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What to Plant in Scotland Each Month: Veg, Fruits, Herbs & Edible Flowers. Planting in August
August can feel like the beginning of the end of the growing season, but in a Scottish garden there is still plenty to sow, plant and grow. The days are beginning to shorten, yet the soil is warm and there is enough daylight for many crops to establish quickly.
This is an important month for thinking ahead. While we are harvesting the abundance of Summer, we can also be planting crops that will provide fresh food through Autumn, Winter and into the following Spring.
August is particularly useful for succession sowing. As crops finish in the raised beds, replace them rather than leaving the soil bare. Salads, leafy greens, herbs, root vegetables and hardy crops can all make use of the remaining growing season.
Whether you have a food forest, raised beds, containers or simply a few pots beside the kitchen door, there are still plenty of opportunities to grow.
PHOTOS: From end of July to show where we got to with our growing and sowing
Vegetable Seeds To Start In August
August is an excellent time to sow salad leaves. The cooler temperatures towards the end of the month can actually help prevent some salads from bolting as quickly as they might earlier in Summer. August is one of our favourite months for sowing leafy greens for Autumn and Winter harvesting.
Salad Leaves: Lettuce, rocket, mizuna, mustard greens, lamb’s lettuce and mixed salad leaves.
Spinach And Leafy Greens: Perpetual spinach, spinach, kale, Swiss chard and other hardy oriental greens.
Radishes: are one of the quickest crops to grow and are perfect for filling gaps in the raised beds.
Spring Onions: August is a useful time to sow spring onions for later Autumn and Winter harvesting.
Beetroot: There can still be time for another sowing of beetroot in early August, particularly if you choose a faster-growing variety.
Pak Choi And Oriental Greens: August is a good time to grow Asian greens such as pak choi, tatsoi, mizuna and mustard greens.
Sow little and often rather than planting everything at once. This gives you a succession of young leaves rather than one large harvest.
Keep newly sown seeds watered during dry spells as August soil can dry quickly.
Herb Seeds To Start In August
August is still a useful month for growing herbs, particularly hardy perennial varieties and quick growing annuals.
Chives: can be planted out or divided in August.
Parsley: can still be sown in August, although germination can take a little patience.
Coriander: can be succession sown in August, particularly if you prefer harvesting young leaves.
Dill: can still be grown early in August, providing fresh leaves before the growing season ends.
Mint: is best planted in containers because of its vigorous spreading habit.
Thyme And Oregano: established perennial herbs such as thyme and oregano can be planted out while the soil remains warm.
Edible Flower Seeds To Start In August
Calendula: is one of the most useful edible flowers for a productive garden. Allow some flowers to set seed and they may return naturally next year.
Nasturtium: can still provide colour and edible flowers while the weather remains warm. Allow some flowers to set seed and they may return naturally next year.
Viola: can provide edible flowers and colour into Autumn, particularly when grown in containers or sheltered areas.
Fruit & Nut Trees To Plant In August
While Autumn remains the best time for planting trees, container grown specimens can still be planted successfully in August. Water deeply two or three times a week during dry periods, mulch to conserve moisture and avoid planting during heatwaves if possible.
Start planning what you want to plant in Autumn and look around for the best deals in your local area. The more local the trees have been growing to you, the best chance they have of acclimatising to your garden.
Fruit Bushes To Plant In August
August is primarily a harvesting month for fruit rather than a major planting month. However, container grown fruit plants can still be established if they are watered regularly and given suitable growing conditions.
Strawberries can be propagated from runners, creating new plants for next year’s harvest. This is particularly useful if you already have productive plants in your garden.
Autumn-fruiting raspberries are also producing now, so August is a good opportunity to assess the canes, harvest regularly and make plans for propagation and maintenance.
You can see what is going on outside in out month tours:
Month By Month In Our Scottish Gardens: Tours & Planting
What To Plant In Containers In August
You don’t need a large garden to keep growing through August. Containers are perfect for succession sowing and can be positioned close to the kitchen for easy harvesting. Containers also give you greater control over drainage and make it easier to move vulnerable plants into sheltered positions as the weather becomes colder.
Succession Sowing In August
One of the most important jobs this month is looking at what is finishing. A bed of peas doesn’t need to remain empty once the plants have finished producing. Remove the spent plants, add a layer of compost or suitable mulch and sow another crop. The same applies to potatoes, early salads, broad beans and other crops that have finished.
This approach keeps the garden productive for longer and means we’re continually thinking about what comes next rather than simply following the traditional Spring-to-Summer growing cycle.
Looking Ahead To Autumn
August is also the month when we start preparing for the transition into Autumn. Keep harvesting regularly, save seeds from your best plants and collect healthy plant material for composting or mulching.
Keep an eye on the weather too. Scottish Augusts can bring everything from warm sunny days to heavy rain and strong winds, so young plants need to establish before conditions become more challenging. Mulching around crops can help retain moisture during dry periods while also protecting the soil as temperatures begin to fall.
Don’t Stop Growing Yet
August may mark the beginning of the seasonal shift, but the garden is far from finished.
There are still vegetables to sow, herbs to establish, flowers to grow and empty spaces to fill. The secret is to look at the garden differently. Instead of seeing Summer crops coming to an end, see the space they are creating for the next harvest.
For us, this is one of the most rewarding parts of growing in Scotland. The garden doesn’t simply stop producing when Summer ends. With a little planning and succession sowing, it continues changing, adapting and providing food well into Autumn and Winter.
August is not the end of the growing season. It’s the beginning of the next one.
Happy Gardening!
P.S Our Story book Vol 3 : Clayton’s Tiny Little Seeds: A Story of Autism and Sowing is a perfect time read to introduce sowing
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Katrina & Clayton and family live in East Ayrshire and share their daily life in the garden on instagram. They practice permaculture principles in the garden, reducing & repurposing waste whenever they can. Katrina shows how home educating in nature has helped Clayton thrive.
Clayton Completed The 2 Grow and Learn Courses with the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society. He is Autistic, Non Verbal & has been Home Educated since 2018. Katrina & Peter hold their PDC & PDC PRO Permaculture Design Course from Oregon State University.
They featured on BBC Beechgrove Gardens Ep23 2022 and returned in 2023 for an update, Katrina & Clayton are also columnists for ScotlandGrows Magazine, Guest Blog for Caledonian Horticulture as well as working with Gardeners’ World Magazine and many other brands.
They are also Author of the new Children’s Book Series: Clayton’s Garden Journey: Stories of Autism and Gardening. Topics on Growing, Harvesting, Sowing & Composting and 108 Page Weather and Seasons Weekly Gardening Record Book available on Amazon and Kindle.
Listen in on their Guest Podcasts to learn more about them.
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Author of the new children’s book series: Clayton’s Garden Journey: Stories of Autism and Gardening. Including Stories on Growing, Harvesting, Sowing, Composting, Feeding The Birds and A Sowing, Growing, Weather and Seasons Weekly Gardening Record Book available on Amazon and Kindle
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