Lunar sowing calendar for a gardener and gardener for august 2022

Plan of work in the garden and vegetable garden for August

August for summer residents is associated with harvesting. And in fact, it is at this time that fruits and vegetables begin to sing in the garden and vegetable garden. So it’s time to prepare them for the winter. But it is important not to forget about other works, and there are many of them in August.

Sowing calendar for 2022

Preparing seedlings in August

It would seem that the end of the season, what kind of seedlings? But it is August that is the best time for planting garden strawberries.

The optimal landing time is the second half of the month. When buying seedlings, pay attention to its appearance. Here are 5 important signs of good planting material:

• herbaceous plants;
• the thickness of the horn (upper kidney) is not less than 7 mm, but the thicker it is, the better;
• the root system is well developed, at least 7 cm long (if the seedlings are in pots, then the roots should completely wrap around the earthen ball);
• leaves – at least three, they should be green, shiny, without spots (this is a sign of fungal diseases) and in no case wrinkled (this is a sign of strawberry mite damage);
• Seedlings are fresh, with no signs of wilting.

In August, you can plant babies from your own strawberries, but for reproduction you need to take only the first rosettes on the mustache, as the strongest (1) – all subsequent ones have few roots, take root poorly, freeze out in winter, and if they survive, they are much inferior in harvest in further.

Choose a place for strawberries flat or with a slight slope. It is impossible to plant seedlings in the lowlands – water stagnates there in the spring, after rains, and the plants rot.

Garden work in August

Feed fruit trees. In August, only three crops require top dressing:

• apples and pears (summer varieties): 1,5 cups of double superphosphate and 1 cup of potassium sulfate (fertilizers should be evenly scattered over the diameter of the trunk circle, raked into the soil and watered);
• plums: 3 tbsp. spoons of double superphosphate and 2 tbsp. spoons of potassium sulfate (fertilizers must be dissolved in water and poured at the rate of 40 liters per tree).

In all these cases, top dressing is applied immediately after harvest.

Collect scavenge. Autumn and winter varieties of apple and pear trees, plums, cherry plums are constantly crumbling and the fruits often lie on the ground under the trees for a long time. And this is unacceptable, because carrion is a breeding ground for diseases and pests. It needs to be collected as often as possible, preferably every day, and buried – to a depth of 50 cm. Or taken out of the site, for example, to the city, and thrown into garbage containers.

Place props under fruit trees. Early varieties of apples and pears will be harvested in August, but autumn and winter varieties are still pouring, increasing in size. And if the crop is large, the branches of the tree may not withstand the load. Therefore, under the skeletal branches you need to put props. The easiest option is strong horns. But the place that will be in contact with the branch must be wrapped with burlap so that the bark is not injured during gusts of wind.

Trim raspberry shoots. The bulk of the berries in raspberries are formed on biennial shoots – on the side branches. And then the yield drops dramatically. Therefore, after picking the berries, you need to cut out all the fruiting shoots. They should be cut flush with the soil so that there are no stumps left. This is important because pests hibernate in stumps.

And then you need to thin out the shoots of the current year – it is customary to leave 30-40 plants per linear meter. You need to choose the strongest, with thick strong stems. And they need to cut off the tops – shorten them by 10 cm. Such pruning stimulates the growth of side branches for the next year, and the more of them, the higher the yield.

Trim grapes. In early August, you need to shorten the shoots of the current year’s grapes by 10 – 20 cm. This process is called chasing. The bottom line is that the vines have time to mature before the onset of cold weather. And, therefore, they will be able to overwinter and produce next year’s harvest.

Please note: chasing begins to be carried out on grapes only in the third year after planting, and in the future it is necessary to cut off annual shoots every year.

garden work in august

Pinch off the tops of the tomatoes. At the end of summer, it is important to direct all the forces of plants to the ripening of the crop, but in nature, tomatoes are perennial plants, so in August they continue to grow, spending energy on this. However, practice has shown that in the middle lane only those fruits that set up before August 1 have time to ripen (2). That is why the tops must be cut off, and together with the upper flowering brushes – they still will not have time to produce a crop.

Put planks under watermelons and melons. This is necessary so that the fruits remain dry – when they lie on the ground, they often rot.

Sow early vegetables and herbs. In August, you can sow Chinese cabbage, autumn varieties of radish, for example, Zlata, Mokhovsky, Icicle (3), lettuce, watercress, arugula, spinach, purslane, dill, parsley and purslane.

Sow green manure. Land in the garden should not be empty. The beds from which the crop has already been harvested can be sown with either early ripening vegetables or green manure – these are plants that improve soil structure and increase its fertility. The most popular green manures are rye, vetch, phacelia, and rapeseed. But it is best to sow mustard – it also heals the site, inhibiting the growth of weeds and the development of pathogens.

Siderates can be sown throughout August and even later. And when they grow up, mow them down and dig up the site along with the green mass.

Harvest in August

In the garden. August has a special smell – at this time the orchards smell of apples. It is not for nothing that Apple Spas is celebrated on August 19. In the last month, summer varieties ripen, not only apples, but also pears – it’s time to harvest them (4). Only now they are not stored – they must either be eaten immediately or used for winter preparations.

In August, they also harvest plums, cherry plums, sea buckthorn, chokeberries and late varieties of cherries, currants, and gooseberries.

In the garden. In the second half of August, early melons and watermelons begin to ripen. But they don’t last long either. However, if you pick melons unripe, they can lie in the refrigerator or cellar for a month or two. And when you decide to eat, you need to get the fruit and put it in a warm place – they will quickly ripen. With watermelons, unfortunately, this number will not work, they do not ripen, they need to be picked already ripe.

Gradually, as they ripen, they harvest tomatoes. If it is supposed to carry them over a long distance, it is better to pick the fruits a little unripe – so they will reach with a guarantee, they will not wrinkle and will not flow.

Zucchini ripen in August. They are usually picked unripe, and this leads to a problem – the harvest is sometimes so large that you do not know what to do with it. And just leave some of the fruits on the bushes to ripen. Fully ripened zucchini resemble pumpkins – both in taste and in color. And they also keep well at room temperature – you can put the crop in the pantry or even under the bed. There they lie until the middle of winter, and their taste becomes better during storage – they gain sweetness. However, it is important to eat them before February, because at this time (unlike pumpkins) seeds begin to germinate inside their fruits and the flesh becomes bitter.

And, of course, in August you need to dig up potatoes – it is advisable to do this before the 20th. It is undesirable to delay cleaning, because at the end of summer the nights become cold, dew often falls, and low temperatures and high humidity provoke outbreaks of diseases – late blight and rot. And diseased tubers will not be stored.

Folk omens for gardeners in August

• If the first week of August is even, without temperature fluctuations, heavy rains, then the winter will be even, but long and snowy.

• Dry August – to a dry warm autumn.

• Early hoarfrost fell in August – for an early and cold winter.

• Too many thunderstorms – for a long autumn.

• There are many early yellow leaves on the trees – by early autumn.

Popular questions and answers

We talked about the features of work in August with agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. Kruglova A.P. Strawberries // Saratov, Saratov book publishing house, 1956 – 52 p.
2. Gavrish S.F. Tomatoes // M.: NIIOZG, publishing house “Scriptorium 2000”, 2003 – 184 p.
3. State Register of Breeding Achievements
4. Kamshilov A. and a group of authors. Gardener’s Handbook // M .: State Publishing House of Agricultural Literature, 1955 – 606 p.