrots needing light to germinate in all the years i have been gardening. Although, most packs recommend a sowing depth of around 6-7mm

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