What to Plant in August

Flowers: See winter annuals this month. Sow seeds of perennials in flats or pots for transplanting in October. Try thrift, yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

Vegetables: In a cool location indoors, start seeds of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, bunching onion, and radicchio for overwintering.

Direct seed oriental greens, beets, carrots, lettuce, turnips, Florence fennel, mustard, radish, rutabaga, spinach, and leeks.

Garden Maintenance

• Continue mulching to conserve soil moisture and control weeds.
• Keep harvesting vegetables for continued production.
• Do the final pruning of summer for fruit bushes.
• Prune apricots to avoid Eutypa fungus. Remove about 20% of this year's growth.
• To prevent the spread of brown rot, clean up debris around fruit trees and pick up dropped fruit.
• Control salt build-up on indoor plants; hose off the leaves and flush the soil with ample water.
• Attach bands of corrugated cardboard around apple tree trunks to trap codling moth larvae.

Fertilize

• Camellias, azaleas, and gardenias with chelated iron if there is yellowing between the leaf veins.
• Indoor plants.
• Strawberries.
• Mature fruit trees (after picking fruit) with nitrogen and water.
• Roses, six weeks after last application.
• Last feeding of the year for citrus and avocados.
• Chrysanthemums (until the buds start to open).
• Begonias, fuchsias, annuals and container plants.

Spray

Check the California Backyard Orchard website for current information.

• Walnuts for husk fly.
• Pears and apples: check instructions to be sure pre-harvest intervals are strictly observed.