August 2024

August 2024

Dear Home Food Growers,

August is here, bringing sunshine and clear skies with it. I am hopeful that this much needed burst of (final) summer warmth will help with slower ripening summer vegetables. Ensure to increase the watering frequency in this period.

 

With days gradually shortening, every moment in the garden counts to enjoy full-year gardening. Don’t forget to harvest vegetables to clear out spaces. It is also a great period to interplant new sowings in between vegetables that are almost ready. Maintaining weed-free beds and regular watering will help with the root growth of new transplanting.

 

Lastly, check out below for our two new workshops upcoming in September to help you prepare for a full-year harvest!

1. What to Sow

  • Leafy Greens: Spinach, Pak Choi, Tatsoi, Chinese Cabbage, Mustard Greens, Endive, and Rucola which you can start sowing right away. These will thrive in the cooler temperatures approaching and will provide fresh greens well into the autumn and winter months.

  • Herbs (with Parsley, Dill, and Coriander) and Lettuce

  • Spring Onions: Perfect for sowing now to get a harvest in the cooler months.

  • Smaller Brassicas: Red Radish for autumn harvest, Turnip and Winter Radish for winter and overwintering

  • Overwintering: Sow Spring Cauliflower, Cabbage, Kale, Chard (if you expect a milder winter), Winter Purslane and Corn Salad

  • If you have not already, you can still try sowing Fennel, Kohlrabi and late Chicory varieties asap

 

Succession sowing for autumn and winter

2. What NOT to Sow

  • For outdoor growing, it may be now too late with carrots and beetroot to form sufficient size. For indoor growing, sow these asap and you may be able to enjoy smaller sizes

  • The same goes for larger autumn brassicas such as Cauliflower and Broccoli in case you have also experienced slug damage. If you still like to grow autumn brassicas, best to check out nurseries for transplants. Alternatively, you can sow them for spring

3. Jobs to be Done

  • Watering: With the heat, comes more watering. Frequently water larger, fruiting plants to provide more abundance. Also vegetables such as celery and salad greens (with more water content) will thrive better from increased watering. For tomatoes and other nightshades, ensure to water at the roots, avoiding wet leaves to reduce the risk of blight and other diseases as well as more efficient watering.

  • Pruning: Especially for outdoor growers - mid-August is a good time to prune the tops of your tomatoes to stop growth and instead transfer the plants’ energy to ripen the already existing fruits in the coming two months. For indoor growers, mid-August to early September would be a good time to do so. Don’t forget to prune non-productive leaves to increase air circulation (also for cucurbits)

  • Addressing diseases: Beyond the pruning to pro-actively manage diseases this summer, if you are suffering from Powdery Mildew on your plants you can also try Lava Powder* (click to check out). This is a lava rock flour, to organically strengthen your plants with trace elements and fight against the fungal diseases. Also remove the infected leaves asap to decrease the further spreading

    • *For WormenKwekerijWasse products (Worm Compost, Lava Powder, etc.) you can have a 5% discount with code BACKYARDGOODNESS5

  • Pest Management: This year we have not had many butterflies with caterpillar damage outdoors, but instead you may be having continuous slug damage. I have been using nematodes against slugs but my review is 50/50. I will continue using multiple natural methods; plant covers, copper mesh and nematodes to try to protect new seedlings

  • De-weeding: Regularly check and remove weeds to proactively manage

4. Harvests & Seasonal Chef tips

  • Abundance!

  • Zucchini + Carrot fritters: See our dish here!

  • Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and summer beans: Time to enjoy these long-waited summer vegetables!

  • Roots with Carrots, Beets, Kohlrabi

  • Salad Leaves, Turnip and Herbs, making perfect bases for summer salads.

 

August abundance

5. Events & recommended products

  • Highlights from the 20 July Tomato Knowledge Bite at MOES Tuinen: Backyard Goodness / MOES Tuinen hosted a private Tomato Knowledge bite, focused on how to maintain and care this delicious, but complex plant. We have then performed a garden tour across participants to address Q&A and give practical tips as a group. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

  • Next workshop: 7 September at MOES Tuinen (Amstelveen): Urban Gardening with No Dig - Autumn / Winter edition. We will cover summer vegetables harvesting and clearing, garden bed designs for upcoming season and sow together for Autumn / Winter.

  • Event & Workshop: 21 September at Dutch Urban Farmers Festival (DUFF - Eindhoven): As Backyard Goodness we will both be hosting a workshop as well as have a full-day stand at the festival. Our workshop focus will be “Starting Urban Gardening with No Dig methods”, focusing on Autumn and Winter prep. Entrance is FREE for this event. You are welcome to come and say hi - we would love to see you there!

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