August in the Garden 2026

It’s harvest time! We have had some rain at last, not a massive amount but 2cms is better than nothing.

After 31 days of no rain at all, a few evenings of rain has allowed the garden to bounce back, but the soil is so dry that the difference is short-lived. We are all hoping for steady rain, ideally in the evenings, followed by nice warm days to work in the garden. This year has been challenging from a gardening perspective, with four frosts in May and then no rain, but it has helped us to decide which plants may need to be replaced in the future and what is proving more resilient to the climate changes. The new perennial border we planted up last winter has only required watering twice to establish the new trees and has suffered no ill effects during the drought so certainly these plants are proving their worth.

The jobs for August for the team are varied and include harvesting all the produce growing in the kitchen garden for the Castle Kitchens and Café. Onions, tomatoes, runner beans, courgettes, kale, the 2nd early potatoes, fresh herbs and salads are all being ferried down to the Castle Kitchen daily. We are also beginning to harvest the grapes from the vinery and the peaches are beginning to ripen nicely.

Should we ever have a surplus of fruit and veg we put them out for sale in the Apple Shed or at the Garden Ticket Kiosk, so do look out for our posts on social media to let you know when they are available.

July and August are often referred to as the Second Spring, and August is when we sow cool season crops like claytonia and rocket to provide leaves into winter, cold tolerant lettuces, radishes such as daikon, spring onions, giant winter spinach and oriental vegetables such as mizuna, pak choi, chard can all also be sown.

Kirsty, our WRAGS trainee, has been taking softwood cuttings of penstemon and pelargoniums to create new plants and is busy sowing our biennial seeds. Towards the end of August, we will also start preparing the ground in the cutting garden for sowing of hardy annuals such as cornflowers and poppies for earlier flowers next year.

The bulb ordering starts in August as well with Autumn bulbs such as Nerines and Saffron Crocus being planted out, Narcissi for forcing ready for Christmas being potted up and spring bulbs being ordered ready for planting for displays next year.