Northwest August Garden Checklist

Shopping

Buy Garlic

Choose hardneck (porcelains, purple stripes, rocamboles, Asians) or softneck (silverskins) varieties. Elephant garlic (mild, not true garlic) is also rewarding. Sources: Irish Eyes–Garden City Seeds, Nichols Garden Nursery, Territorial Seed Company. Plant in coldest areas just before ground freezes; in milder zones, mid- to late autumn.

Plant Now

Annual Flowers (Zones 4–7)

With months of good weather ahead, plant impatiens and coleus for shade; marigolds and pelargoniums for sun. Before frost, pot up coleus and pelargoniums for indoor windowsills.

Fall Vegetables (Zones 4–7, 17)

Replace spent summer crops with beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach—most harvest in autumn.

Saffron Crocus

Plant corms late August/early September; harvest stigmas ~5 weeks later. Order from White Flower Farm (ships early September).

Late-Summer Color (Zones 4–7)

Buy large potted annuals for instant impact. Sun: cosmos, marigolds, pelargoniums, petunias, zinnias. Shade: begonias, coleus, impatiens.

Lawns

Zones A2–A3: sow/repair before mid-August. Zones 1–3: seed now through mid-September or sod anytime. Zones 4–7, 17: wait until early September.

Maintenance

Harvest Warm-Season Crops

• Cantaloupe: slips from vine when netted skin forms.
• Corn: kernel juice milky = ready.
• Potatoes: dig after tops die down.
• Summer squash: pick before oversized.
• Watermelon: bottom yellow, tendrils withered, sounds hollow.
• Winter squash: cut after skins harden and leaves dry.

Herbs

Pick mid-morning after dew dries; dry on screen in cool spot; store airtight.

Watering

Soak rhododendrons weekly (more in heat/fast drainage); hose off foliage.

Compost

Layer grass clippings and non-meat kitchen waste in 4-ft pile; water and turn weekly.

Propagate Shrubs

Take 4–6 inch cuttings from evergreens (azalea, camellia, daphne, euonymus, holly, rhododendron) and some deciduous (hydrangea). Strip lower leaves, dip in rooting hormone, pot in sterile soil, keep moist in indirect light. Move to greenhouse before frost; transplant next spring.

Bonus: Colorful Carrots

Try 'Yellowstone', 'Purple Haze', 'White Satin'. Prep bed 1 ft deep; sow directly; keep moist; thin to 1½ in. Harvest in 65–75 days (or earlier as baby carrots). Seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds.