August Garden Calendar: The Dog Days Of Summer Will Keep You Running!
Your August garden calendar is the prime planting and bedding time for fall crops. August is the hottest month of the year, and is the best harvesting time for most fruits and vegetables. The primary concerns for a conscientious gardener in August is coordinating watering, fertilizing and harvesting, all of which are critical to making a good landscape design thrive.
Watering Needs
Your lawn will need the usual half an inch to an inch every week make sure to water before fertilizing to prevent run off.
It's during August that most lawns start to turn patchy and brown due to uneven watering if you see this, adjust your sprinklers and keep things working normally.
Spot spray weeds when you see them, and use a medium strength fertilizer where needed most grasses are quite hardy, and don't need "turf and feed" fertilizers, even in the height of August. Fortunately, the hot temperatures inhibit rusts and other fungal pests, taking that to-do item off your August garden calendar.
August is when fruit trees need aggressive watering you'll want to get the water at least three feet deep to get to the tap and feeder roots of the tree. Don't water too close to the trunk, where it'll evaporate quickly.
Planting Time
It's always planting time in the garden, no matter what the time of the year, and what part of your landscape design you're working on; the height of summer is no exception.
This is the time of the year to lay in your fall vegetables and flowers. Make sure the containers are sufficient to let them grow, and keep them in a bright location, but out of direct light. You want them to survive the heat of the day without drying out.
Good candidates for August garden calendar plantings include Calendulas, pansies and stock. Snapdragons are also lovely fall flowering plants. This is also a decent time to plant perennials, like Shasta daisies and coreopsis, and it's the prime time to lay down biennials and herbs, which will bloom next spring.
When your new seedlings sprout and put out their first flowers, transplant them into the garden beds shortly after Labor Day weekend to give your garden a bright, colorful run in September.
For fall and winter vegetables, this is a good time to lay down the rows, for cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower, kohlrabi, Brussels sprouts, celery and lettuce; these can be planted in containers and transplanted in September. Root plants should be planted in the soil they'll grow in, and this is the perfect time to lay in radishes, carrots, beets and turnips.
Dont' forget to mark 'taking in the harvest' on your August garden calendar. Pull fallen fruit off the ground, and check your fruit trees regularly to pull the fruit while it's fresh.
Also, don't let zucchini and other gourd crops get to gigantic sizes they turn mushy and awful tasting when they get too large.
Fertilizing and Mulching
Like in January, the heavy need for fertilizing has mostly passed the peak growing months are May and June. On your August garden calendar, use high nitrogen fertilizer where needed, but use it sparingly.
You want to keep your plants healthy and well fed, without excessive runoff and drainage. Remember to use an acid fertilizer for citrus, followed by a liquid iron fertilizer a week later, and always fertilize an hour or two after you water, or the day after if that's not practical.
Mulching and organic matter are important to your landscape design, because they shield the root system from dehydration, and help retard fungal parasites and some insects.
Make sure you take regular steps to control insect pest populations; it's worth it to take a spray bottle of very dilute dish soap solution to spray the leaves clean. Catch the undersides while you're at it to get rid of aphids and egg cases.
Most insects are in their breeding phase at the height of the summer, rather than their "hungry adolescent" phase, but it's worth it to keep an eye peeled, particularly for aphids, which have a short life cycle.
Crops to Be Harvested
This is the prime season for the second wave of pitted fruits (nectarines, peaches and pears), and the season for mangoes if you're growing them.
Apples will start to ripen to harvest time around the end of the month; pears tend to ripen two to three weeks sooner, so watch your pear trees.
Tomatoes need to be harvested aggressively keep an eye on them this time of year, as they go from "none" to "green" to overripe in the blink of an eye.
As mentioned above, zucchini and other gourd crops are also in prime harvesting season and seem to sprout new ones every other evening.
I had so much fun putting this August Garden Calendar together and I hope it helps you in beautifying your garden. When you subscribe to our free newsletter will you be notified every two weeks of the current monthly calendar along with lots of advice on landscape design and more. Plus, if you Subscribe now you'll receive my bonus e-book: 10 Tips for Creating a Beautiful Landscape Design.
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It's during August that most lawns start to turn patchy and brown due to uneven watering if you see this, adjust your sprinklers and keep things working normally. 
This is the time of the year to lay in your fall vegetables and flowers. Make sure the containers are sufficient to let them grow, and keep them in a bright location, but out of direct light. You want them to survive the heat of the day without drying out. 
Dont' forget to mark 'taking in the harvest' on your August garden calendar. Pull fallen fruit off the ground, and check your fruit trees regularly to pull the fruit while it's fresh. 
You want to keep your plants healthy and well fed, without excessive runoff and drainage. Remember to use an acid fertilizer for citrus, followed by a liquid iron fertilizer a week later, and always fertilize an hour or two after you water, or the day after if that's not practical.
