August is a wonderful time to seed some veggies, like peas or spinach, so you can enjoy their bounty well into the fall. Just make sure you keep harvesting regularly while veggies are young and tender.

Keep picking your herbs and if you’ve got more than you can use, you can freeze the leaves, or dry everything for later use. Just make sure you don’t allow the herbs to flower, or the leaves will lose flavor. Harvesting keeps the fresh, flavorful shoots coming through the late summer.

One of our favorite activities is browsing the seed and bulb catalogues. If you want to get the best variety, you can your bulbs and have your pick of the crop when you’re ready to plan later in the fall. 

Let some of your annuals go to seed, and you’ll get a whole new crop of flowers next spring. It will be a surprise which flowers pop up their beautiful heads next year, but what a lovely surprise! Don't worry, any that seed in unwanted places will be easy to pull out early in the season.

Check your mulch. Last month, we suggested you mulch to keep your beds cool and to help them retain water. This month have a look and see if you need to top up any areas.

Give your flower and vegetable gardens a layer of compost or manure. In the middle of the season, the extra boost of nutrients will help your plants keep going and growing through the final months of the season.