Warm orange tones, the last hot days and full harvest baskets. Summer is coming to an end, but work continues in the garden, especially in natural organic gardens. Whether harvest, care or sowing: Now is the ideal time to prepare the garden for autumn and the coming year.
In the last phase of summer there is a peaceful exhaustion over most gardens. The fresh energy of spring is consumed, annual plants have grown to their maximum size and most of the fruits are waiting to be harvested. In late summer, i.e. from mid -August, your garden will need a lot of dedication again. Now you can benefit from the work of the previous months and provide for autumn and winter.
Harvest what is ripe
Most of the fruits and vegetables can now be harvested, for example corn, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, fennel, cucumber, kohlrabi, pumpkins, chard, spinach, salad, peppers and chili. Mature carrots, radishes, beetroot, zucchini, cucumbers and eggplants, tomatoes and onions are also waiting in the bed. It is advisable not to harvest all vegetables at the same time, but gradually. In this way, the plant can ripen more fruits and the yields are not consumed by pests.
If the leaves of the potato plants wither, you can also dig out the first tubers. On the fruit trees and bushes, blueberries, mirabelles, plums and soon afterwards apples, pears and quinces are ready for harvest. You can now cut herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage and lavender and hang up to dry. Apart from the gardens, you can harvest grain cherries, rose hips and elderberries in the forest and parks.
How do you properly store the harvest?
In late summer, more fruits and vegetables are often ripe than you can eat. It is therefore important to properly store the harvest. Corn and cauliflower are stored in the fridge with their protective leaves. Leek, salad, chard and spinach also feel comfortable there. For the durability of carrots, paramedics, radishes, beetroot, radish and kohlrabi, it is better to remove the leaves in advance.
Fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers and chilli can be stored in bowls or boxes outside the refrigerator. However, you shouldn’t touch, otherwise there may be pressure places and mold.
Zucchini, pumpkin and melons also do not have to be in the fridge, but can be hung in a cool place in nets. A dark, cool place like the basement is also suitable for root vegetables such as celery, kohlrabi, carrots and potatoes. Carrots and beetroot can also be buried there in damp sand.
If you want to enjoy your own harvest in late autumn and winter, you should make it last longer. Freezing is suitable for this, but traditional techniques such as boiling down, fermenting or drying.
These plants now need care
During the harvest time, your garden plants need a lot of care to stay healthy. Seat tomato plants and break out flowers so that the plant can concentrate on the existing fruits. To curb diseases and fungal infestation, remove affected leaves or plants. You can support branches with a heavy fruit or vegetable session with wooden structures so that you do not break.
And even after the harvest, the work continues: harvested raspberry and blackberry tendrils cut off close to the ground. Faded perennials can now be shared and increased. With other flowers you can also take seeds from the flowers and dry them for the next year. Lavender should be shortened by a third at the end of August.
Late summer is an important point in time to protect your fruit trees from pests. But you shouldn’t grab glued -up glue rings or glue paste. Because the products advertised as environmentally friendly can become a danger to birds. This is how you endanger the natural balance between pests and beneficials. Support the predators of the pests with local plants in your garden and by leaving part of the leaves lie. Fallen fruits should be removed. Sugging wasps help against plum, apple and grape winders, which you can specifically expose in late summer.
What else can you sow in late summer?
Spring is the main time of sowing, but even in late summer you can still sow plants for harvesting in autumn and winter. Fast-growing leafy vegetables such as field or cut salad, arugula, spinach and winter aportulak are particularly suitable. Also radishes, winter radish, Chinakohl, Pak Choi, Teltower turnip and dill thrive well in cooler temperatures and shorter days.
From September, garlic and plug -on onions can also be set, which then drive out in spring. If you want to look forward to rhubarb, you can now also plant it: So you have enough time to grow well and to form strong stems in the coming year. In addition, the late summer is a good time to sow two -year flowers for the next year – such as thimble, barnings, stock roses or silver leaf.
Mulch with organic materials such as plant cuts to protect the floor. Gründung is now also useful: plants such as Phacelia, buckwheat or yellow mustard can be sown on harvested beds. They suppress weeds, loosen the ground and deliver organic mass.
How to design your natural garden in late summer
If you do not have a compost heap, you can now create it well, because in late autumn many garden waste falls. So nutrient -rich composters can form by the next spring.
Late summer is also a good time to clean or hang nesting aids for birds. Old nests should now be removed and the interior should be carefully swept out to remove parasites. You should do without chemical cleaning agents. Clean nesting boxes are often already used as sleeping places in autumn and moved into again next spring. Hedgehogs who will soon be looking for their winter quarters are happy about wild corners in the garden made of dense bush, leaves or wood. Such retreats promote biodiversity and make the organic garden a living ecosystem.
