Garden tips for August

Anne Gibson, The Micro Gardener is helping Sunshine Coast gardeners on their food growing journey. Each month she shares her top tips from garden tasks to what to plant and harvest. 

August Seasonal Gardening Tips – Subtropical Queensland

What to Plant in August

Here's a sneak peak of what to grow in the garden this August. For more tips, tricks and garden hacks from Anne Gibson, The Micro Gardener, head to the Living Smart website

Vegetables

• Asian greens, dwarf/bush beans, beetroot, capsicum, carrots, celery, chard, chia, Chinese cabbage, comfrey, cool-season cucumber
• green manures, eggplant, fennel, kale, leek, lettuce, mizuna, mustard, peas , potato, perpetual spinach, pumpkin 
• radish, rocket , silverbeet, spring onions , squash, cherry tomatoes and zucchini.

Fruits

• avocado, blueberry, carambola, citrus, coffee, feijoa, grape, guava, kiwifruit
• mulberry (easy from cuttings taken in the new moon phase), nectarine, olive, papaya, passionfruit, peach (try tropical and dwarf varieties), pomegranate
• tropical apples and strawberry runners. 

Herbs and flowers

• American upland or land cress, angelica, basil, borage, calendula, celosia, chervil, chicory, chives, coriander (slow bolt), comfrey, dill, 
• herb Robert, hyssop, lavender, lemon balm, lovage, marjoram, mint, nasturtium , oregano, parsley, perennial 'sawtooth' or mexican coriander
• rocket, rosemary, sage, salad burnett, sorrel, thyme, watercress, and tarragon. 

Flowers

• calendula, cornflower, dianthus, marigold, lobelia, nemesia, pansy, petunia
• sweet alyssum, phlox, snapdragon, statice, strawflower, sweet pea and viola.

Interplanting

Interplant your herbs and flowers between vegetables (particularly brassicas) to attract beneficial predator insects to keep caterpillars and other insects in balance.

Tasks

• Prune old asparagus ferns, feed and mulch.
• Divide and transplant arrowroot and garlic chives.
• Prune passionfruit vines to remove dead stems and deciduous fruit trees after frost.
• Feed, weed and mulch around fruit trees if you haven’t already done so.
• Maintain your tools, build garden beds while it’s cool and vertical structures ready for spring planting.
• Sow microgreens seeds for a continuous supply of nutritious leafy greens.
• pH test your soil and add any amendments. Aim for well-mulched nutrient-rich moisture-holding soil.

Have fun and get planting!