8 Essential Gardening Tasks for August: Growmate Edition

Grow-Mate Organic Gardening
Aug 8
3 min read

Updated: Aug 9

August is the heart of summer, but the first hints of autumn are in the air. It’s a month for harvesting, tidying, and preparing,-ensuring your garden stays productive now and bounces back beautifully next season. Whether you’re nurturing vegetables, flowers, or container plants, here are 8 essential tasks to keep your garden thriving this month.

1. Harvest & Deadhead

Pick ripe vegetables, fruit, and herbs regularly to encourage continued production. Tomatoes, courgettes, beans, and basil all benefit from frequent picking—if you leave them too long, plants may slow or stop producing. Remove spent blooms from roses, dahlias, and petunias to keep flowers coming well into September.

2. Prune for a Second Bloom

Many perennials respond well to a summer cut-back. Trim back plants like geraniums, salvias, and penstemons to spark fresh blooms and keep borders looking neat. Even herbs like mint and oregano will reward a light trim with a burst of fragrant new growth. Even the stunners like Lavender and Rambling roses benefit from a snip here and there.

3. Feed, Mulch, Water

Support tired plants with a gentle nutrient boost after the heavy flowering and fruiting of summer. Using a biological root enhancer such as RootMax helps improve root health, strengthen plants, and increase nutrient uptake. Top with mulch—straw, bark chips, or compost—to lock in soil moisture and protect roots from late-summer heat. Keep watering to keep the plants up to speed in the heat. And if you are travelling for the holidays, don't forget to get a watering buddy.

Also read: How plant Probiotics can help your plants

4. Sow Cool-Season Crops

August is the perfect time to plant vegetables that prefer cooler conditions and will mature in autumn. Try spinach, kale, radishes, and lettuce for a steady harvest as temperatures drop. If space is tight, use pots for quick-growing greens like rocket or mustard leaves.

Also Read: A Guide to growing Tomatoes in the UK

5. Collect & Save Seeds

Gather seeds from your favourite annuals and heritage plants to save money and preserve varieties you love. Sunflowers, sweet peas, marigolds, and cosmos are easy to collect from—just let a few blooms go to seed. Store seeds in labelled paper envelopes in a cool, dry place.

6. Check for Pests

Warmer weather can bring outbreaks of aphids, whitefly, spider mites, and powdery mildew. Inspect leaves—especially undersides—on crops like courgettes, cucumbers, and roses. Remove pests by hand, use organic sprays, or introduce beneficial insects like ladybirds.

Read also : Know your type of soil and what it means for you

7. Refresh Container Plants

Potted plants can become tired by August as nutrients leach away with frequent watering. Replace the top few centimetres of soil with fresh compost, trim leggy growth, and feed with a nutrient boost to revive blooms. A clean, no-mess dry plant food like GrowthMax is perfect for container plants—it’s easy to apply, odour-free, and provides steady nourishment without the risk of overwatering. Fuchsias, geraniums, and begonias in pots will respond quickly to this mid-season refresh.

8. Plan for Autumn

Think ahead by ordering spring bulbs such as tulips, daffodils, and crocuses for planting in September or October. Use this quieter garden time to clean and sharpen tools, and note what worked well (or didn’t) in this year’s planting schemes. Planning now means you’ll hit the ground running next season.

Also read: Why mycorrhizal fungi are the next frontier for organic gardening in the UK

August is a bridge between seasons—full of color and harvest, but also rich with opportunities to prepare for what’s next. With these 8 steps, you’ll keep your garden healthy now and give it the best start for the cooler months ahead.

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Whether you’re harvesting the last of your summer crops, refreshing your containers, or planning for autumn, the joy of gardening is always richer when it’s shared. Growmate is more than a source of tips—it’s a community for gardeners of all levels to learn, connect, and grow together. Join us and be part of a gardening network that celebrates growth—in every sense of the word.