(Last updated August 1, 2020)
At some point in August, I do grow tired of summer. There’s just always a day where I say, OK, enough of the heat, I look forward to the return of crisp nights and rainfall. Some plants start to look tired in August too. Look at this weary Honey Nut butternut squash vine that was planted way back in March:
On the other hand, citrus trees and avocados never want summer to end. They come from places where it never cools down as much as it does here in Southern California. Look how happy the foliage is on that Reed avocado tree at the top of the page. Bananas, cherimoyas, mangos, and macadamia nut trees love August too, as illustrated by these new leaves at the top of my young Linda macadamia:
While August may seem like a month that is thoroughly summer, for vegetable gardeners it is similar to March in that both are months of transition. In March, in Southern California, we move from plants that like to grow in cool weather to plants that like to grow in warm weather. Here in August, we eat from our plants that like to grow in warm weather — like butternut squash — while we begin sowing seeds of plants that like to grow in the cool weather that arrives in fits and spasms starting late in the month of September. These seeds are of plants like broccoli and potatoes.
So enjoy the changing of the seasons, even as it’s mid-summer.
Sow and plant
– Sow seeds of: (warm-season) basil, beans; (cool-season) broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, potatoes
*Note on sowing: it’s tough to keep the seeds of broccoli, etc. cool and moist enough in August if you sow them in the ground; I have better success sowing them in module trays that I keep in the relative cool and shade of my garage until the seeds have germinated (see photo below, and see details in my post “Starting brassicas in summer”); but hey, don’t sweat it if you don’t feel like growing these plants from seed — just wait to buy seedlings at a nursery in September
Module tray
– Plant seedlings of: basil and beans
– Plant subtropical fruit trees like citrus and avocado, as well as vines like passion fruit; they love settling into the warm soil of mid-summer; just be sure to water broadly and deeply at planting time, and then water frequently for the rest of the summer; see my post about how to water a newly planted avocado tree; this schedule for avocados can be used for citrus, macadamias, mangos, passion fruit and other subtropicals too
Harvest and eat
– Eat these vegetables (had you planted them): tomatoes, tomatillos, potatoes, corn, greens, onion, beets, carrots, peppers, eggplant, squash, basil, cucumber, melons, beans
Kids harvesting basil.
– Eat these berries and fruits (had you planted them): grapes, avocados (Hass, Lamb, Reed), Valencia oranges, peaches, nectarines, plums, pluots
Miscellaneous
– Here in August is the last great time this year to give a deciduous fruit tree a trim, particularly on the top, if you want it to continue making its fruit on branches low enough for you to reach in the coming years; reducing the top growth lets more light onto lower branches, which induces them to form flower buds that will open next spring; the types of trees that I give summer trims to in my yard include peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, and pluots; see more in my post “Summer pruning deciduous fruit trees”
– Ratchet up the frequency of watering; in every year in every garden I’ve had in Southern California, irrigation is needed more often in August than other months; for example, my vegetables now need watering every other day whereas in July they did fine getting water every three days
You might also like to read my post:
Love these monthly updates!
Yikes! I didn’t realized the fruit trees need pruning now!
I had better get busy!!
Thanks! Is it good time for potted avocado to go in ground? I thought I had to wait until it was cooler. I’m in Los Angeles County area and its been HOT
Hi Nancy,
August is a fine time to put a potted avocado in the ground as long as you care for it properly. In fact, I planted one on July 29 and the daily high temps have been 97-99 in my yard during the four days since then, and the little tree is managing happily.
What you must do in such summer heat is water every day for the first week it’s in the ground, about every other day during the second week, and maybe every three days from the third week until the end of summer. See my post “How to water a newly planted avocado tree” for this schedule and approximately how many gallons to give the tree at each watering.
The other vital care the tree will need is shade unless it’s been sitting in full sun for a couple weeks before planting. (Usually, trees at nurseries are not in full sun but rather crowded together with other trees.) See my post “How to plant and stake an avocado tree” and my post “Avocado trees get sunburned — What to do?” for pictures and details about how to shade new trees that are planted in summer.
One last thing that the tree will really appreciate is mulch. That will help the soil stay a bit cooler and moist longer.
It requires more attention to plant an avocado tree in August compared to the cooler months of the year, but if you can give them that attention they thrive. Best of luck!
Does planting in a vegetable box count as planting in the ground?
Hi Bev,
Good question. Glad you asked. Yes, what I mean by sowing broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage “in the ground” is sowing them outside in the garden as opposed to in some kind of tray or pot that you plan to shade or move or otherwise protect from the weather.
Okay. Than you.
I’ve always randomly planned whatever was available in the nursery (Armstrong). Now that I have more time, I want to be more systematic as to what I grow and when. So it sounds like I should be sowing seeds rather than planting in the box. I live in Pacific Palisades so get wet mornings even now in the summer.
Hi Bev,
You can have better success through some planning although good nurseries like Armstrong don’t often carry vegetable seedlings that shouldn’t be planted at a particular time. They’re more reliable than a place like Home Depot. Nevertheless, I bet Armstrong is still carrying tomatoes here in mid-August. If you planted tomatoes right now, you’d get some fruit in the fall but not much. Now is not a good time to plant tomatoes even though it’s possible to get a little harvest out of such a planting.
If you haven’t already, see my post, “Which vegetables can I plant now in Southern California?” There you’ll find a couple of good vegetable planting calendars.
In the monthly posts that I’ve written (such as this one above for August), I try to get a little nuanced about when and why to sow or plant certain vegetables at certain times. I think they’re a good complement to the vegetable planting calendars.
There are advantages and drawbacks to sowing seeds versus buying seedlings from the nursery. I do a combination of both in most years. I wrote this post to help people decide what’s best for them: “Should you grow vegetables from seeds or plants?”
It has been a rough summer in the desert this year (Palm Springs). I planted two Hass last fall as an experiment. Both died in July. I have three young apples that have been thriving for two years, but are now looking super tired (two Anna, one Gordon). Is watering every day too much for apples?
Hi Tanya,
I’ve been following the temperatures in Palm Springs. Yikes! It has been a hot summer indeed.
Sorry about your avocados. Curious if you had them shaded and how you were watering them.
It could be fine to water your apples every day, especially if you’re using drip, but it partly depends on how much you’re watering each day plus how sandy your soil is (the sandier the more often you need to water).
You might try to get some shade over the trees for the rest of summer. Even in Washington some farmers lightly shade their apple trees. And even where I am in Ramona I get some sunburn on apples that are not shaded.
Hi Greg, can you give us an update on your Linda Macadamia nut tree, you posted this in 2017.
Any flowers or nuts yet? How big has it grown?
I planted a Linda about 1 year ago, I have no idea what to expect, it has not grown much in 1 year) But My Cate Macadamia nut tree that I planted at the same time, is now 3 times the size of my Linda.
Hi Robin,
No flowers or nuts yet from the Linda macadamia. The tree has finally taken off in growth though. Like yours, it didn’t do much in the first year or two. It’s about 10 feet tall. My guess is that it will flower next year or after one more year.
On a side note, I planted a Jordan macadamia tree beside the Linda, but the Jordan grew very poorly. Looking at its roots after I cut it down last year made me think it was because the tree had been rootbound and girdling itself when I transplanted it. It can be hard to tell how healthy a potted tree’s root system is when you buy it.
I need advice on crop rotation. I have a 16×12 full sun garden. I’ve just wrapped up a moderate production of tomatoes but compared to previous years, it was disappointing. I suspect soil exhaustion. So what to plant to restore the depleted nutrients in my garden, in this transition month of August?
Hi Scott,
There are lots of ways to increase soil fertility in a vegetable garden, but my preferred way is by adding a couple of inches of compost to the surface. It’s simple, safe, easy, effective for every crop, and doesn’t stop you from continuing to plant whatever you want. One downside is that it usually takes a couple weeks to start noticing the enhanced fertility.
Maybe you’d enjoy reading this post: https://gregalder.com/yardposts/fertile-soil-can-be-childs-play/
Hi Greg!
What type of beans do you recommend sowing in August in SoCal? I’m in the San Gabriel Valley.
Thanks!
Hi Adrien,
You can probably get a decent harvest from any kind of bean if sown right now — green beans or dry beans like black beans or pinto.
Thanks for the tip about shade! I’ll be picking up some shade cloth tomorrow. Our monsoon season was delayed until now, so it has been hot and dry here in Palm Springs. Hopefully, the influx of a little moister air will help. I have ring troughs dug around my trees and run the hose slowly in each ring until the burms overflow. I have super rocky, sandy soil. It’s a challenge.