Planting vegetables in summer in a polytunnel is a good way to guarantee successful harvests the following year. It won’t be long until the end of the season as time flies in summertime. In August, most fruit and vegetables are pretty much ready for harvest, or still maturing under the sun. Any empty spot should be filled with the next plants after soil fertilization.
Planting vegetables under cover in summer
August is the last chance to sow some salads, if you haven’t already done it in July. Butterhead and leaf lettuce do best when temperatures outside the greenhouse drop to 10 ° C at night. They are usually sown from seedlings. If you have not tried to grow them in a mini tunnel before, you can easily find those small steel structures in garden stores. If you want to benefit from a domestic source of mixed salads, it is good to add a few stem lettuce seedlings. In addition to fragile, tasty leaves, such a variety features a fleshy and juicy stem that can be cooked to be eaten warm, pickled or even raw. Polytunnel aside, planting any salad will deliver less at this time of year. Plants will more than likely not develop fully in such conditions.
However, if you still have a foil tunnel full of plants, there is still a chance to plant corn salad in close proximity. This variety recently gained popularity, often appearing now in numerous dishes. Apart from its taste, it is characterized by low requirements, frost resistance, and ability to develop on poor quality soils. Even snow-covered leaves will retain their freshness. In order to collect it throughout the year, it is good to place it in a cold frame. Planting (every 15-20 cm in rows) can be done until the end of September. But thanks to good thermal insulation in the tunnel, it is still possible in October. A slightly spicy rocket is an equally frost-resistant variety. However, it has higher soil requirements.
August in the vegetable garden
With thermophilic plants probably already collected, the pantry should be full of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, zucchini, beans, broccoli and cauliflowers. Finally, the time has come to enjoy the results of your labour: watering, fertilizing and pest control for several months. The pleasure is particularly reinforced by the fact that crops come from your own garden.
If potato leaves begin to turn yellow, they are ready for harvest. After digging them out, they must be dried to be suitable for long term storage. Herbs should also be carefully collected and then dried. Remove all residues so that they do not become a breeding ground for pathogens and pests. Free sites, as long as it suits crop rotation, can be allocated for beetroot, from which you can collect leaves, tuber or both. Foil tunnels in August can still be used for radish, ready to eat in little time.
Cleaning up the vegetable garden and polytunnel
Once the growing season is over, it is time to clear the garden of all unnecessary plants. It is good to feed empty locations by providing the appropriate macro- and micro-elements. Any weeds should be systematically removed to avoid them spreading in free areas. Any organic material can be used for compost. However, it is important to choose the right ingredients.