August 2022

FIRST QUARTER 5th August

Garden

  • Loads of pricking out
  • Fertilise garlic and onions …. More compost if you have it or liquid feed, I use cow manure, and molasses
  • Now is the time to decide on a mineralisation program for your entire garden area from now on throughout the spring, summer and autumn twice a month before and after full moon for maximum benefit. We recommend you either use Environmental Fertilisers products  like this, or do some serious learning around how to remineralise your soil whilst building carbon and microbe populations .. eg Koanga Booklet How To Grow Nutrient Dense Food
  • Spend a few nights this week checking out the slug and snail situation, maybe require night patrols with a torch and a container of hot water, before it warms up too much and the seedlings start going out. Quash is the slug bait I’m happiest to use. It is completely nontoxic apart from large quantities in waterways for fish!
  • Bed preparation critical as soil allows

Temperate Forest Garden

  • Now is a good time to decide how you will manage soil and tree health in your forest garden. Read this short article , it might be helpful.

FULL MOON 12th August

Garden

  • Great time to feed plants via leaves and also feed soil
  • Plant early potatoes now into trenches of mineralised compost, seaweed, well-rotted manure, or EF: Nature’s Garden see the  potato fertilisation protocol we developed at Koanga
  • Direct sow carrots under cloches into well prepared soil, and cover with an old sheet until seeds germinate
  • Place kumara tubers into sand boxes and put in a warm place to grow kumara tupu, or order /put your name on the wait list for heritage kumara tupu now
  • Plant water chestnuts into seed trays with a plastic liner to keep very moist, and sprout in green house, or order your water chestnut plants now
  • Plant Chinese root ginger into a 20-30cm deep box in green house
  • Plant turmeric into wicking bed in greenhouse or large pot in greenhouse or house

Forest Garden

  • Chop your prunings and spread down as mulch all around forest garden to feed fungi
  • Compost and or feed citrus trees and mulch heavily

LAST QUARTER 19th August

Garden

  • Prepare seed raising mix 1/3 sieved compost, 1/3 sieved garden soil, 1/3 sand – possibly 10% vermicast if available
  • Pot up any cuttings that you took in May and are now shooting in the sand box
  • Weed garden beds, make compost, double-dig or prepare beds for planting as they become dry enough last quarter

Forest Garden

  • Very last tree planting for deciduous fruit trees
  • Good time to plant citrus
  • Very last pruning
  • Mulch all newly planted trees before the grass begins to take over
  • Great time to apply foliar sprays to fruit trees  to increase tree health and fruit set.  Apply Growth Foliar to bark and swelling buds. At quarter flowering stage switch to Environmental Fertilisers Fruit Foliar for a couple of weeks. These sprays will make a big difference to any black spot or pests and diseases in apples pears etc etc
  • Remove any mummified fruit
  • Feed trunk structure
  • Chip and spread ramial wood chip everywhere
  • Good time to plant forest garden support trees especially legumes

NEW MOON  27th August

Garden

  • In warmer areas time for early veggies to be planted out under cloches, e.g. courgettes, bush and dwarf tomatoes, early cucumber and beans, beetroot
  • Do loads of weeding and compost making
  • Get a copy of the Koanga Booklet The Art of Composting  or sign up for our Growing Great Compost online workshop to ensure your compost is capable of growing soil and nutrient dense food
  • You should be beginning to take out all compost crops  and preparing beds for major plantings next month or so
  • Make sure you have a good plan for how you will nourish your soil and your plants this season to ensure you are regenerating the soil, the plant health and your health.. If you aren’t then you are degenerating all three.. Time to make a choice.. maybe time to get your copy of Koanga Booklet How to grow Nutrient Dense Food 
  • Check out these amazing Koanga Heritage Vegetable Selector Charts for pumpkins, beans, tomatoes and corn to help you select the best cultivars for your garden this spring
  • Sow seed into trays of early spring flowering plants nasturtium, sweet pea, calendula
  • Plant loads of early Spring vege seeds, into trays ready to prick out when first leaves appear.. lettuce, coriander, parsley, purple leaf mustard, ruruhau, tatsoi, Red Coral mizuna, corn salad, Miner’s lettuce 
  • Scatter sow into trays, ready to plant into garden as soon as 5cm high rocket, peas, broad beans and onions  (onions need to stay in tray until 10 cm high)
  • Sow eggplants and peppers in an even warmer place. These seeds really need 20 degrees day and even nights to germinate well. I recommend you build a small plastic cloche, over a seed tray with these seeds in it, inside the green house.. or wrap your seed tray in bubble wrap plastic

Temperate Forest Garden

  • Best time to establish orchard herbal ley from scratch or to renovate existing ley
  • Slug and snail control essential around newly grafted trees
  • Good time to chop and drop tagasaste, tree lupins in warmer areas, as they finish flowering