If you enjoy growing your own food, August is an ideal time to start preparing your winter salad by planting three essential crops: spinach, lettuce, and rocket. According to advice from BBC Gardeners' World magazine, these crops will keep your kitchen stocked well into the colder months.
Spinach: A Cheat Code for Winter Leaves
Planting spinach in late August is almost a cheat code. It will give you a crop of young leaves by October, then go dormant over winter before coming back with fresh growth in early spring.
Spinach is easy to cultivate—simply sow it directly into well-prepared, fertile soil and keep it watered during warm spells to prevent bolting. Once temperatures drop, cover the plants with a low cloche for extra protection.
Lettuce: An Early Winter Harvest
Lettuce, a summer staple, is also recommended for planting in August, setting you up for an early winter harvest. From late September onwards, a cloche becomes useful as temperatures cool down.
To enjoy lettuce even further into the next year, overwinter it under cloches or in a greenhouse. You'll then be able to reap leaves from April to June the following year.
Rocket: The Most Flexible Crop
Rocket is the most flexible crop on this list, easily grown under two distinct approaches. Wild rocket sown in early August is guaranteed to provide leaves before winter sets in, then lie dormant until around March, when it will grow on its own accord.
The second option is salad rocket, a variety that stands the best chance against frost if you leave sowing until late August. It will likely reward you with more leaves through winter than its wild version, but it's more prone to bolting once April rolls around.
Precautions for August Planting
In general, August is a great month for planting, but some precautions are necessary. Warm temperatures can speed up germination for some crops but also lower the water table, so seedlings and newly planted crops may need a bit more watering than usual.
If your area experiences a particularly dry spell or drought, it's worth holding off on sowing until it rains again.
