It’s that time of year again! With tomatoes, peppers, and so many other summer vegetables finally ready for harvest, it's time to get fall harvest crops in the ground. Starting a new crop of greens, peas, broccoli, and other cool season edibles in August ensures that they will be ready for harvest when cooler temperatures arrive.
With the heat of August in the air, you might not be thinking about fall and winter veggies and greens just yet, but this month is actually the perfect time to begin tucking them into your edible garden beds — either as seeds or plant starts.
Our favorite resource on year-round gardening in the Pacific Northwest is the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide. It has all the information you need about when to sow, when to plant, when to harvest, and many other tasks in your edible garden. It’s the perfect resource for anybody who is a beginning, intermediate, or even advanced gardener new to the area. We reference this guide heavily and couldn’t recommend it more strongly!
Seeds and Starts for August Planting
Here are a couple of our favorites for sowing or planting in August.
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Tips for Planting in the Heat
It’s a bit of a catch 22: Although now is the time to plant veggies and greens for a fall harvest, these cool-weather plants that can be damaged by too much sun.
One of the best tips is to plant in the shadow of your summer crops like tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. This gives the delicate baby plants protection from the most extreme summer heat and sunshine. Then, by the time the summer crops are fully harvested for the season, the weather will have cooled enough for the fall and winter crops to be out on their own.
