What to do this Month – August
Vegetables
- You can still sow fast-maturing salad crops such as summer lettuce, radish, rocket, sorrel, chicory and fennel.
- Continue to sow spring cabbage, turnips, Oriental vegetables and overwintering onions in the south of England.
- Sow green manures such as crimson clover and Italian ryegrass to act as a soil improver and to cover bare areas. When dug in, they conserve nutrients and improve soil texture.
Fruit
- Summer prune sideshoots on trained apples and pears (such as espaliers and cordons) to three to four leaves to form fruiting spurs.
- If necessary, prune plums, gages and damsons immediately after harvest.
- Loosely tie together new blackberries and hybrid berry canes.
- Prune out fruited summer raspberry canes and tie in new ones.
These tips have been taken from the Royal Horticultural Society, Grow your own section. Full details can be seen at