GrowSmart Calendar - August

Unpredictable weather - icy cold squalls one day then mild days the next. It's an important planting season. Prepare the garden with compost if not done already. Start sowing early summer veges under glass or in sheltered sunny spots in seed trays. This includes capsicum, eggplant and tomatoes. Divide up perennial herbs and plant out as the soil warms. Finish pruning deciduous fruit trees this month.

Plant cabbages, potatoes, globe artichoke, rhubarb and spring onions.
Sow beetroot, cabbage, carrots cleery, endive, herbs lettuces, parsnips and silverbeet.

Plant of the month
There's a lot of satisfaction in growing your own carrots - and they taste better because they're really fresh.

Carrots prefer soil to be well forked over with good structure. A little sand can be added to help with this. Don't mix too much compost or nitrogenous fertiliser as the roots will branch instead of growing straight down.

The seeds are small, so it helps to mix the seeds with some seed raising mix ( a mix of very fine bark and pumice sand) before sowing. This will reduce the need to thin the germinated seedlings. If you sow directly into seed raising mix, spread in a row over the garden soil, it helps to reduce weed competiton in the first stages of growth, as carrot seeds can take 2 - 3 weeks to appear.