Admit it, we sometimes think of container gardening as a bit of a compromise. We may see it as a way of doing things on a smaller scale, perhaps because we feel limited by natural light, regional issues, or just space. For urban growers and small space gardeners, container growing is a way of trying things to see what happens. Yet the truth is that pot-based living isn’t always a compromise, but a step up!

While many of us grow herbs in pots, container gardening isn’t always our first choice for vegetables. We might squeeze a few pots of small crops in around the edges as an extra, when the reality is that certain edibles genuinely perform better in pots than in traditional ground beds. Growing vegetables in containers means you have more control over soil texture, moisture retention, pests, and ambient heat.

Containers provide an unmatched seasonal advantage as summer shifts to fall, providing excellent cultural benefits for a range of classic-sunseekers and cool-season crops. So if you’ve ever dreamed of growing veggies but don’t have the space for a bed, the dream is still alive. Whether you want to extend late-summer harvests or kick off a rapid fall crop, these vegetables thrive with pot life. Here’s why containers are about to become your secret weapon for lush late-season flavor.

Growing Vegetables in Containers

Growing vegetables in pots helps you dodge several big issues of garden beds. You can eliminate the risk of weeds and better isolate and manage pest issues. Without rocks or heavy clay to obstruct growth, root crops can expand into neat, unblemished shapes. During early fall, containers unlock another superpower. As sun angles shift and night temperatures drop, pots allow you to maneuver crops into microclimates, parking heat-lovers against sun-baked brick walls to retain warmth, or tucking tender plants under eaves during unexpected cold snaps.

Navigating USDA hardiness zones in containers does require a slightly different approach than ground beds. Because potted soil is exposed to ambient air on all sides, container roots generally experience temperatures that feel one to two zones colder than the surrounding earth. While annual cool-season crops thrive across zones 2-11 (depending on planting time), warm-season crops you started earlier in the year rely on container mobility to dodge frost snaps in cooler zones.

If prepping your pots in fall, be careful with feeds. Heavy nitrogen fertilizers should be avoided in fall, as they force weak, sappy growth that is vulnerable to frost damage. Instead, you can top-dress tired pots with rich worm castings or finished organic compost, and feed with a diluted seaweed tonic such as diluted TPS Seaweed Fertilizer, available from Amazon, which helps to strengthen root resilience in young plants in a gentle way.

Protect your plant life and reduce your own ongoing daily workload by making sure you’re using a fast-draining potting soil. Where necessary, top up drainage with a few handfuls of horticultural sand or perlite to keep potting mixes light and free-draining. Elevate planters on pot toes, such as the excellent Lemon Road Terracotta Pot Feet, also available from Amazon to keep drainage manageable right through fall.

1. Fast Radish

Although it seems unlikely a root vegetable would be ideal for container growing, radishes are surprisingly versatile. Their roots are shallow, the plants are compact, and they grow quickly. In traditional beds, their delicate roots collide with stones, or heavy clay. In a shallow pot filled with fluffy potting mix, they expand effortlessly into smooth, uniform globes. You can cultivate dense, high-yield crops in window boxes, shallow bowls, or trough planters without taking up too much space.

September is ideal for a second-wave of this cool weather crop in zones 2-11. Choose rapid-maturing cultivars like French Breakfast, Cherry Belle and heirloom Watermelon radish for peak crispness in 21-28 days. Sow every 2 weeks for continuous succession harvests. Choose a vessel 6-8 inches (15-20cm) deep and blend a lightweight potting mix with coarse horticultural sand or perlite. Keep evenly moist, as erratic watering causes expanding roots to split open. For a crispy fall treat that also roasts beautifully, buy Cherry Belle Radish Seeds from Burpee.

2. Dwarf Peppers

Peppers are natural heat lovers, making them ideal candidates for container life. As nighttime temperatures drop in fall, potted peppers can be wheeled against brick walls or into garages overnight to retain the ambient warmth needed to develop tasty mature reds, oranges, and purples. Opt for prolific dwarf varieties like Apache, Redskin or Shishito. You can still buy Bonnie Plants Shishito Live Starter Plants from Amazon if you hurry. These starters save you a few weeks of waiting, so you can crank out the crops even quicker.

Provide a 3-5-gallon container for each plant, with ample bottom drainage, and grow in the sunniest spot you can find for the season. Make sure the potting mix is amended with coarse perlite and add a diluted liquid seaweed or potassium tonic to support late pod maturation. Pinch off tiny late flowers so the plant channels all remaining energy into ripening existing fruit before hard freezes arrive. Grow as annuals in zones 3-10 or tender perennials in zones 9-11.

3. Baby Beets

Beets grown in beds can turn tough or misshapen when they hit rocks or heavy clay. In containers, smooth, stone-free potting mix allows beet roots to swell into flawless baubles of flavor. You can snip tender greens for fall salads while waiting for the sweet roots to mature. Choose compact varieties such as Early Wonder, Baby Ball, or Bull's Blood (renowned for its magenta foliage). Everwilde Bulls Blood Beetroot Seed Packs from Walmart are budget-friendly and give you 200 seeds for pots.

As the air cools, these cool-season plants convert starches into natural sugars, producing exceptionally sweet roots. Use a wide, 10-inch (25cm) terracotta bowl or fabric pot. Fill with a lightweight potting mix blended with perlite and coarse horticultural sand. Sow seeds half an inch (1.25cm) deep and top-dress with worm castings to provide gentle organic nutrients. Thin seedlings to 2-3 inches (5-8cm) apart so each root has room to expand to lush, ruby loveliness in zones 2-11.

4. Dwarf Tomatoes

Tomatoes are classic container crops and in many ways they can be happier in the right pot than in the ground. They can be picky about garden bed soil, water, and light, so a container is an ideal way to provide the perfect conditions in zones 3-10, especially for dwarf and tumbling varieties. Keeping vines elevated off damp dirt drastically cuts down on leaf diseases, allowing balcony gardeners to harvest sweet, vine-ripened fruit from tight footprints. While tall indeterminate vines decline in fall, potted toms give you late-season agility. Compact determinates like Tumbling Tom, Micro Tom, or Patio Choice thrive in pots and hanging baskets.

Use a 5-gallon container for upright cultivars, or a 10-12-inch (25-30cm) hanging planter for trailing cherry varieties. Use a high-quality potting mix enriched with organic matter and a pinch of garden lime to supply calcium and prevent blossom end rot. As temps drop, hanging baskets and small pots can be carried indoors. Wheel heavier tomato pots and trellis combos inside using a caddy like the Bloem 14-Inch Terracotta Rolling Plant Caddy from Amazon.

5. Short Root Carrots

Carrots are notorious for becoming stunted or twisted in rocky or clay-heavy beds. Containers eliminate those obstacles entirely. In a deep pot filled with fine, loose potting soil, root tips push downward effortlessly, producing tidy shapes as well as delectable flavors. Choose a pot 10-12 inches (25-30cm) deep with clear drainage holes. Fill with a fine blend of coconut coir, potting soil, and perlite. Sow thinly across the surface, dusting lightly with vermiculite, and keep damp until the fronds appear.

Fall carrots harvested after crisp nights are extraordinarily sweet, and this is a great month for sowing fast-maturing short-root varieties. Look for round or short-conical cultivars like Paris Market, Chantenay Red Core, or Nantes Half Long. You can currently get great deals on short root options such as Thumbelina and Royal Chantenay Carrots, both available as seed packs from Eden Brothers. Just avoid high-nitrogen feeds, which cause carrots to grow bushy tops at the expense of roots.

6. Salad Greens

Just about any type of leafy salad green is easy to grow in pots: leaf lettuce, spinach, arugula, chard, kale. Greens have shallow roots, so they don’t need a lot of space. They grow quickly and benefit from being elevated, so that the leaves don’t trail in the dirt and lure as many slugs on board. Greens can suffer from too much heat in summer, so pots also allow you to move them around to catch the sun, but also move into partial shade during unexpected heat spells to prevent bolting.

Greens have shallow root systems and thrive in wide, shallow bowls 6 inches (15cm) deep in zones 2-11. Leaf lettuce is easier to grow than head lettuce. Select cut-and-come-again loose-leaf varieties like Lollo Rossa, Buttercrunch, Toscano Kale, or wild arugula. ust water consistently and add a diluted liquid seaweed tonic every 2-3 weeks. Grab a bargain with Back to the Roots Organic Gourmet Blend Lettuce Seeds from The Home Depot, which you can harvest in 35 days. Snip outer leaves as needed, leaving the central crown intact for crops up to hard freezes.

Shop Veggie Pot Essentials

To get the best performance from your potted vegetable garden through fall and beyond, these curated container essentials ensure optimal drainage, gentle health boosts, and effortless mobility when seasonal weather turns cold. Then all you have to do is sit back and wait for the yummy fall harvests to see you through to winter.

Fall Container Trio

A vegetable garden doesn’t require a lot of garden space. If you have a sunny patio or balcony, you can grow many veggies and herbs in containers with total confidence – and plenty of tasty benefits! You can double up with some of these crops in pots to make even more of having less space. Use this list as a starting point for growing inspiration, and have fun experimenting with compact, tasty container crops.

Need more ideas for getting the most from your plants, indoors and out, and looking for the best seasonal expert advice delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for the free Gardening Know How Newsletter!

They say that every fruit holds its secret, and that's even more true when you consider that we each have a birth month fruit!

Yes, we all know our birth flowers, and by now you may even know your birth month bird, tree, or animal. You can even find a special meaning for you in your birth month vine... so what if your birthday had a fruit, too?

There's something wonderfully satisfying about imagining that the natural world has a little personality profile waiting for each of us, especially if it comes in the form of something we can grow an our own garden. Even more so, too, if that something is edible.

All 12 Birth Month Fruits

From strawberries to pomegranates, each month has its own fruity personality. Some are sweet, some are bold, some are a little unexpected – and, frankly, all feel uncannily accurate.

So, whether you're a January baby looking for a little sunshine or a September soul who'd rather march to the beat of their own drum, let's find out which fruit represents you. And because this is Gardening Know How, let's also consider whether you can actually grow your birth month fruit at home...

January – Orange

Bright, optimistic, and impossible to ignore, oranges are the perfect birth month fruit for January babies. There's something wonderfully cheerful about a bright orange fruit appearing when much of the garden is looking decidedly sleepy, so if you're a January baby, you're probably someone who brings a little sunshine wherever you go.

You're naturally positive, energetic, and perhaps slightly more determined than people realise. You may also have a secret talent for making everyone around you feel a little better.

Grow it yourself?

Orange trees need plenty of warmth and sunshine, but dwarf varieties can be grown in containers. In cooler climates, you'll need to bring them somewhere protected from frost during winter.

Shop Orange Trees:

February – Strawberry

Sweet, sociable, and perhaps a little romantic, strawberries are a fitting fruit for February birthdays.

If this is your birth month fruit, you're warm-hearted and generous, with a tendency to make people feel at home instantly. You may also have a playful streak that comes out when you're around the people you love most.

And honestly, who wouldn't want strawberries as their personality fruit?

Grow it yourself?

Absolutely. Strawberries are among the easiest fruits for home gardeners to grow, and you don't even need a huge garden. Try growing something like these Sweet Charlie Strawberry Plants in containers, hanging baskets, or a sunny border.

March – Lemon

Fresh, energetic, and full of personality, the lemon is obviously the only contender for March's birth month fruit.

You're curious and adaptable, with a knack for finding the bright side of even slightly sour situations. You're also not afraid to say what you think – although you probably manage to do it with enough charm that people forgive you.

Grow it yourself?

Lemon trees (like this Meyer Lemon Tree from Brighter Blooms) love sunshine and warmth, but compact varieties can be grown in pots. If you live somewhere cold, keep your tree somewhere protected and bring it indoors when temperatures drop.

April – Cherry

If you're an April baby, your fruit is the cherry – beautiful, fleeting, and impossible to ignore. Hardly a surprise, of course, as cherries are associated with joy, beauty, and appreciation, making them a fitting match for people who tend to notice the little things.

You're likely sociable and optimistic, with a talent for turning an ordinary day into something memorable. And, much like a cherry blossom, you probably know how to make an entrance.

Grow it yourself?

Cherry trees need plenty of sunshine and space, but dwarf varieties can make home growing much more manageable. Just remember that pollination requirements vary between varieties, so check before you buy (personally, I'm a fan of this Stella Cherry Tree from Nature Hills).

May – Apple

Reliable, generous, and quietly confident, the apple is a classic choice for May birthdays. If this is your fruit, you're the person everyone knows they can rely on, because, while you may not always demand attention, you're usually the first person people call when they need help.

There's also something wonderfully wholesome about having an apple as your birth month fruit. Very garden-to-table.

Grow it yourself?

Yes – although you'll need to choose a variety suited to your climate and available space. Something like this lovely Honeycrisp Apple Tree from Nature Hills promises beautiful apples and a buzz of happy pollinators, too!

June – Peach

Warm, affectionate, and full of summer energy, peaches are a fitting birth month fruit for June babies. You're likely generous with your time and attention, and you have a talent for making people feel comfortable around you. You also have a softer side, even if you don't always show it straight away.

And, naturally, you probably have excellent taste. How could you not, right?

Grow it yourself?

Peaches need warmth, sunshine, and a little patience, but they're very rewarding if you have the right conditions. Look for a variety suited to your USDA hardiness zone (this Elberta Peach Tree from Brighter Blooms is a great option) and give it a sunny, sheltered position.

July – Raspberry

July's birth month fruit is the raspberry, which suits all those who are energetic, independent, and just a little bit wild.

You don't necessarily like following the crowd, and you're happiest when you have the freedom to do things your own way. Beneath that independent streak, though, you're incredibly loyal to the people you care about. Just... just like a raspberry, obviously.

Grow it yourself?

Raspberries are surprisingly easy to grow, provided you give them fertile soil, plenty of sun, and something to support their canes. Just be prepared for them to spread if you don't keep them in check.

Shop Raspberries:

August – Fig

Figs are luxurious, unusual, and slightly mysterious – making them an excellent match for confident and creative August babies.

Hardly surprising, but figgy babies everywhere know how to enjoy the good things in life. Because, yes, they're the kind of people who would happily eat fresh figs in the garden while everyone else is still deciding what to barbecue.

Grow it yourself?

Figs can be surprisingly easy to grow, especially in warm climates. In cooler areas, grow them in a container so you can protect the roots and move the tree somewhere sheltered if necessary. The Violette de Bordeaux Fig Plant from Burpee is said to supply the very finest tasting figs around, so snap one up!

September – Pear

Need a sign to plant a pear tree? If you're born in September, this is it; it's only your very own birth month fruit!

Calm, thoughtful, and quietly elegant, if you're a September baby, you're probably someone who thinks before they act. You're observant, practical, and good at spotting details other people miss. You might not always be the loudest person in the room, but people tend to listen when you speak... and hey, that's way more important in the long run.

Grow it yourself?

Pear trees can make excellent additions to a home orchard, but many varieties benefit from having another compatible pear nearby for pollination. Choose carefully based on your space and climate.

October – Pomegranate

Dramatic, passionate, and packed with hidden depth, the pomegranate is an excellent birth month fruit for October babies like yours truly!

Like the fruit itself, we may not reveal everything about ourselves immediately (we love that sense of mystery, right?). We're also thoughtful, intense, and probably have more going on beneath the surface than people first realise.

We're also not afraid of a little drama, and that isn't always a bad thing. Drama is basically a byline for passion, after all.

Grow it yourself?

Pomegranates need plenty of sunshine and warmth, making them best suited to warmer climates. In cooler areas, a container-grown tree can be a better option, provided you can give it enough light and protect it from freezing temperatures. Something like this Dwarf Pomegranate Fruit Bearing Starter Fruit Tree from Gurney's could be ideal!

November – Persimmon

Sweet, elegant, and ever so slightly mysterious, the persimmon is November's birth month fruit. If this is you, then you're resilient, patient, and perhaps a little underestimated. You don't necessarily need to be the centre of attention, but when your moment comes, you tend to make the most of it.

There's also something wonderfully autumnal about a persimmon – which makes it almost too perfect for November.

Grow it yourself?

American persimmons (like this one from Ginger Glow) can be surprisingly hardy and make beautiful additions to an edible garden. Just check whether you need a male and female tree, or choose a self-fertile variety if you have limited space.

December – Blueberry

Last but by no means least, the blueberry is December's birth month fruit.

Sweet, spirited, and full of surprises, a December baby is curious and enthusiastic, not to mention always looking ahead to the next adventure. They are also adaptable, which is useful because they tend to have a habit of saying yes before they've fully considered what they've agreed to.

And while blueberries might look small, they certainly aren't short on personality — much like the incredible December-born people in our lives.

Grow it yourself?

Blueberries are excellent additions to a home garden, and many varieties can be grown in containers. They need acidic soil, plenty of sunshine, and regular watering, so choose a specialist compost like this one from Down To Earth if you're growing them in a pot.

Shop Blueberries:

Whether you're a strawberry, a fig, a raspberry, or something a little more unexpected, there's something rather lovely about finding another way to connect ourselves with the natural world.

Of course, your birth month fruit doesn't actually determine your personality; you're much too precious and complicated for that. But if your symbolic fruit happens to feel strangely accurate, why not lean into it? Or, better still, try growing it.

After all, there's no better way to celebrate your birth month than with something beautiful, delicious, and growing in your own garden, right?

Tomato plants in September sit in a strange spot. Days still feel like summer, but nights have cooled and the light is shorter, and the plant keeps throwing out flowers it has no chance of finishing. Most gardeners let it ride until frost takes the whole thing down. That leaves a lot of fruit on the table.

Most of the advice on how to grow tomatoes covers the first half of the season, back when more of everything was the goal. September flips that. The work now is mostly subtraction – cutting off what will never finish so the plant spends what daylight is left on fruit that can.

Here are the top tasks to do in September to get the most out of your tomato plant before the season ends.

What to Do With Tomatoes in September

How urgent these tasks are come down to your average first frost date. Count backward from that date to decide what to tackle first.

1. Top the Vines

Pruning the growing tip off each main stem of your tomato plants and they will stop growing and ripen the existing fruit instead. The energy will go into swelling and coloring the fruit that's already set. Four to six weeks ahead of the average first frost is the window for this type of tomato pruning, which for much of the country, puts it right about mid-September.

Indeterminate tomatoes are the plants that need this pruning technique. Determinate tomato varieties wrap up on their own and tend to get set back by early topping.

Make the cut just above the highest cluster with a realistic shot, and leave enough leaf cover that the fruit underneath doesn’t scald. Use a sharp, clean pair of pruners. Home Depot carries the Fiskars classic bypass pruning shears that get through green stems without crushing them.

2. Strip Late Flowers & Fruit

It feels wasteful to pull blossoms off a healthy plant. It isn’t. A tomato flower needs roughly six to eight weeks to become ripe fruit, and cool nights stretch that out further. Any flowers opening now are a draw on the plant's energy resources, but produce nothing to show for it. The same goes for fruit that's no bigger than a marble.

Pinch off flowers and small fruit with your fingers as you walk the row. Go back through in a week or two to do another pass. Topping usually prompts a flush of side shoots that also waste energy. Pluck off any tomato suckers that appear as well.

3. Remove Diseased Foliage

Small round spots with pale centers on the lower leaves point to septoria leaf spot (Septoria lycopersici). Bull’s-eye rings inside a dark spot usually mean early blight (Alternaria solani). Both need wet foliage to spread and both overwinter in plant debris, so removing diseased foliage is vital to keep next year's garden healthy.

Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) is the one to move fast to remove. Greasy dark patches creeping in from the leaf margin, sometimes with white fuzz on the underside in damp weather.

Bag infected material instead of composting it and wipe your pruner blades between plants. It’s a containment measure, not a cure. But it's important to clean up diseased plants now to prevent issues next summer.

4. Keep Watering Evenly

September rain often arrives in bursts after dry stretches, and that swing is a common cause of splitting tomatoes. Fruit that's already at full size pulls water in faster than the skin can stretch. Watering tomatoes steadily at the root zone is the fix rather than more water overall.

A soaker hose handles this better than a wand and keeps the foliage dry, which is half the battle with leaf disease. Walmart stocks the Expert Gardener soaker hose that's cheap enough to buy two without putting much of a dent in your wallet. Tuck mulch over the top of it if there isn’t any down already.

5. Get Frost Covers Ready

Frost warnings rarely give more than a day or two of notice, and hunting for a tarp at dusk is how plants get missed and accidentally frozen. A floating row cover buys somewhere between 2 and 8°F (1-4°C) depending on weight, which is often the gap between losing everything and picking fresh tomatoes for another two weeks.

These Agfabric plant covers from Lowe’s are the light-duty option. Heavier grades hold more warmth, but cut more light. Old bedsheets work in a pinch. Run whatever you use down to the ground and weigh the edges with rocks or bricks to prevent heat escaping out the sides.

6. Harvest Mature Green Tomatoes

Green tomatoes that you pick ahead of a freeze ripens well, but only if they have hit maturity – full-sized with the skin shifted from flat dark green to pale whitish or yellow-green. Anything still small and dark won’t color up properly and is better off in a jar of relish.

Chilling injury sets in around 50°F (10°C) out on the vine and wrecks flavor before you ever pick. Clip each fruit with a short stub of stem attached. Sorting by ripeness helps a batch finish together. Hold them between 55 and 70°F (13-21°C). Add a banana to the box to speed up ripening.

7. Save Seeds From the Best Plants

This one’s easy to skip and easy to regret, but saving tomato seeds is a great way to save money next year and grow more of your favorite crop. Squeeze seeds and gel from a fully ripe fruit off the best plant in the row into a jar, add an inch (2.5 cm) of water, and leave it loosely covered on the counter.

Three to five days on, a film forms across the top and the viable seeds have sunk to the bottom of the jar. The fermenting process strips the gel coat, which carries germination inhibitors and can shelter seedborne disease. Rinse seeds clean and spread them to dry, then label and store in an envelope. Open-pollinated heirloom tomato seeds come back true; hybrids don’t.

Two tomatoes on the same vine can have completely different futures. One has finished growing and is only waiting on warmth and ethylene to turn it red. The other is still filling out and probably won't get the chance. Every trick below works on the first one and does almost nothing for the second.

Most of what gets written about growing tomatoes in the closing weeks comes down to a single move: take jobs away from the plant so it finishes the ones it started. That part is sound. Past it, ripening runs on ethylene and temperature, and temperature is the variable a gardener can still nudge in late September.

Which Tomatoes Will Ripen?

Size and shade tell you almost everything. A tomato that has stopped swelling and gone from dark green to a pale, nearly whitish green has reached what growers call mature green. That one finishes ripening on its own, whether on the vine or indoors, and the flavor holds up fine. A hard, matte, undersized tomato is still in the middle of growing. Fruit at that stage tends to rot before it turns.

The calendar backs the eye up here. Pollination to full size runs something like six to eight weeks, so a blossom that opened in early September was never in the race. Pinching those off costs nothing. Whatever survives that triage is the real crop, and it's usually a smaller pile than it looks from the driveway.

Three Moves That Work

Three to four weeks ahead of the average first frost date is when this becomes useful. Earlier and you're ending the season by hand. Later and there's nothing left to work with.

1. Snap Off the Top

Take the growing tip off each main stem, then strip the flowers and marble-sized fruit underneath. It feels harsh. A plant only has so much sugar to hand out, and every blossom opening in late September is a claim on sugar that could be finishing a tomato instead. Amazon sells a classic bypass hand pruner if the stems have gone woody, though a thumbnail handles soft new growth. One caveat: this suits rangy indeterminate vines. Determinate types set a fixed crop and can lose yield when they get cut back heavily.

2. Water Less

Advice to shut irrigation off completely turns up everywhere, and it overshoots. Once fruit stops getting bigger, it's good to cut the amount you water tomatoes in half – that is shown to raise sugar content consistently across trials.

Going bone dry is a different animal. Plants swing back sharply when water returns, and split tomato skins and blossom end rot follow. So taper it down instead. The payoff here is flavor more than speed, which is useful to know before rebuilding a watering schedule around it.

3. Trap Heat at Night

Color development wants 68-77F (20-25C). Push past 85F (29C) and the plant quits making lycopene altogether. Drop under 50F (10C) and green fruit collects chilling injury instead of color. September nights sit right at that lower edge in a lot of places, which is where a cover earns its keep.

A floating row cover from Home Depot goes straight over cages and buys back a few degrees. Throw it on before sunset rather than at bedtime, while the ground is still radiating the day's warmth. Clear plastic holds more of it and has to come off by mid-morning. Fruit already showing a blush responds to all this far more than hard green fruit does.

The Spade Trick, and Why It Probably Doesn't Do What You Think

Here's one floating around. Sink a spade into the soil about 6 inches (15cm) from the stem, sever the outer roots, and the plant supposedly panics and rushes everything to ripeness. It's a satisfying story. The trouble is that a tomato past mature green ripens on its own ethylene, more or less independent of what the roots are up to, and there isn't much research pointing either way on the technique. What root cutting reliably produces this late in the season is a wilted plant. The gentler tug-the-base version probably does even less.

If the Frost Wins Anyway

Pick before the first hard night rather than after it. Green fruit that sits through a 40F (4C) night comes indoors already compromised. Hang a wireless min-max thermometer from Walmart out in the bed and you'll know what the plants are getting, which is rarely what a countywide forecast says.

Clip tomatoes with a short stub of stem attached; a torn shoulder is an open door for rot. Then sort the harvest by color so like ripens with like, and hold it at 55-70F (13-21C). A cardboard box in a spare bedroom is close to perfect. The refrigerator strips flavor out of anything not fully ripe, and a sunny windowsill overheats by afternoon.

Anything still hard and dark green when the vines come down is headed for the fryer or the relish jar. That isn't the worst ending for a September that got away from you.

If you’re growing heirloom tomatoes this summer, then it’s a simple September garden job to save tomato seeds so you can grow free plants next year. What’s more, harvest tomato seeds and you won’t only save money but create plants that are perfectly suited to the growing conditions in your garden or greenhouse. Save your own tomato seeds every year and you will create stronger, happier, healthier plants. And you know what that means: you'll grow even more tasty tomatoes, year after year!

One average-sized tomato typically carries a hundred or more seeds, so you don’t need to sacrifice much of your precious crop. Strong tomato seed – and this method magically separates the strongest seeds to harvest – remains viable for five years, too.

You can only save seeds from heirloom or open-pollinated tomato varieties (those that are pollinated naturally by bees) but this encompasses most of the tomatoes we all love to grow at home from Brandywine beefsteaks and San Marzano plum tomatoes to smoky heirloom Black Cherry and tangy Green Zebra. Don’t bother saving seed from F1 hybrid tomato varieties as it won't produce the same plant.

Here’s how to save tomato seeds and store them safely to enjoy free plants and abundant harvests next year.

1. Pick a Perfect Tomato

Select your strongest, most productive tomato plant, and pick the very best tomato you can find that’s fully mature and slightly overripe.

2. Extract the Seeds

Slice the tomato in half then scoop out the seeds and their jelly-like pulp into a glass jar. With smaller tomatoes, you can simply squeeze the seeds straight into a clean glass jar. Label each jar if you’re saving a few different tomato varieties.

3. Soak the Seed

Next you’re going to soak the seed. Fermenting tomato seeds in this way separates the seed from the pulp, which is vital as this gel inhibits germination. Pour water into the jar, aiming for a 1:1 ratio so there’s a roughly equal volume of tomato seeds and water. Lay a square of paper towel over the opening and secure with a rubber band around the jar rim to keep out flies without obstructing airflow.

Now wait a few days for the mix to ferment and the gel to break down. Keep the jar out of direct sunlight but in a warm spot where you’ll see it, because you need to remember to agitate the mix by giving it a gentle swirl every day. A kitchen countertop next to the kettle is perfect!

4. Separate the Seed from the Pulp

The mix is ready when, looking at the jar from the side, you can see it has started to separate with the pulp floating to the top and some seeds sunk to the bottom. This typically takes 4-5 days. A layer of mold or scum may also form across the surface when fermenting tomato seed, and that’s nothing to worry about. Pour in more water and, as the seeds settle, those that sink to the bottom are the heavy, viable seeds you want to keep. Those that float to the surface along with any scum or mold should be discarded.

Slowly tip the jar so the pulp and scum layer runs out but the viable seeds remain in the jar, or use a spoon to scoop that top goop out. Repeat the process of adding water to the jar, letting the heavy seeds settle and pouring off the top layer, to clean the remaining seeds. For a final rinse, tip the seeds into a fine-mesh sieve and hold under running cold water, rubbing seeds with the back of a wooden spoon to remove any last bits of gel if needs be.

5. Dry the Cleaned Seed

Tip the seed onto paper towel and pat dry, then put on a non-stick surface such as a glass chopping board or a glazed plate. Leave them to dry for 2 weeks out of direct sunlight but in a warm spot with good airflow, gently separating any clumps after a couple of days.

6. Store Seeds Safely

Once seeds are fully dry, put them in a paper envelope and store in a dark, cool, dry spot. A tin in a frost-free garage is ideal, and adding a sachet of silica gel to your seed tin will hoover up any damp and prevent seeds molding. If you're a keen tomato grower and saving seed from lots of different varieties, a seed storage box with separate compartments like this 64-Slot Seed Organizer Box from Walmart makes it easy to sort seed, and it effectively blocks moisture to retain 98% seed viability.

Easy! And now you have a store of tomato seed that you know is well suited to the exact growing conditions in your garden or greenhouse, for a bigger, better crop next summer. Keep growing tomatoes and harvesting and storing seed for a few years and, especially if you have the room to grow a few plants, you can evolve the variety to suit your tastes too. You’ll find one plant produces particularly tasty tomatoes, grows extra-long trusses of fruit, or brings a heavy harvest in a relatively compact space, and by selecting those seeds you can bring that beneficial trait to the fore. And then you have the exact right tomato to grow in your garden space and you’re not just growing heirloom tomatoes but your very own heirloom tomatoes.

You'll no doubt save far too many seeds, but tomato seeds make great little gifts. Write growing instructions on the envelope, pop it in a terracotta pot along with a couple of coco coir soil pellets such as these from Amazon and tie with a ribbon to give to family and friends at Christmas.

Can I Save Seed from Shop-Bought Tomatoes?

Most tomatoes sold in grocery stores are produced from F1 hybrid tomato varieties, so it's not worth saving the seed. Grow your own heirloom tomatoes from seed next year, then save the seed from the harvested fruit. A great place to start your journey is with Burpee's Rainbow Blend of heirloom tomato seedswhich has a colorful mix of six varieties including yellow 'Golden Sunburst', orange 'Djena Lees Golden Girl', red 'Bonny Best, pink 'Brandywine Pink', purple 'Black Krim' and green 'Evergreen'.

Every tomato patch hands over a second harvest at the end of the season, and almost nobody uses it. Spent tomato vines hold minerals the plant spent all summer collecting, and they hold enough structure to be built with. Sending them to the curb in a bag wastes both. What narrows the options is disease, not the material itself.

Good end of season tomato plant care starts with sorting the vines. Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) and powdery mildew (Pseudoidium neolycopersici) do the most damage during the season, though both need living tissue and die along with the plant. What lingers on dead stems is early blight (Alternaria linariae) and Septoria leaf spot (Septoria lycopersici), and a cold heap carries either one straight through to spring. One rule runs through all of it: only clean material gets a second life.

1. Burn the Dry Vines and Save the Ash

Vines have to be bone dry before they burn cleanly, so stack them somewhere sheltered for a few weeks first. Check local burn regulations before lighting anything. Plenty of counties restrict open burning outright, or allow it only in certain months. A contained burn can from Walmart keeps embers off dry grass in a way a loose bonfire pile can’t.

What is left is the mineral fraction of everything the plant pulled up all summer. Garden ash behaves much like wood ash, carrying potassium, a good deal of calcium, and enough liming effect to move soil pH in a single season. Spread it thin, no more than a five-gallon bucket's worth over 1,000 square feet (93sqm) of ground already sitting close to neutral. Keep it off blueberries and anything else that wants acid. Skip the potato bed altogether, because higher pH is what favors scab.

2. Char Them Instead if You Want Biochar

Burning and charring are not the same operation, and the difference matters here. Complete combustion leaves nothing but mineral ash. Pyrolysis – burning with the oxygen choked back – leaves biochar, which holds the carbon skeleton and the pore structure that makes it worth putting in soil.

Stems this thin do not give up much. One whole season of vines might char down to a few handfuls. This works best as an add-on when woodier material is going into the same burn anyway, like prunings or spent stakes. Crush the finished char and let it sit in compost or a bucket of diluted fish emulsion for a couple of weeks. Raw char pulls nutrients out of soil before it starts giving any back.

3. Bury Them Deep... Just Not under Next Year's Tomatoes

Burial beats a cold heap outright. Soil biology is faster and more thorough. Dig a trench 12 inches (30cm) deep, lay the chopped vines in, and cover it back over. Chopping matters more than it sounds. A bypass lopper from Amazon run through the thick basal stems turns a tangle into something that packs flat and breaks down evenly.

Placement is where this goes wrong. Never trench tomato debris under ground slated for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, or potatoes next season. Early blight and Septoria both persist in soil and old debris. Two to three years away from solanaceous crops is the standard rotation. Brassica and allium beds are both fine. Beans work too, and the nitrogen they fix offsets some of what the decomposing stems tie up.

4. Weave the Sturdiest Stems into a Trellis or Wreath

Clean vines only, and only ones still supple. Main stems on an indeterminate tomato plant turn properly woody by September, and pulled fresh they bend without snapping. Give them an hour in the sun to lose a little water first, then coil the longest ones into a ring and tuck the loose ends back through themselves.

Expect one season out of it. Those stems are pithy and go brittle as they dry, so a woven trellis is a summer object rather than a permanent structure. Wreaths last better indoors where they stay dry. Green stems shrink as they cure, so weave tighter than looks right and bind the coil at three or four points with jute. Loose rings fall apart by November.

5. Lay Them Down as a Path Liner

Walkways between beds are the easiest place to absorb a lot of bulk. Lay the vines flat down the middle of a path, overlap them, and cover the lot with wood chips or straw. They block light well enough to hold weeds back through fall and winter. By spring most of what is underneath has flattened into a mat.

One trade-off comes with it. Damp mats of vines and chips are the shelter gray field slugs (Deroceras reticulatum) hunt for over winter, so keep it on the path itself and off the bed edges. Skip any path bordering next year’s nightshades for a separate reason. Rain splash onto lower leaves is exactly how early blight gets started in the first place.

6. Steep Clean Foliage into a Pest Spray

This one carries more caveats than the rest. Tomato foliage contains tomatine and related alkaloids. The old kitchen method steeps two cups (475ml) of chopped leaves in a quart (950ml) of water overnight, then strains and dilutes it before use. Gardeners have used it on aphids and small caterpillars for generations. Hard evidence is thin – the whole practice is anecdotal rather than trial-backed.

Two rules are not optional. Use foliage only from plants that showed no symptoms all season. Tomato mosaic virus survives in dried debris for up to two years and travels by simple contact. A sprayer full of infected leaf water is about the most efficient way to spread it that anyone has invented. Never put it on other nightshades. Keep the finished solution away from pets and children, and run it through a dedicated pump sprayer from Home Depot rather than one that also handles herbicide.

Heavily diseased plants get none of this. Bag them, leave the bag in full sun for a few days so the tissue and whatever lives in it die off, then put it out with household trash. Everything else in that pile is just material nobody has sorted yet.

September is an important transition time for lavender plants. They are replacing strong summer growth with winter and cold weather preparation. Lavender is a relatively low-maintenance task, but a few well-timed and simple chores now can help them survive winter and be ready for healthy growth and abundant flowers next year.

September lavender care is simple and focused on helping your plants prep for the colder months as growth winds down. A little pruning, a drainage check, and steps to keep lavender warm enough over winter are adequate steps for maintaining this healthy, thriving perennial.

Lavender is generally low maintenance. If you do nothing for it now, it will probably grow again in spring, but it won’t be its best self. Providing a little bit of extra care in September doesn’t take much time, but it rewards you hugely with healthier, more abundant growth next year. Follow these tips and your lavender will thank you with dense growth and lush, fragrant blooms.

1. Harvest & Trim Lightly

Depending on your growing region, climate, and weather, you might still have time to harvest lavender flowers this month. Make the most of your plants by gathering this last harvest. Flowers are most useful before they’ve started shedding.

Even if you can’t use the flowers now, it’s best to trim them off. Use sharp, clean shears, like these pro-approved Felco pruners from Amazon, and also trim back some of the green growth. Keep this lavender pruning light, just to maintain a good size and shape.

Save heavy pruning for late winter or early spring. This is especially important where winters are cold, as too much trimming can trigger new growth that receives cold damage later. Always avoid cutting woody stems, as these rarely regrow.

2. Reduce Watering for Fall

As temperatures cool and your lavender is no longer actively growing, it needs less water. Rain tends to be more consistent in the fall, reducing the need for supplemental water even more. Now is the right time to taper off watering rather than stopping it altogether.

Check the soil to determine when to water next. Water when the top three to four inches (8-10 cm) of soil are dry and water deeply at the soil level. Do not do any overhead watering. Excess water on the plant now can cause harm by encouraging common lavender diseases.

Keep in mind that, at this time of year in particular, it’s more harmful to overwater than to underwater your lavender plants. Use a soil moister meter, like this one from Amazon, to get rid of any guesswork and keep plants perfectly watered.

3. Check Soil & Improve Drainage

Lavender needs soil that is light and drains well. It will suffer and ultimately die in heavy, soggy soil, especially as cooler weather sets in in fall and winter. September is a good time to check on the soil and roots, especially if you have had a wet and rainy summer.

Gently dig into the soil around the plant to determine if it is holding too much water. If it feels wet, even days after rain, amend the soil by carefully working in coarse sand or pea gravel. Faster-draining soil will help your lavender plants maintain healthy roots throughout fall rains and winter snow that turns into spring snowmelt.

4. Touch Up Mulch

If you had mulch around your lavender plants all summer, it’s time to check on it. Heavy organic mulch, like compost or shredded bark, can be useful in summer. But in fall and winter, it can hold too much moisture. Remove or thin this mulch, especially if it has broken down and deteriorated over the summer.

Consider adding a layer of pea gravel, which you can get at the Home Depot, or grit mulch around your lavender plants. This provides some protection from colder temperatures and can also improve drainage. It’s a better option than organic mulches at this point in the season. Aim for a depth of about one inch (2.5 cm) of mulch.

5. Prep & Protect Potted Lavender

If you grow lavender in containers, those plants will need a little extra care. Go through the same care tasks here for bedded plants. Harvest any remaining flowers, give it a light trim, and check on drainage. Have the holes at the bottom of the pot gotten clogged or the soil compacted? If so, correct these issues now.

Your potted plants always need more water, as the soil dries out more quickly, but this is still a good time to start tapering it off. As for winter protection, container plants need more. There are two options: bring the containers indoors or protect potted plants outside.

If you have very cold winters, it may be best to bring containers inside. Even a garage should provide adequate warmth to keep them alive over winter. If your winters are less harsh, you can protect containers outdoors by grouping them together, moving them to more protected areas, and wrapping the pots with landscaping cloth, burlap (available from Ace Hardware), or even bubble wrap.

Seasonal Gardening Shopping Inspiration

As we head into the colder months, now is a great time to create next year's perfect plot. This is what our team is shopping:

Summer may end in September, but vegetable gardening doesn’t have to. The soil is still warm from the summer, air temperatures are dropping, and many cool-season veggies actually perform better this time of year. Now is the time to plant crops that mature quickly for a fall harvest and those that are hardy and will establish over winter, providing an early spring harvest.

Here are some of our favorites to plant in fall along with some tips for healthy plants and an abundant harvest. And if you’re new to growing veggies, check out our comprehensive guide to starting a vegetable garden.

1. Spinach

Spinach thrives in cooler weather and tends to bolt in summer heat, so now is a great time to grow it. Start with seeds, and you’ll have baby greens in as little as 30 to 40 days. You can harvest the older leaves too, as long as you pick them before you get freezing temperatures. If you have a lot of time left in the season, sow seeds in weekly succession for a staggered harvest.

If you have a milder winter in your area, you can also overwinter spinach for a spring harvest. Use a light row cover and mulch around the plants to keep them warm enough to survive and provide a harvest of mature leaves in early spring.

2. Kale

Kale is one of the most cold-hardy of all veggies, so definitely consider planting it this fall. In fact, cooler temperatures produce sweeter and more tender leaves. You can sow seeds, but kale won’t grow as fast as spinach, so consider getting transplants, depending on when you’re starting and your winter climate.

You can harvest baby leaves and also let the plants mature. They’ll still be harvestable well into fall and even into winter, depending on the climate and weather. If your winters are mild, kale needs no protection. Use a cloche or fabric to protect plants in colder winters if you plan to keep harvesting past the first freeze.

3. Radishes

Radishes both like cool weather and grow very quickly, among the fastest maturing of all vegetables. You can sow seeds for radishes in September and have a harvest in as soon as three weeks. Sow seeds in succession to get a few harvests out of the season.

Because they mature so quickly, you probably won’t need any cold-weather protection for your radishes. If some are still going as temperatures drop significantly, use a floating row cover and mulch to protect roots.

4. Winter Salad Greens

Sow seeds for a few types of cool-season leafy greens for a fall salad garden. Arugula and mesclun are good options. You’ll be able to harvest baby leaves within a few weeks. Sow seeds in succession for a continuous fall harvest of salad greens.

Depending on your weather and if you provide some protection, like row covers, you can continue growing these greens throughout fall or even into winter. Cloches, row covers, and cold frames can significantly extend the season. Also, consider growing greens in containers, which can be more easily protected.

5. Garlic

Planting garlic now allows it to establish roots over winter. You’ll get your harvest next summer, so this is one to plant if you don’t need instant gratification. Plant cloves of garlic pointy side up several inches apart. Cover the soil with a good layer of mulch to protect the cloves and roots from cold and frost heaving.

Your garlic will be ready to harvest next summer when the foliage begins to yellow and die back. Be sure to get good quality cloves to plant. Grocery store cloves don’t always work.

6. Hardy Onion Sets

As with garlic, you can plant onions now for next year’s harvest. Look for hardy onion varieties that are meant to overwinter. Plant the sets root side down in prepared soil with plenty of space for each one based on the expected mature bulb sizes.

Add mulch over the plants to protect them from cold winter weather. If you have more extreme winters, you might also need a row cover. Depending on the variety you choose and your climate, the onions will be ready to harvest next spring or early summer.

7. Broad Beans

Broad beans, or fava beans, can easily be overwintered in gardens with mild winter weather. Sow seeds directly outside, but be sure to choose a variety that has some cold hardiness. Your autumn-sown seeds should give you an early spring crop next year.

Use mulch around plants for some protection, and provide some type of vertical structure as it grows, especially if your garden gets a lot of wind. If your winter weather is borderline or you expect an unusual cold snap, use a row cover or cloches to protect young plants.

Tips for Fall Vegetable Gardens

To make the most of your fall plantings, take time to prepare the soil first. Remove any spent summer crops and weeds. Add compost or other organic matter to lighten and enrich the soil. Break up any soil that has become compacted and ensure it drains well.

After sowing seeds or putting in transplants, remember to water regularly. Generally, you can ease up on watering in the garden in fall, but your seedlings and young plants will be thirsty, so keep them watered if it doesn’t rain. Water container plants more frequently.

Never assume fall and winter weather will be consistent or predictable. Check weather often, and provide protection if you expect early frosts and freezes or an unusual cold snap. Use row covers, old sheets, cloches, or containers that you can move for protection and warmth.

September is a transition month, but it doesn’t have to be the end of growing vegetables. Extend your season with quick-growing veggies and use the winter as a time to establish plants like garlic and onions. Good preparation and an eye on the weather will allow you to keep your vegetable garden going long after summer ends.

It can be so rewarding to grow your own food, including tasty berries like blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and more. Not only are they fresher and more nutritious than store-bought, but homegrown berries just taste better.

If you grow berries, you probably already know the frustration of losing fruit to animals before a harvest. Both birds and mammals love berries, too, and they won’t respect the boundaries of your garden. Keep in mind that knowing how to protect fruit trees from birds is not exactly the same as protecting berries, which generally grow lower to the ground and attract more critters.

From squirrels to birds to rabbits, deer, and raccoons, your berry canes and bushes are susceptible to significant nibbling and harvest loss. Below I’ll share my top tips for protecting those berries so you can enjoy the fruits of your labor.

1. Cover Berries With Bird Netting

A physical barrier is the most foolproof, simple, and humane way to protect fruit from animals. If you can physically prevent animals from getting to your berries, you’ll keep both the fruit and the critters safe. Use this as your primary strategy for berry protection.

Bird netting, which you can get from Ace Hardware, is the most dependable solution for vulnerable berries. If you contact your local extension office for guidance, this is probably what they’ll suggest as the most effective method since birds are the primary problem. Make sure you use a net specifically designed for birds, as these are safe and won’t cause other wildlife to get tangled.

Install bird netting over berries before they ripen. Once birds discover ripe berries, it can be hard to keep them away. The best way to install the net is to use a frame around the bush rather than simply draping it over.

Use stakes, garden hoops, or any simple frame to surround the bush with the net. Use more stakes or garden staples to secure the net to the ground so birds can’t get in underneath it.

2. Build a Cage or Fruit Tunnel

Expanding on the idea of using a net, building a fruit cage or tunnel around your berries takes the physical exclusion strategy to the next level. Consider this solution if you have small mammals like chipmunks or squirrels chewing through the bird netting.

You can create a simple cage out of readily available materials: PVC pipes or hoops, garden stakes, metal conduit, scrap wood, and bird netting or a sturdier type of mesh. You can also find commercial crop cages to buy rather than building your own. This crop cage from Amazon comes in a variety of sizes and shapes to accommodate whatever berry plants you have, from small shrubs to trees.

Either option is a highly effective way to protect your berries, as they keep netting or mesh well away from the fruit so little paws and mouths can’t reach them.

3. Use Scare Tactics & Deterrents

Scare tactics can still be humane, as they don’t actually harm animals but deter them from specific areas of the garden. They are like barriers, but not actual physical structures so they're a great way to keep animals out of the garden without a fence.

You can use movement, sound, water, or even scent to scare animals away from ripening berries. Here are some of the most effective ways to scare away animals :

• Reflective mylar tape and ribbons, which you can get on Amazon
• Shiny streamers
• Balloons
• Fake hawk and owl decoys, which are available from Ace Hardware
• Motion-activated sprinklers
• Noise-making devices, like this ultrasonic animal deterrent from Amazon
• Predator scent sprays (for deer, Content Editor Laura swears by Liquid Fence from Home Depot)

The downside of many deterrents is that animals get used to them and lose their fear, especially with stationary items. Move these frequently and consider using anything that moves.

For motion-activated devices, place sensors on paths leading to berries, not just directly next to the berries. Consider using some of these deterrents with physical barriers for extra protection.

4. Harvest Berries Promptly

One of the easiest ways to avoid losing your berry harvest, or at least a significant amount of it, is to harvest promptly. The longer berries stay on the bushes or canes, the more opportunities you have to lose them to foraging animals.

This is a good strategy if you’re ok with losing some of your berries and if you have a way to use or preserve all the berries you pick at one time. Of course, berries don’t all ripen at once, so check your plants daily.

It’s also a good idea to regularly remove damaged, overripe, or dropped fruit. Even though you don’t want to use this fruit, leaving it in place will only attract more critters.

Aside from harvesting in a timely manner, whichever method you choose to use for protecting your harvest, it’s important that you start well before the berries ripen. For the best results, use all of these strategies. A physical barrier with scare tactics and deterrents plus picking berries early and regularly will work together to save your harvest.

A common mistake many first-time fruit growers make is choosing a variety that needs more than one tree to produce fruit. Many fruit trees require cross-pollination to produce a harvest. This includes most varieties of apple trees and sweet cherries among others.

If you don’t have room for more than one tree or you don’t want to commit to growing that much fruit, there are self-pollinating fruit trees that only require one plant to produce a harvest. Though the options are a bit more limited, there are still delicious choices available.

As summer comes to a close, it’s a great time to plant potted, balled and burlapped, or bare root fruit trees. Installing them in your yard or garden in fall allows them time to settle in before winter hits and gives them a head start come spring. Here are the best self-pollinating fruit trees to plant in fall for big harvests from only one tree.

1. Peach

Peaches are one of the most popular deciduous fruit trees, second only to apples. Though the first thought that comes to mind when you think of peaches may be Georgia, there are peach trees that thrive in USDA growing zones 4-9. So even if you’re a northerner, you can still get the delicious taste of homegrown peaches.

There are plenty of self-pollinating varieties of peaches available, but a ‘Belle of Georgia’ peach tree from Perfect Plants gives you fruit with that classic Southern flavor you want in cobblers, crisps, or pies.

2. Nectarine

Love the taste of peaches, but not the fuzz? Then nectarines are just what you need in your garden. They are genetically identical to peaches, other than their lack of a fuzzy skin. Nectarines are often a bit smaller in size than peaches, but the flavor is almost exactly the same.

Like peaches, nectarines are self-pollinating and hardy in growing zones 4-9. But late spring frosts can destroy flowerbuds that turn into your fruit crop. So if you live in a colder climate, choose a hardier cultivar like this ‘Hardired’ nectarine tree from Stark Bro’s.

3. Sour Cherry

Many sour cherry trees are self-pollinating, as opposed to sweet cherry trees. A popular type of sour cherry that makes for not only a beautiful landscape tree with its white blooms in summer, but also provides plenty of delicious fruit is ‘Montmorency’, which you can buy at Lowe’s.

The tart cherries this tree produces are perfect for baking, making preserves, or even eating fresh. It’s hardy in growing zones 4-7 and is a great addition to any edible garden or pollinator garden – bees love the spring blossoms!

4. Fig

Figs are one of the easiest fruit trees for beginners to grow not only because they’re self-fruitful, but also because they produce quickly and abundantly. Originating in the Mediterranean, some fig tree varieties are hardier than others. So be sure to check your growing zone and the hardiness of the fig tree before you buy.

One of the most popular fig trees for colder climates is the ‘Chicago Hardy’ fig, which you can find online from Trees.com (formerly FastGrowingTrees.com). It is hardy in growing zones 5-10 and can tolerate temperatures down to -10°F (-23°C), which means you can plant it in most parts of the U.S. This particular cultivar can produce up to 100 pints each season, only one or two years after planting.

5. ‘Jonagold’ Apple

Most apple tree varieties require at least two trees for cross-pollination to produce fruit. However, there are a few types of apple trees that are self-fruiting. Some self-pollinating apples include ‘Golden Delicious’ and ‘Jonathan’, but one of the most delicious varieties is ‘Jonagold’.

Jonagolds are sweet and juicy, perfect for eating, baking, or turning into cider. These apples ripen in mid to late fall and are an orchard classic because of their reliable harvests and crowd-pleasing sweet-tart flavor. They’re hardy in USDA growing zones 5-8. You can buy a high-quality Jonagold tree online from Trees.com.

If you’ve been enjoying ripe tomatoes off the vine all season, then suddenly the merriment stops, there is cause for concern. Tomato plants can be finicky and if something is lacking in its care or the environment, the plant holds back. If your tomato plant is flowering, but not fruiting, there are a few common reasons why and ways to fix it before the season ends.

Keeping your tomatoes healthy with proper care should help get production back on track. But at this time of year, the specific causes can vary. I'll walk you through several reasons why a tomato plant flowers, but has no fruit. Then I'll share how to solve these issues before the growing season comes to a close.

Follow these tips now to resolve these issues and ensure you get a big harvest of tomatoes before fall weather arrives.

How to Turn Tomato Flowers Into Fruit

After reviewing possible causes of no fruit set, there are a handful of tasks you can do right now to fix problems before the season ends to ensure you still get a huge harvest.

1. Keep Plants Cool

If your weather is consistently hot, above 88°F (31°C), your tomato plants may be heat-stressed and cause flowers to drop off before setting fruit. But you can cool the temperature by as much as 10 degrees by adding a shade cloth to your garden.

You can use a light-colored sheet, a window screen, row cover fabric or a shade cloth, like this one from the Home Depot, that allows a percentage of light to come through and also provides UV protection. Attach it to the side facing west and also lay some fabric across the top of your plant to shade the midday sun. You can leave it up until the heatwave passes or put it up each afternoon.

If you don’t have mulch around your tomato plants, you can do that now to conserve moisture and cool the soil. Use wood chips, straw, grass clippings, or chopped leaves and apply a 2 to 3 inch (5-8 cm) layer. Also, be sure you are watering consistently so the soil does not dry out.

2. Water Well

If the temperature is moderate, make sure you are watering tomatoes properly. Tomatoes need 1 to 2 inches (2.5-5 cm) of water a week. Two or three deep waterings are better than daily shallow watering. Deep watering encourages deep roots and shallow watering encourages roots to stay near the top of the soil where they dry out faster.

The soil should stay moist, but not wet. Drip irrigation puts water right where it is needed and avoids a lot of runoff. Content Editor Laura has used this easy-to-use drip irrigation kit from the Home Depot in her garden for years.

If you are hand-watering, avoid splashing water onto the lower leaves. If that is a problem, remove the lower leaves to prevent soil-borne diseases.

3. Feed With the Right Food

Continue to fertilize your tomatoes, but lighten or remove the nitrogen from the mix. At this point in the summer, your plant doesn’t need to grow stems and leaves, it needs to concentrate on fruit set and ripening.

If you aren’t already, use a liquid tomato fertilizer with a higher middle number (phosphorus) than the first number, or nitrogen, such as 1-3-1. This tomato-specific fertilizer from Burpee is a good option. Apply it every two weeks according to the product instructions.

4. Hand-Pollinate Plants

In case of poor pollination, you can do the job yourself and hand-pollinate tomato plants. Since tomatoes are self-pollinating, both the male (anthers) and female (stigma) parts are within each flower. So all you need to do is throw a little jiggle its way to release the pollen.

To do this, you can gently toggle the flower cluster back and forth as you walk by each morning or simply aim a fan in the plant’s direction. You also can take a paintbrush and move the pollen from the anther to the stigma. Another option is to tap a vibrating electric toothbrush behind the flower. Do this every day for several days to make sure the job gets done.

5. Catch Problems Early

Monitor for common tomato diseases and pests that strike at the end of summer. White flies, aphids, caterpillars and diseases such as verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt affect tomato production.

When necessary, use organic controls such as insecticidal soap and neem oil, both of which are available on Amazon, or a blast of water to repel pests. Caterpillars can be removed by hand. Unfortunately, there is no cure for wilt diseases. The best defense is to grow disease-resistant tomato varieties to prevent problems.

Keeping your tomatoes healthy with proper watering, fertilizing, and monitoring for pests and disease should help get the tomato production back on track. Pollinating the plants and using a shade cloth in the afternoon also can ensure you will once again enjoy ripe tomatoes until the end of the season.

Two different plant events are underway in the strawberry bed this month. June-bearers like Jewel or Sparkle wrapped up weeks back and have now shifted into leaf and runner production. Meanwhile, Everbearing varieties like Fort Laramie and day-neutral stars like Seascape or Albion are actively ripening and setting a second heavy flush of sweet berries.

Whichever type of plant you are growing, this is a pivotal month in the strawberry lifecycle. Your strawbs need care and attention in August (just not all necessarily the exact same attention). Fortunately, none of this is tricky or time consuming: the tasks that matter for growing strawberry plants in late summer are very short ones. And they will help you to seize a bonus late-summer crop, as well as a generous extra harvest next year.

Several things you do now will reward you twice: once with fruit this season, and once in crown size for plants that will come back next spring (as well as new plants you can start for free). Containers run on a tighter schedule, as they dry out faster. They also run short of nutrients sooner, so a couple of these jobs matter more for strawbs in pots than in open ground. So take steps now to safeguard this year’s plants, and you will reap the benefits many times over.

Boost Your Strawberries in August

Depending on plant type, next spring's crop is being decided right now, out of sight underground. June-bearers are short-day plants. Once daylength slips under roughly 14 hours, they start laying down the flower buds that open next spring. Soil moisture matters enormously through that stretch, and so does a steady nutrient supply. Drought stress in late August can result in a thin crop the following spring. Nothing about the process is visible from above, either. The leaves look much the same in September as they did in July, and the difference only registers the following year.

Soil temperature is the other complication. Strawberry roots occupy the top 6 inches (15cm) of soil, which happens to be the layer that swings the hardest in August. Bare ground dries out fast up near the surface. Container-based strawberries also struggle. With a black plastic pot in the afternoon sun, fine feeder roots could cook against the sides. This month’s essential strawberry care is about buffering that top layer and keeping plants nourished while they build up new buds.

Strawberry roots tend to develop in the top 6 inches (15cm) of soil. In USDA hardiness zones 3-10, late summer heat can bake this layer. If soil temperatures soar above 85°F (29°C), it can halt nutrient uptake, so moisture and mulching are vital. That said, things might be moist an inch or so down, and you can’t always tell by looking at the top. So before jumping into these tasks, check soil moisture at the root levels. Use a reliable moisture probe like the easy XLUX Soil Moisture Meter from Amazon, which gives instant results and will prevent unnecessary mistakes.

If you suspect your container mix has settled or compacted under heavy summer irrigation, it’s also worth giving it a light topdressing or repotting with some fresh, well-draining potting mix, like Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Potting Mix, which is currently 30% off at Walmart. Then you’re ready to get stuck into these quick tasks. All of this adds up to one unhurried afternoon of work, and the return lands twice: in the berries still ripening now, and in the crops developing underground for next year.

1. Pin Down or Trim Runners

The future of your strawberry runners is one of the big decision points of the month. Every long stem snaking out from a mother plant carries a daughter at its node. Each one of these either becomes free stock or a drain on the parent. For June-bearing varieties, propagating strawberry plants from healthy mothers is the premier way to renovate an aging bed without spending a dime. To securely anchor the plantlets, press the node against the soil with landscape staples or clips. Supports like the Noraling Strawberry Support Clips from Amazon are firm, without damaging fragile runners, and encourage independent roots to form quickly.

Give these runners 4-6 weeks still attached to the mother. Roots should form in this window, and you can then transplant the babies into new rows or pots. After that the connection can be cut. However, for everbearing and day-neutral varieties actively producing fruit right now, allowing runners to grow unrestricted can strip sugars away from developing berries, reducing your late-summer yield. It’s best to just remove these now, using clean cuts with snips or scissors.

2. Shift to Deep Morning Soakings

How and when you water strawberries can catch people out this month. Strawberries need 1-1.5 inches (2.5-4cm) of water a week. But two long soakings are better than a daily splash. Shallow watering holds roots near the surface. In August that top layer is the hottest, driest part of the whole bed. So water deeply to push moisture down into the cooler root zone. Water at the base, not over the top. Wet foliage in warm still air can leave plants vulnerable to diseases like leaf spot and gray mold. Morning beats evening for the same reason.

However, plants in containers and hanging baskets need something more frequent. To check if plants need a drink, either use your soil moisture probe or push a finger around 2 inches (5cm) into the potting mix. For container planters and tier baskets that require elevated airflow and root drainage, use simple pot risers to ensure that plants don’t end up sitting in water, as drainage is still important. Budget-friendly Dedara Plant Pot Risers from Walmart slide under and keep them healthy.Deep morning watering prevents leaf scorch and keeps any berries disease-free.

3. Switch to a High Potassium Feed

Feeding splits by strawberry type this month, so you need to adjust your fertilizing method accordingly. Plants still cropping do best on a potassium-heavy liquid feed every week or two. That covers day-neutrals and everbearers, plus anything growing in a pot. To deliver a potassium boost to fruiting everbearers on a budget, try a gentle boost of seaweed tonic such as Bloom City’s Organic Liquid Seaweed and Kelp Fertilizer from Walmart. You can also add a diluted tomato feed, but use sparingly.

June-bearing plants wrapping up their season require a different approach. They are building next year's buds instead of berries. A balanced, gentle organic feed can help them to build sturdy crowns, without pushing sappy, soft foliage that might succumb to early autumn frosts. Topdress around these plants with some bone meal. Down to Earth Organic Fish Bone Meal from Amazon is a reliable source of calcium and phosphorus, and a little goes a long way. Whichever feed you choose, add to soil that has been watered well.

4. Refresh Mulch to Protect Roots

Whatever mulch you laid in spring has probably either broken down or blown away. A fresh 2-3 inch (5-8cm) layer of wheat straw mulch can work wonders, as soil temperatures start to drop. Adding straw layers such as CleanStraw Natural Pure Straw Mulch from Walmart gives protection that still allows for natural airflow, without packing the way shredded bark can. Tuck clean, loose straw under ripening berry trusses, keeping the mulch pulled back an inch away from the central plant crown to prevent crown rot.

Clean straw can also help to elevate low-hanging berry clusters off damp soil, eliminating rot and keeping fruit clean for harvesting. However, if you have berries developing in containers near the ground, you can also keep fruits safe by using elevated supports. Use Rooted Promise Store’s Strawberry Supports from Amazon which have an easy snap-on design and help fruits ripen away from pests and other problems.

5. Thin Out Crowded Plants

Crowding can turn a productive strawberry bed into a disappointing one. Plants sitting closer than 4-6 inches (10-15cm) will start to compete for light and water. This is a good time to thin out strawberries by pulling out the weakest ones. Any mother plant that has held its spot for 3-4 years can go, too. Older crowns lose productivity sharply. Old leaves can come off at the same time. Anything yellowed or spotted belongs in the bin instead of the compost heap. Aim for rows no wider than 18 inches (45cm), which puts every plant within reach from one side. A June-bearing bed thinned this way will develop noticeably better fruit the following season.

Once you have made your final harvests of the season, renovation is another option. This means mowing old foliage down to roughly an inch (2.5cm) above the crowns, then narrowing the rows. The window for this is the couple of weeks right after the final picking. Handled at this point, plants have time to rebuild a canopy before bud formation begins. Northern gardens where harvest ran into late July can still pull it off. Beds that are 3 or more years old get the clearest benefit. Where the last berries came off in June, you should thin by hand instead. Rake the cut foliage off the bed rather than leaving it down, as old leaves can carry disease.

Strawberry Care Essentials

Keeping your strawberry patch thriving, disease-free, and bursting with sweet berries requires only a few simple soil extras, organic feeds, and protective ingredients. This trio of top formulas can help you to round off your August strawberry care with confidence, building the foundations for next year’s growth and this year’s babies.

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August feels like the end of summer in a lot of ways, but it doesn’t have to be the end of your herb garden. While other plants are fading and only the hardiest fall flowers remain, you can still plant some herbs that will persist well into fall, even up to the first frost.

These common herbs are the best choices for planting now and enjoying several fall harvests. Look for young nursery plants and consider putting them in pots that you can move indoors once it gets too cold. How long these herbs will last depends, of course, on your local weather and climate, but with good care, you can enjoy them for weeks or even months.

Let's dig in and see what you need to be planting now to keep the flavor coming!

1. Parsley

Parsley is one of the most versatile of all herbs with a fresh, green flavor that is more subtle than others. It’s an herb that actually prefers cooler weather, so now is a good time to start a new plant. Its lush green foliage will remain while plants around it fade and brown.

Give your parsley plant full sun or a spot with a little shade. Keep the soil consistently moist, but don’t let it get soggy. Harvest outer stems as needed to encourage fresh growth well into fall. Find a wide variety of parsley seeds from True Leaf Market.

2. Cilantro

Like parsley, cilantro prefers the cooler weather of the shoulder season. It tends to bolt in the heat of summer, resulting in lower flavor quality of the leaves. This is a love-it or hate-it kind of herb, but if you’re in the former camp, plant one now.

Full sun or partial shade is ideal for a cilantro plant. Keep the soil moist but ensure it drains well. As with parsley, trim off stems from the outside in to use and encourage fresh growth while decent temperatures persist. Burpee offers organic cilantro seeds for growing your own cilantro to pair perfectly with Asian and Mexican dishes this fall!

3. Chives

With a delicate oniony flavor, chives are a great addition to almost any savory dish, including salads, fish, and eggs. Chives not only tolerate cooler weather, but they’re also actually hardy in many climates. Get a plant established now, enjoy it this fall, and, with good care, expect it to emerge again next spring.

Plant chives in full sun or partial shade. Make sure the soil drains well and keep the soil moist as the plant establishes strong roots. Snip off leaves to use as needed, making clean cuts at the base. Don’t harvest too heavily this season if you’re hoping it will come back next year. You can find heirloom chive seeds from Sow Right Seeds on Amazon.

4. Thyme

Thyme is a hardy perennial in zones 5 through 9, so plant and get it established now to enjoy this fall, even as temperatures drop, and again next year. The tiny leaves of thyme plants pack a punch and are especially tasty with meats, poultry, tomato dishes, and soups and stews.

You can grow thyme in a container or in beds. Its low profile makes it a good edging plant. Choose a sunny spot and ensure the soil drains very well. Thyme doesn’t like getting too soggy and will tolerate dry conditions very well. Water regularly now to help it get established. You can start harvesting stems this fall, but avoid cutting into woody growth, which won’t regrow. Organic English thyme seeds can be found at the Home Depot.

5. Sage

Like thyme, sage is a perennial suited to many climates. It will keep green, usable foliage well into fall and even through the first few light frosts. Sage has a strong flavor, so pair it with foods that can stand up to it, like meats, turkey, buttery pasta dishes, and squash.

Plant sage in full sun in an area that has very good drainage. Water it regularly to get it established and then water only when the soil dries out. You can harvest individual leaves or cut off stems. Add a layer of mulch around the plant to help protect it during winter. Find sage seeds from Sow Right Seeds on Amazon.

6. Mint

Mint is a very easy herb to grow. It is tough and vigorous, spreading and growing rapidly from runners. For this reason, it’s a good option to grow now but only in containers. In beds, mint can quickly run amok. Use mint leaves in desserts, salads, and savory dishes. (You can even burn peppermint like Content Editor Kayleigh Dray to freshen your space and ward off pests).

Mint will tolerate a spot in full sun or partial shade. Keep the soil evenly moist and harvest entire stems to encourage new growth. Consider bringing your mint indoors to enjoy all winter or let it go dormant outside. It will likely come back next year. Peppermint seeds can be purchased from True Leaf Market.

Starting herbs in August is worthwhile if you choose the right ones. While the rest of the garden winds down, these hardy herbs will continue producing tasty leaves for weeks or months.

Keep them well watered, provide some winter protection if needed, and some of these herbs will even come back in the spring.

My kitchen garden and veg beds look a bit crumpled around the edges. Beans have gone a bit stringy this last week, and my favorite butterhead lettuce has turned bitter. Pulling out spent zucchini vines feels like conceding the season: it’s not over yet, though. Soil that’s still this warm is a precious commodity, so why not put it to work?

Salad greens sit near the top of any list of easy vegetables to grow, and in late summer they get easier still. Seeds that might sit sulking for a week in April can be up in three days at the moment. Sow before the month is out, and there’ll be pickings by mid-September, with more coming clear through to the first hard frost. The bed need not be empty first, since these new crops can go in wherever a crop came out.

So treating these empty gaps as lost space is a wasted opportunity. Warm August soil can accelerate germination, root development, and subsequent nourishment. By growing fast-maturing crops in the warm, vacant pockets left by cleared peas or early potatoes, you’re fast-tracking your next harvests. You can dodge peak summer pest cycles, enjoy early maturing flavors, and fill salad bowls straight through to late fall.

Fast Salad Crops to Grow in August

Before you rush to fill those gaps, think about the condition of the earth, and the general light and drainage. The spent crop has left a space, sure – but what gets left behind will be lumps and root holes that fine seed has no chance in. So before you sow these crops, rake the space until the surface resembles coarse sand. An inch (2.5cm) of compost forked into the top 3 inches (8cm) can help restore a little of the goodness. It will also hang onto water better than sun-baked ground. Skip the deep digging, though: none of these crops will root far enough down to notice.

While warmth is appreciated in the earth, baking heat can be problematic. Lettuce and spinach flatly refuse to germinate once the soil is baking, and corn salad is no better about it. Water the furrow before the seed goes in (rather than after), since watering over the top washes fine seed into clumps. Add some sifted or aged compost or a fine potting mix, such as Espoma Organic Land & Sea Compost from Amazon, which restores critical nutrients and moisture for late summer plantings. Anywhere that puddles in a downpour will need a raised row.

Regional climate differences will have some bearing on sowing success. Gardeners in USDA hardiness zones 3-6 need to move quickly to ensure crops reach maturity before daylight drops below 10 hours a day. Growers in zones 7-10 face 90°F (32°C) heat spikes, so an overhead shade cloth can help to keep seedbeds under 75°F (24°C). Direct sowing is usually better than plugs for these fast crops, as transplant shock can waste precious growing days. Don’t forget to keep the seedbed damp to prevent surface crusting once you get these fast-growing crops in the ground…

1. Arugula

Nothing else in the salad bed moves this fast. Arugula (Eruca vesicaria) germinates in 3-4 days in warm ground and gives a picking of baby leaves inside 3 weeks. The August advantage is flavor as much as speed: summer-sown rocket leaves are fiercely peppery. Cooler nights soften it back toward something usable. Wild rocket has a narrower leaf and more heat. You can buy Organic Arugula Seeds from Eden Brothers for a nutty kick that matures in 28-40 days and also flourishes in large pots.

Thriving in zones 3-10, arugula prefers full sun and requires rich, moist soil with a pH between 6-7. Flea beetles are the biggest threat, so cover with a lightweight mesh. Plant alongside carrots or bush beans, which won't crowd its shallow roots. Protect dense growings from downy mildew with some Arber Biofungicide Spray from Walmart. Cut outer leaves for harvesting. One sowing can carry on for 6-8 weeks.

2. French Breakfast Radishes

Radishes (Raphanus sativus) are the usual recommendation for a child's first crop, and the reason is timing. They take 3-4 days to germinate, and less than a month to be ready to pull. Little else in the garden moves that fast. Sow the French breakfast type instead of a globe. Crops come up tapered with a white tip, and stay milder in warm weather than the round sorts do. Snatch up packs of French Dressing Radish Seeds from Burpee for crunchy pink and white gems that mature in 25-35 days.

Thinning is the step nobody bothers with. Crowded radishes make tops and nothing below. Pull one at 20 days to check. An inch (2.5cm) between plants should do it. The thinnings can go in the bowl too, since the tops taste like mild mustard. Suitable for zones 2-11, radishes just need light, well-draining soil. Uneven watering can cause roots to crack or turn woody, so maintain consistent moisture.

3. Mizuna and Tatsoi

These Japanese greens, both forms of Brassica rapa, behave almost identically. Mizuna throws up feathery, deeply cut leaves with a faint mustard bite. Tatsoi makes a flat, glossy rosette that shrugs off frost. Both give baby leaves in 3 weeks and full heads in 6 weeks. You can buy Tatsoi Spoon Mustard Seeds from Eden Brothers for hearty Asian greens that mature in as little as 30 days, and Mountain Valley Seeds Red Streaks Mizuna from Amazon for a vigorous red and green leaf in 45 days.

Reliable in zones 4-9, they thrive in full sun or partial shade. Tatsoi is impressively cold-hardy, surviving to 15°F (-9°C). Flea beetles are the only problem, but throw a floating row cover over the bed at sowing time, and it won’t be an issue. The Hortifan Plant Cover from Amazon is great for repeat use. To harvest, shear baby leaves an inch above the ground or let the rosette mature for a single-harvest cooking green.

4. Corn Salad (Mache)

Corn salad (Valerianella locusta), or mache, rewards a little more waiting. Its seed sulks in hot ground, so the end of the month works better than the start. Performing best in zones 5-9, mâche requires soil temperatures below 68°F (20°C) to break dormancy, making late August and early September the sweet spot for sowing. What it gives back is cold tolerance: the small rosettes of soft, nutty leaves even keep going under snow. Buy minty sweet Ohio Heirloom Seeds Lamb’s Lettuce (Macha) from Amazon for frilly rosettes of nutritious leaves that mature in 40-45 days.

It tolerates poor soils well, but benefits from light, moist ground in full sun to partial shade. Pair with slow-growing winter brassicas or garlic, and avoid overwatering once established. It requires little feed and is largely ignored by late-season pests. Harvest the rosette with a knife just below the crown. Nothing else here will still be standing in February.

5. Land Cress

The sticking point with watercress is that its feet have to stay wet. Land cress (Barbarea verna) gives the same hot, peppery hit and grows in ordinary ground, which is why catalogs also sell it as upland cress. Either does fine in a pot sat in a saucer of water, topped up daily, but land cress gives you another option with veg bed gaps. Buy Tomorrow Seeds Upland Cress from Walmart for a zippy, vitamin-rich fresh green leaf machine that’s perfect for small spaces and containers.

Hardy in zones 5-9, land cress thrives in full shade where other greens struggle. It behaves as a biennial, often overwintering to produce spring greens before going to seed. Plant alongside moisture-loving herbs like mint or chives. Keep soil wet to maintain its crisp, peppery bite. Usable pickings follow within 5 weeks. Cut sprigs from the outside, and it regrows.

6. Spinach

Half-empty rows can often be the story with August spinach (Spinacia oleracea), as the seed can stop germinating reliably once the ground warms past a certain point. The fix is to cool the ground first to under 75°F (24°C). Place a shade cloth, like the Coolaroo 70% UV Block Shade Cloth from The Home Depot, over the bed for 4-5 days ahead of sowing, and you’re golden. After that it behaves, with baby leaves in around 30 days, then repeated cuttings from the outside right through fall.

Thriving in zones 3-9, spinach needs neutral-to-slightly alkaline soil (pH 6.5-7.5). Plant alongside radishes or strawberries to maximize space efficiency. Stick to deep watering to encourage strong taproots to withstand cold snaps. You can buy lush and hearty classic Heirloom Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach from Burpee for a late summer fiesta of nutty goodness that is slow to bolt but quick to mature (40 days).

7. Red Mustard

Deep purple over green, with veins darkening almost to black as the nights cool, is not a color combination the salad bowl often sees. Red mustard (Brassica juncea) earns its place on looks alone. Then there is the heat, which is close to horseradish and builds as leaves get bigger. Suitable for zones 4-10, it thrives in full sun and adapts well to most soil types if drainage is good. Try Red Giant Mustard from Eden Brothers for lush leaves that are bolt-resistant and take only 40 days to mature.

Baby leaves are ready in about 3 weeks, while plants left to size up can survive cold snaps that flatten everything around them. Excellent plant partners include onions, garlic, and rosemary, which help to deter brassica-loving pests. Harvest frequently using a cut-and-come-again approach, leaving the central growing point intact to ensure a steady supply of fresh, spicy foliage until heavy frosts set in.

8. Claytonia

Claytonia perfoliata makes small heart-shaped leaves on tender stems, each one eventually holding a little cup with a white flower at the center. Thriving in zones 4-9, claytonia prefers cool, damp, partially shaded conditions, making it ideal for tucked-away garden corners or under taller crops. Soil should be rich in leaf mold or compost and kept moist. Buy MYS Miner’s Lettuce Claytonia From Amazon for a rich vitamin load at a bargain price that should flourish well into winter.

This fast-growing salad green is ready in 40 days and is super-hardy, carrying on under a cloche long after the rest has stopped. It germinates better once the ground cools, like mache, so treat it as a late-August job. Plant with mâche or winter pansies in cold frames. Snip stems gently near the base to encourage multiple harvests, and allow a few plants to flower at season's end for free self-sown crops next year.

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Whether you are growing pumpkins for Jack o’ lanterns, fall decor, fairs, or food, now is the time to push that extra oomph to ensure a bountiful autumn harvest. August may be a challenge in your area due to excessive heat, drought periods, or an increase in bug and disease activity. That is why it is important to keep up with consistent watering, proper feeding, and insect scrutiny this month.

The vines should have ample fruit set by now so it’s important to support their development in the final stretch rather than coaxing more fruit or leaves. Decreasing nitrogen fertilizer and ramping up the potassium will focus plant energy on the developing fruit.

Growing pumpkins doesn’t need to be overwhelming, but following a few tried-and-true suggestions will keep your pumpkins from withering on the vine or becoming a bug buffet.

What to Do for Pumpkins in August

Here are four tasks to perform in August to keep your pumpkins on the right track to maturity and harvest.

1. Water Deeply

Water pumpkins deeply once or twice a week. They need from 1 to 2 inches (2.5-5 cm) per week. Pumpkins are 90 percent water, so keeping up with consistent watering will ensure your pumpkin vines are hydrated and can carry nutrients from the soil to the pumpkins.

Water will prevent leaf wilt and stress, but often wilting pumpkin leaves occur on hot afternoons then perk up in the evening. If they don’t perk up by morning, there is cause to suspect vine borers.

Always water from below and keep the water from splashing on the leaves to prevent fungal diseases. Drip irrigation is ideal. Content Editor Laura has used this easy-to-install drip irrigation kit from Home Depot for years and loves it.

Cleaning up the vines and removing them to the trash at the end of the season also will help prevent fungal spores from overwintering in the debris. To keep the fruit dry and rot free, place a thin board, shingle, tile, or stone under developing fruit. Also, carefully rotating the pumpkins every week or two keeps them developing evenly.

2. Reduce Nitrogen Fertilizer

The pumpkin vines are already set with fruit by now. They do not need more vegetative growth, but they do need a potassium boost to support strong stems and fruit quality.

If you have been fertilizing pumpkins regularly, reduce the nitrogen from now on and supplement with a fertilizer that's higher in potassium, like this one from Espoma on Amazon. Or you can sidedress the pumpkin patch with compost to enrich the soil.

About 4 to 6 weeks before you expect to harvest, stop all feeding so the pumpkins focus on ripening.

3. Monitor for Insects & Disease

Squash bugs, squash vine borers, and powdery mildew are still a threat to pumpkins in late summer. Check the undersides of leaves for orange to red squash bug eggs or the grayish adults. Pick off these common pumpkin pests when you see them and drop them in a bowl of soapy water. They will be slower in the early morning. Lightly squash the eggs or remove them with masking tape.

Vines that stay limp likely have a squash vine borer tunneling inside the vines. Inspect the limp vine for an entry hole with frass below. If there is only one entrance, you may be able to save the vine by removing the larva.

Using a clean blade, make a vertical cut an inch or two (2.5-5 cm) from the entry hole. If you see the larva, remove it, kill it, and cover the cut with soil. With any luck new roots will grow at the nearest node. If unsuccessful, remove the failing vine so the borers do not pupate in the ground to emerge next year.

Powdery mildew thrives in humid, shady conditions and is characterized by a white, powdery substance on the leaves. Keeping water off the leaves helps with prevention. But once the problem starts, you can’t cure it. However, you can stop it from spreading.

Remove the leaves that are most infected with the mildew and increase air circulation. There are organic and chemical controls available, but they work better when used as a prevention. You can use a sulfur-based fungicide now, according to label directions, to stop the spread. This copper fungicide from Bonide on Amazon is another good choice.

Powdery mildew doesn’t usually kill the vines, but it is unsightly. If powdery mildew is a problem every year, you might consider starting a spray program before it starts or at the initial onset until the humid weather subsides. Some resistant pumpkin varieties are available, too.

4. Stop New Fruit Production

To stop any new pumpkin production that probably won't mature by fall anyway, pinch off new female flowers and new growing tips at the end of main vines. Female flowers have a bulbous growth below the petals. Pruning pumpkins this way redirects energy to the existing squash.

Any new fruit that sets after mid-August should be removed as well. This forces the plant to focus its energy on ripening the existing fruit and encourages bigger pumpkins. Though you may be sacrificing more squash, each pumpkin will be larger.

Pumpkins are a popular and fun plant to grow, and providing consistent water, feeding, and vigilant care right up until pumpkin harvesting time will ensure your squash make it to the finish line.

Lavender is a staple in my garden, and its bright purple flowers and fragrant foliage are a source of ongoing joy. However, this month, lavender plants are likely transitioning from peak bloom to seed set. But that doesn’t mean you need to take a step back and leave these gorgeous perennials to it. This is an ideal window in which to prevent your plants from getting too leggy or woody, and lay the foundations for an even more fragrant, abundant display next year.

Although lavender thrives in full sun, the heat of late summer can cause the plants to struggle unless you care for them properly. Turn a blind eye to their needs now, and there is a chance woody lower stems could harden without producing replacement growth, leading to unsightly, splitting centers by next spring. However, as anyone who grows lavender will know, excess moisture and humidity can also challenge your plants. So you’ve got to take the weather into account, as well as variety.

These easy August care steps will help you prevent the dreaded leggy burnout, while also ensuring your lavender doesn’t become vulnerable to late summer rots. A few moments of the right care right now can also set you up for extra flowering and fragrance next time. So don't let your lavender go leggy as summer wanes. These quick August tasks will protect silver foliage, prevent root rot, and set you up for more lush, heavily scented blooms when the warm weather returns next year.

Key Lavender Tasks in August

If you’ve grown lavender for a while, you know not all species have the same growth cycle. Some rebloom in fall under the right circumstances, but many do not. And of course, not all regions have the same summer weather, which has some bearing on the tasks below. That said, most lavender types like heat and minimal water. This means cool or wet summers can be a challenge. To keep things interesting, too much heat and drought can also be a problem. English lavenders (Lavandula angustifolia) can struggle with excessive humidity, while Spanish types thrive in warmer zones but have a shorter lifespan.

Before picking up your shears, keep species type in mind, as well as microclimate, and whether they are growing in open soil or containers. English lavender, French and Spanish lavender (L. stoechas), and hybrid lavandins (L. x intermedia) behave differently in late summer. English types are cold-hardy (in USDA hardiness zones 5-8) and appreciate some late-August shaping, while tender Spanish types (zones 7-10) can react poorly to aggressive late-season pruning in wet or humid regions.

Container-grown lavender love requires extra care this month. While ground plants can send roots deep to escape surface drought, potted lavender doesn’t have the same options. Container walls absorb high heat, and in humid regions, stagnant air around dense foliage can trap moisture, creating ideal conditions for root rot.

It’s a good idea to check moisture levels at the root level with a moisture reader like the XLUX Soil Moisture Meter, available on Amazon. If your potting soil has become compacted, it’s also wise to add some gritty Back to the Roots Organic Succulent and Cacti Mix, available from Walmart, with ingredients like perlite and dolomitic limestone, which is great for drainage. This will help set you up for the tasks below.

1. Deadhead Faded Flower Spikes

Generally, French lavender is a long-blooming variety with flowers from spring through fall in frost-free regions. But some English cultivars (like Gros Bleu and Buena Vista) can bloom a second time in early fall if you deadhead the faded flower spikes in August. So, if you have one of these cultivars, deadheading faded flowers toward summer’s end can prompt fresh growth. However, if your area gets early fall frosts, hold off. New growth can get damaged by an unexpected frost.

Mid-August is basically the deadline to trim off your spent flower spikes before they turn brown and seed out. But it is hugely dependent on your lavender variety, as well as your local climate and anticipated fall frost arrival. If you do deadhead, snip spent flower stalks at the point where they emerge from soft fresh foliage. To harvest long, fragrant stems without tearing tender plant tissue, use sharp pruners such as Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruning Snips with Softgrip Handles, available at The Home Depot.

This is a lovely opportunity to harvest spikes for drying, sachets, or culinary use. Gather your stems in a tightly woven basket, like the Hittomen Handmade Rattan Bread Baskets from Amazon, which are a nice shape and hold plenty of blooms. You can expect to see fresh aromatic growth within 10-14 days of deadheading.

2. Clear Debris and Refresh Grit Mulch

Clean-up is beneficial for all plants and can particularly help lavender. So remove the dead leaves and pull out the debris from the entire area. This will improve the airflow around the lavender, and will also reduce the number of pests that like to live there. To clear out dead foliage and debris trapped inside dense branch joints, clear the base using durable protective wear like Wells Lamont Cowhide Leather Work Gloves from Amazon, which balance a good fit with robust texture.

A plant like lavender needs extra help in a humid climate to guard against rot and moisture damage. You can reduce the chances now by clearing away any mulch near the plant. Remember that mulch holds moisture in the soil, and that is the opposite of what your lavender needs at the moment. Other perennials may thrive under damp, wood-chip mulches, but lavender reacts poorly to trapped humidity.

Replace any damp wood mulch near your lavender with a 2-inch (5cm) layer of crushed pea gravel, coarse grit, or horticultural sand, scattered around the base. A clean, reflective mineral layer, such as Vigoro Mini Marble Chip from The Home Depot, can help to reflect heat back up into the lower lavender canopy, keeping root crowns dry and preventing soil splashback. Trimming nearby weeds also helps.

3. Master Midsummer Hydration

Giving your lavender the right water this month is a little tricky. It has adapted to dry conditions and is drought-tolerant. But it still needs some water, especially in very hot phases. If your climate is hot and dry in August, set up a once-weekly irrigation schedule. Water at the base, and allow soil to dry thoroughly before the next session. But if you live in a climate that gets lots of rain in August, you don’t need to (please read this as shouldn’t) provide any extra water. Too much makes a lavender unhappy and can result in loss of your plant.

Young, newly planted lavenders require regular watering during their first summer to establish a deep root system. By contrast, mature plants have deep taproots that cope better in dry conditions. Frequent, shallow surface watering encourages weak, surface-level roots and keeps the upper root crown damp, leading to fungal dieback. So when you do water, water deeply, and definitely not daily. Don't spray water overhead onto silver foliage during peak afternoon sun, as wet foliage combined with high heat causes leaf scorch and humidity rot.

To deliver water directly to the places that need it, stick with a ground-level watering vessel like the Yowon Gold Long Spout Watering Can from Amazon, which has a low angle of watering. If container plants suffer from hydrophobic, dried-out soil, soak the base in a shallow tray to allow slow absorption but reduce the risk of rots.

4. Give Plants a Late Summer Shaping

For species and cultivars that won’t rebloom, August is a good time to prune your lavender, but time is of the essence. Wait until all of the blooms have faded, so plants have the chance to complete their full flowering cycle. When you prune, think in terms of a dome shape. Trimming into a dome shape will promote healthy growth. Snip back leggy stems above leaf sets, and prune back about a third of the canopy (around 8 inches or 20cm) into a neat shape. Never cut into older wood, since most old wood will not regrow. You are safe if you see green leaves below the cut.

When shaping large, established lavender shrubs quickly and evenly, use lightweight hedge shears like the Corona ClassicCUT Hedge Shears from The Home Depot, which have nice contoured handles for good grip and comfort. For precision hand-shaping on more compact varieties, use the exceptional Fiskars Bypass Pruners from Amazon, which offer lifelong precision cutting. Proper shaping yields a compact, silver-green evergreen mound that retains its structure through winter.

French and Spanish lavenders need a different approach. These are identifiable by their tufted flower spikes. They flower in late spring in warmer zones and early summer in colder zones, and can keep blooming into fall. However, they are less hardy than English lavenders and you need to be gentle. They need a light foliage trim only, as heavy pruning leaves them vulnerable to winter cold. Limit your snipping to frequent deadheading and lightly shaping after individual flush cycles.

5. Propagate Semi-Ripe Cuttings

Late August presents an ideal window for taking semi-ripe cuttings from healthy lavender bushes. Take these semi-ripe cuttings from this year’s growth, where the stem base is firm and woody, but the tip remains flexible and green. Rooting cuttings from your favorite cultivars allows you to create duplicate plants for garden borders or container displays next spring without spending a dime. This is one of the loveliest lavender tasks to do in August to boost next year’s blooms.

Take 3-4-inch (8-10cm) side shoots from non-flowering stems for the highest rooting success rate. Heel off side shoots by gently pulling them downward off the main stem so a small piece of bark (the heel) remains attached. Strip the lower leaves off the bottom 1.5 inches (4cm) of the cutting to expose the leaf nodes, which are rich in rooting hormones. You can stimulate root development if you dip cuttings in Garden Safe TakeRoot Rooting Hormone, available from Walmart, which is very reliable.

Insert your prepared cuttings into a gritty, free-draining propagation mix. If yours feels a little on the squidgy side, then add some perlite, like Sta-Green Organic Perlite from Lowe’s, or some coarse sand. Cuttings should form strong root systems within 4-6 weeks, ready to overwinter in a protected frame or cold greenhouse. Keep them shaded, and maintain light moisture. Don't take cuttings from heavily flowered stems, as they will lack the energy needed to form new root systems.

Shop Lavender Care Essentials

Maintaining a neat, fragrant, and heavy-blooming lavender patch comes down to patience, observation, and a few targeted tools, high-drainage amendments, and protective extras. These care tips will stand you in good stead, but make sure you have the best kit to hand. Here are a few high-impact essentials for late-summer lavender care.

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Tomato plants spend August pushing out side shoots faster than anyone can keep up with. Most of those suckers end up on the ground, forgotten by evening. Something else happens when one goes into a jar of water instead. Tomato stems carry the cells that become roots along their whole length, so a cutting never starts from scratch the way a seed does.

Anyone who has learned to grow tomatoes from seed knows the wait involved, since a spring transplant needs six to eight weeks before it is anywhere near ready for the garden. A rooted sucker skips nearly all of that. The tissue is already mature. It flowers on its own schedule rather than growing up first.

Which Shoots Are Worth Taking?

A tomato sucker sits in the crotch where a leaf branch meets the main stem, angled up at roughly forty-five degrees. Left alone it becomes another branch, and that branch will carry flowers of its own by autumn. Two things get cut by mistake here – the thick vertical stalk running up the middle, and the horizontal leaf branch itself. Neither one should come off. At 4 to 6 inches (10-15cm) a sucker holds enough stored energy to support itself without carrying so much leaf that it wilts before roots arrive. Smaller than that tends to be weak. Much bigger and the cutting spends its first week in shock.

Parent choice matters more than size, though. A clone carries whatever the parent has. A vine already spotted with early blight or curling from virus hands those troubles straight down to the new plant. That is a rough way to spend eight weeks. Pick from the healthiest plant in the row, ideally one still putting on fresh growth, snip just below a node with something clean and sharp, then strip every leaf off the lower half of the stem.

Water or Soil?

Rooting tomato cuttings in water is the method most people reach for, mostly because the roots are visible. A jar on a bright windowsill works well, kept out of direct sun, with only the bare stem submerged and the leaves held clear of the surface. Any leaf touching water will rot and foul the jar. Fresh water every couple of days prevents that. A clear jar makes progress easy to check. Roots usually show in seven to fourteen days, and once they reach an inch (2.5cm) the cutting is ready to pot up. I'm a big fan of this propagation station from Amazon, which turns the whole process into a work of art.

Rooting straight into moist potting mix skips a step. Water roots and soil roots are not quite the same structure, so cuttings moved from jar to garden often sulk for a few days while they adjust. Push the stripped stem two inches (5cm) into damp mix. Keep it shaded and evenly watered. A gentle tug after ten days will say whether it has taken. A tray of 4-inch nursery pots from Amazon can handle a dozen at once, about the right number to lose a couple and still come out ahead. Rooting hormone is optional at best on tomatoes. If you do want to use it, go with this one from Amazon.

Getting Them Through the Heat

A rootless cutting in August has no way to replace what it loses. Afternoon sun is the main threat for the first two weeks. Morning light with shade from noon onward is about right, whether that comes from the east side of a building or from a panel of shade cloth from Home Depot stretched over hoops. The same goes for a cutting set in the ground rather than a pot.

Humidity helps as well. A clear plastic bag propped over the pot for a few days keeps the leaves from drying faster than the stem can supply them, though it has to come off once new growth appears. Keep the mix damp rather than wet – cuttings rot about as easily as they root. Once the plant is pushing fresh leaves, a week of gradually longer sun gets it ready for a permanent spot.

Racing the First Frost

Timing is the honest catch here. Rooted cutting to ripe fruit runs somewhere around eight to ten weeks in decent conditions, which puts an early August start into fruit by mid October across much of the country. Cherry tomatoes and the smaller plum tomatoes ripen fastest. Their fruit sizes up in a fraction of the time a big slicer needs, and a plant loaded with twenty small tomatoes beats one holding two green softballs.

Cold is manageable up to a point. A frost cover from Walmart thrown over the row buys several degrees on the nights that would otherwise end things. Anything growing in a pot can move to a porch instead. Tomatoes picked at the first blush of color finish ripening indoors, so a late flush never goes to waste.

The whole thing costs a jar and some patience. There is something quietly satisfying about eating fruit in November off a shoot that was headed for the compost pile in August.

There’s a fruit tree in my backyard that is rapidly becoming my nemesis. When I first clapped eyes on my Oullins greengage, I believed it was love at first sight. Bewitched by the idea of soft, sweet plummy goodness, I nurtured my tree through the first few weeks with a combination of pelleted chicken poop, arborist wood chips, and wishful thinking. And at first, things seemed great, and my valiant little stone fruit leafed up a treat…

Until the unthinkable happened: the leaves started dropping off. And they kept dropping, no matter what I did. In the last few months, I’ve tried all sorts, from iron chelate to country music (hey, sometimes it works). I’ve amassed quite the arsenal of plant treatments in my journey as a tree parent, trying to nurture my grouchy greengage back from the brink. But it’s gone from a leafy bright young thing into a petulant teenager with just the two wonky tree arms bothering to do anything useful. It actually looks like it’s raising those arms in the air now and asking “why bother?”

You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about a fruit tree that is struggling despite being lavished with an embarrassing amount of attention. Well, it’s because I genuinely feel the pain of the frustrated fruit-grower. And sometimes (as much as I love gardening) I really do crave an easier fruiting win. Just a bit. I’m still learning as I go, but one thing I do know is this: it’s important to have trees that don’t keep throwing a tizzy, because… well, we all deserve some easy fruit in our lives. Fancy seeing my pick of the effortless fruiting heroes that just get on with it and don’t act like stroppy teenagers? Read on, friends…

Planting Trees that Thrive on Neglect

Fruit trees that thrive on neglect might sound like an urban myth. It’s true that the most easy-going plant buddies will be better company if you give them a little encouragement here and there. But this resilient selection really can make the best of things, even in modest growing spaces, from teensy balconies to crowded container gardens. The important thing is that before you pick your fruit tree, you take a moment to assess your potential planting spot. Most thrive across broad USDA hardiness zones (6-10), if you match their basic needs for sunlight and drainage. Most require at least 6 hours of sun, and fast-draining soil is a must.

A little prep goes a long way toward giving your young tree a stress-free start, especially if you are planting in late summer. Whether you’re working with lean garden soil or a large pot, it’s wise to add some rich, crumbly compost. I also like to add a sprinkle of biochar to the base before planting, to help improve water retention where the roots will need it most. I’m a fan of Rosy Soil Biochar Booster, available from Amazon, to give that gentle lift to young roots ahead of winter and improve aeration in a friendly, organic way. But don’t worry, there isn’t much more necessary to treating your planting site.

If you’re planting in late summer or early fall, opt for container-grown trees. Bare-root plants can scorch in late-summer heat, while containerized plants are more forgiving. In fact, potted trees offer a bonus: during extreme heatwaves, you can tuck your newly potted tree into partial shade on a covered porch for a bit to avoid transplant shock, before sliding it into its permanent spot. To make the transition smooth, dig your hole or fill your pot in a cooler evening moment, soaking the root zone after planting to remove air pockets.

Once your tree is planted, treat Year 1 as settling in. Yes, I am urging you to manage your expectations a tad, but it’s important. While mature trees are fine with missed waterings and droughts, young roots need moisture for their first few months. Water deeply every few days, when the top couple of inches (5cm) of soil feel dry, and topdress the base with a 2-3-inch (5-8cm) layer of organic wood mulch (keeping it a couple of inches away from the trunk). Once autumn rains arrive and those roots lock into place, you can step back, put your feet up, and let nature do the heavy lifting with these 6 gorgeous fruity superstars below…

1. Jujube

The jujube (Ziziphus jujuba), also known as the Chinese date tree, is the ultimate hero for hands-off fruit growers. Capable of reaching 15-20 feet (4.5-6m) at maturity, it can be kept in a large 15-20-gallon container, with a bit of casual late-winter shaping to naturally twisted branches that add year-round character to patios or south-facing fences. Happy in summer heat, freezing winters, and poor soils, jujubes thrive in zones 6-10. They are also self-fertile, so a single tree will yield a prolific crop of sweet, apple-like crispy fruits that dry into rich, date-like treats in late summer. And you don't have to wait ages for that first date. Grafted young jujubes are gleefully precocious, often yielding their first crop 1-2 years after planting.

Just tuck your jujube into the hottest, sunniest corner of your yard and make sure the soil has good drainage. This tree craves warmth and full sun (at least 6 hours daily) to turn raw sunlight into sugary fruit. Over-caring is honestly the only real threat to this tough cookie. In the first year, water deeply once a week, and snip away any dead, damaged, or crossing branches in late winter, along with any stray suckers. And that’s it! If you’re the patient sort, you can pick up very reasonable nursery pots with MicroStarts Jujube Trees from Walmart.

2. Dwarf Mulberry

If you love the sweet, intense flavor of dark berries but don’t have space for a big beast, dwarf mulberries (Morus alba or M. nigra cultivars) are yummy little fruit machines. Growing to 6-8 feet (1.8-2.4m) tall, these niblets form a dense, ornamental bush or small standard tree. They are fast-growers that thrive in zones 5-10, they are self-fertile, and they will treat you to a continuous crop of tangy blackberry-like fruits through summer – often within their first year. Choose 'Dwarf Everbearing' or 'Mojo Berry' tiny trees that give huge yields. You can buy Everbearing Mulberries from Fast Growing Trees in a variety of sizes, currently for 20-30% off. You can also get Plant Nook Dwarf Mulberry Starter Plants from Walmart.

Dwarf mulberries fit right into urban balconies, small yards, and tight patio setups, and they are easy to tuck into sunny nooks or alongside pots of mint and strawberries. Give them a decent amount of full sun or partial shade, since the more sun they get, the sweeter and juicier those nummy fruits will be. After the first few weeks of watering, mulberries are seriously low-maintenance. Pruning is as simple as it gets: because they fruit on new growth, a quick snip in late winter to remove deadwood or curb height is all it takes.

3. Persimmon

For a vibrant fall fruiting tree with cinnamon-sweet crops, the persimmon (Diospyros kaki or D. virginiana) is a genuine pleasure. It can reach 10-15 feet (3-4.5m) tall at maturity, but is easily kept at 6-8 feet (1.8-2.4m) in containers. And as fall rolls round, those glossy green leaves flush up with rich vibrant tones that signpost the treats to come. As the tree sheds its leafy load, bright tomato-sized fruits hang like little dreamy lanterns, creating a lush specimen through early winter. Persimmons are virtually immune to pests and blessedly disease-resistant. Thriving in zones 6-10, most cultivars are self-fertile. And while grafted trees require a little patience, that first glowing harvest should come 2-3 years after planting.

Pop your persimmon tree in full sun for honey-sweet fruits. They prefer well-draining, slightly acidic-neutral soil, but are delightfully forgiving once established. During the first summer, water deeply once a week. Because persimmons fruit on current season's growth, heavy pruning isn't necessary and can actually reduce your yield, making them a dream for hands-off gardeners. A lot of persimmons online are sold as seedlings, but you can buy 2-foot (60cm) Tazgo Persimmon Plants from Walmart. If you’re willing to pay a little more for a bigger tree, you can get LA Tropic Persimmon Trees from Amazon as 3-feet (90cm) specimens.

4. Fig

Ah, figgy goodness. I have two separate little Brown Turkey fig trees (Ficus carica) in my backyard now and they are both thriving, even in my teensy green kingdom. Few pleasures compare with the squidgy anticipation that comes when cupping that first silky, tear-shaped treat of the season (and all the others after that). Reaching 8-10 feet (2.4-3m) in the ground, or a cozy 4-6 feet (1.2-1.8m) in a pot, this Mediterranean gem throws out epic masses of lobed leaves that I love almost as much as the fruit (almost). You can currently get 20% off Plants That Work Brown Turkey Fig Trees from Nature Hills.

Figs are tailor-made for container living, preferring their roots to be slightly restricted for maximum fruit. Place in the sunniest spot you can find, like a south-facing wall or open balcony. They’re golden with poor soils and missed waterings. In fact, giving them too much love with rich fertilizer can backfire, causing a flush of leaves instead of fruit. Young potted figs are delightfully quick to reward you, often producing their first squidgy treats 1-2 years after planting. Keeping them going is almost too easy. Simply snip away deadwood or pinch back main growing tips in late spring to encourage branching.

5. Pomegranate

Just because you’re after easy homegrown wins, that doesn’t mean you have to deprive yourself of flamboyant fruity character. Pomegranates (Punica granatum) add a splash of exotic luxury to your outdoor space. These darlings of the superfruit tribe are naturally bushy and multi–stemmed. While some forms can reach 12 feet (3.6m) at maturity, you can also keep one thriving as a potted 5-foot (1.5m) dwarf specimen for a real wowser. And what a treat it can be to see those fiery blooms in late spring and early summer, before fall rewards you with a flush of shiny globes, stuffed full of juicy, jewel-shiny antioxidants.

Pomegranates have epic drought tolerance and heat resistance in zones 7-11, and they are eager to please, typically yielding their first fruits 2-3 years after planting. Just give them 6-8 hours of sunlight daily to help them develop those ruby colors and rich sugars. Pommies can handle lean, sandy, or alkaline soils with ease. During their first summer, just water deeply once or twice a week and remove low suckers to maintain a clean shape. Ultra-compact ‘Nana’ is great for patio containers, but if you want a cold-hardy pom to stand up to a nippy winter, then buy Russian Red Pomegranate Trees from Fast Growing Trees.

6. Loquat

For a tropical fruit tree that stays lush year round, the lovely loquat (Eriobotrya japonica) is a knockout. Because it’s a broadleaf evergreen, those massive, leathery leaves double brilliantly as a year-round privacy screen. Reaching 10-15 feet (3-4.5m) in the ground, or 6-8 feet in a large container, it flips the typical fruiting schedule on its head. Delicate white flowers bloom in late autumn and winter, paving the way for clusters of dainty apricot-orange fruits you can harvest in late spring when nothing else is fruiting. And if that wasn’t enough to convince you, they taste like fragrant peaches. And you get absolutely loads of them.

Thriving in zones 7-11, loquats are virtually pest-free, handle heat with ease, and are self-fertile. Grafted young trees are fast growers, often delivering their first fruit clusters inside a couple of years. Perfect in a sun-drenched yard or urban patio, they cope beautifully in full sun or part shade, and tolerate a range of soil types, as long as drainage is good. Just water frequently in the first summer. Simply snip off dead branches right after harvesting, or tip-prune for a bushier shape. You can buy a Flora’s Market Store Loquat Fruiting Tree from Amazon, which comes with its own planting mix and guide, making it great for beginners.

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As you read and learn about a specific plant’s pruning needs and preferences, you may develop some pruning anxiety. With such specific pruning rules, you may feel like you need a diagram next to a plant to prune it properly.

But not all plants are fussy about pruning. Many plants are much more laid back. One of my favorite forgiving plants to care for are tomato plants. But even though growing tomatoes and pruning them the right way is easy, there are still some important guidelines you need to follow for the best results.

Pruning tomatoes the proper way and at the proper time can increase your yields, make harvesting easier, and keep plants pest and disease-free. Here’s how to prune tomatoes for healthy plants and bigger harvests.

Should You Prune Tomato Plants?

The answer to this question is actually a personal one. Some people assert firmly that pruning tomato suckers improves the production and health of a plant by improving airflow, which can reduce the spread of disease. Others claim that pruning tomato suckers damages the plant unnecessarily, opening it up to disease without providing considerable benefits.

Your tomato plant won't instantly grow three new stems in the place of every stem you cut, but it will reward your pruning efforts with a bounty of delicious fruit. Regularly pruning tomato plants will help the plant produce more fruit.

Plants need foliage to create energy from photosynthesis, but the growth and development of foliage uses up a lot of the plant’s energy that could be used for fruit production. Cutting off tomato suckers redirects the plant’s energy away from growing new stems in favor of producing more fruit. Pruning off extra stems also means that your plants will produce less tomatoes that are bigger in size.

It is possible to get overzealous when pruning tomatoes and wind up with an over-pruned plant. First you need to understand which types of tomatoes benefit most from pruning and then I’ll walk you through how to prune tomatoes the right way for the best results.

Pruning Different Types of Tomatoes

When it comes to cutting back tomato plants, there are some things you need to know. Tomato plants fall into two categories: determinate and indeterminate.

Determinate Tomatoes

Determinate tomato plants are shrub-like. They grow to a certain height, then stop growing up and instead fill out and grow bushier. Determinate tomato plants also go to flower and fruit all at once.

‘Patio’, ‘Roma’, and ‘Celebrity’ are a few popular varieties of determinate tomato plants. Because they fruit in a shorter time span and grow as more compact plants, determinate tomato plants need less pruning.

When you first plant a determinate tomato, you should prune off any tomato flowers that form before the plant is 18-24 inches (45.5-61 cm) tall. This will redirect the plant's energy from flower formation to developing strong roots.

As the plant grows, prune out any crossing, crowded, damaged, or diseased stems and foliage to keep the plant open, airy, and free of pest and disease. Removing tomato plant leaves that grow just beneath the flower sets will send more energy to fruit formation.

Indeterminate Tomatoes

Indeterminate tomato plants are more like vines. They grow long stems that continually bear new fruit sets. You can save space in the garden and focus on fruit production by growing indeterminate tomato plants vertically up poles, arbors, trellises, or fences.

They can be trained and trimmed easily to grow as single stemmed, heavy fruit-bearing plants by removing excess tomato plant leaves and sucker stems that form along the main stem.

Many heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and ‘Better Boy’ tomatoes are popular varieties of indeterminate tomato plants. In late summer, they can be top pruned to redirect the plant’s energy into ripening its last fruits.

When pruning tomato plants, or any plants, focus first on removing foliage, fruits, or stems that show any sign of disease or pests. Then sanitize your tools and wash your hands to prevent the spread of any common tomato diseases or pests that may have been present.

How to Prune Tomato Plants

If you have decided that pruning tomatoes is the best course of action for your gardening goals, you need to make sure that you do it the correct way to help reduce the chances of disease.

1. You want to start pruning tomato plants when they get to be about 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) tall. Any smaller than this, and the plant may not recover from the shock of being pruned.
2. By the time your tomato plant gets to be this size, the plant will have branches coming off the main stem. Where these branches meet, you will see an additional branch growing. This is called a tomato sucker. Using a sharp, clean pair of pruning shears, snip these small sucker branches off.
3. The best time to prune tomato plants is in the early morning on a dry day. This will allow for the wounds from the pruning to heal cleanly and will reduce the chances of the plant being infected by disease.
4. If you choose to prune tomato plants, make sure that you use irrigation methods that water tomato plants at the soil level (like this soaker hose from the Home Depot) rather than from above (like sprinklers). This will prevent soil splashing up onto the tomato plant and the tomato plant's wounds, which can introduce disease pathogens.

Essential Tomato Pruning Tools

Bare stems with fruit still hanging on them make an alarming sight in the middle of August. The plant looks like it is dying. Peppers left behind start scalding in the sun without any canopy over them. Something is wrong, though the plant is rarely as far gone as it appears.

Most trouble with growing peppers this late comes down to four causes, and they leave different fingerprints. Where the shedding starts, what the fallen leaves looked like on the way out, and what the weather has been doing will narrow it down fast.

1. Heat

Peppers stop cooperating when days push past 90F (32C) or nights stay above 75F (24C). Pollen turns tacky at those temperatures and pollination fails. Pepper blossoms drop before they ever set fruit. Leaf loss follows as the plant sheds what it cannot keep hydrated through the afternoon. Wind through a hot spell makes it worse by stripping moisture faster than roots replace it. The tell is the order: flowers go first and foliage follows, not the other way around. A stretch of shade cloth from Home Depot over hoops takes the edge off a heat spike without cutting light enough to matter.

None of that is fatal. Plants that shed flowers through a hot spell start setting again once nights cool. That means early September across most of the country. Resist the urge to tidy up in the meantime. New fruit comes off wood the plant already has, and cutting peppers back hard in August leaves less of it to work with. The leaves still hanging on are shading fruit that would scald without them.

2. Water Swings

Erratic watering does more damage than watering lightly. Roots that go from saturated to bone dry and back lose fine feeder tips every cycle. The plant balances that loss by dropping leaves, lowest first, while the top stays green. Container peppers get hit hardest. A pot can swing from wet to dry in a single hot afternoon, where peppers in open ground shrug off a missed day. A soil moisture meter from Amazon pushed down near the root zone answers the question faster than poking a finger in the surface.

The fix is rhythm rather than volume. Water deeply on a schedule the plant can rely on. Mulch keeps the top few inches from swinging between extremes every day. Here is the confusing part. Overwatering yellows pepper leaves exactly the way drought does, since roots in saturated soil cannot pull oxygen either. Dig down and squeeze a handful. Soil that holds its shape and glistens is too wet, and soil that will not clump at all has gone past dry.

3. Nutrients

A heavy crop is a hungry crop. Peppers pull nitrogen out of older foliage and move it into ripening fruit. The lowest leaves pale first. They yellow, then they let go, while everything above them looks perfectly healthy. That gradient from the ground up is the signature. It tends to show right as the first fruit starts turning color. Nothing is diseased here, and the plant is doing exactly what you asked of it, just at its own canopy’s expense.

Feeding peppers lightly helps, but you should leave it at that. Too much nitrogen this late pushes soft growth that will not ripen before frost. High-nitrogen fertilizer is itself a documented cause of blossom drop, which turns one problem into two. Peppers draw heavily on potassium while fruit sizes up, which is the argument for leaning that way rather than skipping the feed altogether. Something balanced or potassium-leaning at half strength supports fruit already set without redirecting the plant back into leaf production. This one from Amazon is a good bet.

4. Disease

Two diseases spot pepper leaves in August, and the shape of the spot tells them apart. Bacterial spot begins as water-soaked flecks on the undersides of older leaves, darkening to brown or black inside a narrow yellow halo, with angular edges where a vein stops them. Cercospora, the fungal one, makes rounder lesions with pale tan centers and dark rims. Gardeners call it frogeye. The name explains itself once you have seen one. Either way the centers dry and drop out, the leaves go shot through with holes, and defoliation runs from the bottom up until the fruit is sitting exposed. A copper fungicide from Amazon slows both, so the diagnosis can wait until after the first spray.

Handling matters as much as spraying. Both travel on splashing water and on hands moving through wet plants. Stay out of the row until the foliage dries and water at soil level from here on. Neither has a cure once a plant is far gone. Pull the worst ones and keep the debris out of the compost. Clean seed and a resistant variety are the real answer next spring.

The bottom of a tomato goes tan, then dark, then flat and leathery. It looks like something contagious tearing through the plant. Blossom end rot is not a disease at all. No fungus or bacterium started it – the plant just could not move enough calcium into that tomato while its cell walls were going up.

Anyone who has spent a season or two growing tomatoes might know the pattern, since the first flush tends to take the worst of it. What matters now is the crop already hanging out there. Some of it is worth saving. Some of it is costing the plant energy for nothing.

What Is Blossom End Rot?

Blossom end rot isn't a disease. It's actually a lack of calcium. Calcium builds the glue holding cell walls together. It travels one direction only – up from the roots through the xylem, riding along with water. Soil moisture that swings from soaked to bone dry and back again stalls the delivery. Farthest from the stem, the blossom end is where it runs out. Cells there collapse, the tissue dries into a dark leathery patch, and the scar stays for the life of the tomato. Peppers and squash do the same thing under the same conditions, a decent clue that no pathogen is involved.

Most garden soil already holds plenty of calcium. The popular fixes miss for exactly that reason. Foliar sprays cannot deliver it. Calcium sitting in a leaf has no route into a tomato, and the skin will not take it in from outside. Then there is Epsom salt. It's made of magnesium sulfate and has no calcium in it whatsoever. In fact, the extra magnesium competes for uptake at the root. Don't try it!

Calcium nitrate applied around the drip line is a good bet. You can find it on Amazon. This is best for preventing blossom end rot in future fruit.

Toss It

Some tomatoes with blossom end rot are a lost cause.

A green tomato with a sunken black patch across the bottom third is finished – dead tissue stays dead. It will never fill out or ripen evenly. The plant goes on pouring sugars and water into it regardless. Pulling those off frees all of that up for what is still coming. Think of it as triage rather than loss.

Take them at the stem with a snip or a clean twist. They can go on the compost pile without a second thought, since nothing infectious is involved. The only reason to bin the mushy ones is that secondary mold has usually moved into the open tissue by then. That mold is a squatter, not the cause. Either way, the plant is better off without them.

Pick It

A tomato that has started coloring up with only a small dry patch underneath is a different case entirely. The lesion stays where it is. Damage at the blossom end does not creep up to the shoulders, whatever it looks like from below. Everything above the patch is normal in every way that counts. Half a tomato is still a tomato.

Bring those in a couple of days early and let them ripen on the counter, out of direct sun, because sitting on the vine only gives the soft spot more time to work outward.

Cut generously, an inch (2.5cm) past the dark edge. The rest slices, cooks, or freezes like any other tomato. There is no toxin here and nothing to catch. Canning is the one real exception – damage of this kind can push pH higher than clean fruit runs, and extension guidance keeps it out of the canner for that reason. Fruit ripened off the vine also runs slightly less acidic, one more reason the canner is the wrong destination for these. Fresh use and freezing carry no such worry.

Leave It on the Vine

Undamaged fruit stays put. The fix from here is water rather than anything sold in a bottle. Aim for a deep soaking that wets the whole root zone, on a schedule the plant can count on. An inch (2.5cm) a week covers most gardens, and a hot stretch takes more. Guessing is where this falls apart – a soil moisture meter from Amazon pushed 4 inches (10cm) down settles it faster than a finger test. On the weeks that get away from you, an inexpensive hose timer from Walmart keeps the schedule from slipping. Containers dry out fastest, so they need checking more often than a bed does.

Mulch handles the other half. Two to three inches (5-8cm) of pine bark mulch from Home Depot over the root zone slows evaporation. It also steadies the soil between waterings. A hoe worked in close does the opposite, since chopped roots cannot take up water they never reach. High-nitrogen feed can wait until the plant has recovered. Anything already half grown is past the window where this happens, so it will stay clean.

New tomatoes sitting on a plant with steady water usually come in perfect. That is the reward for treating the cause instead of the symptom.

August is when a tomato garden stops being a project and starts becoming a serious workload. Plants sag under the weight of fruit, harvests outpace your kitchen, and the gear that seemed optional back in June suddenly is not.

It’s typically best to buy your tomato growing gear early in the season, when the plants are small and the summer still looks manageable. By the time a vine is six feet of tangled growth loaded with fruit, the gap between what is on hand and what is needed becomes obvious fast. Luckily, that gap doesn't cost much to close.

The tomato growing tools that earn their place this late are not glamorous. They hold plants upright or help move fruit from the garden to the kitchen. Here are the essentials you should snap up now, if you didn’t buy them at the beginning of the season.

Essential August Tomato Tools

Most of the tools you need for growing tomatoes in August remain useful for years. Late-season tomato problems are often mechanical rather than mysterious. Plants fall over. Fruit gets bruised on the walk indoors. A countertop fills faster than anyone can eat through it. Here are the tools you need to help solve these common issues.

1. Heavy-Duty Tomato Cages

The flimsy tomato cages sold every spring are the first thing to fail. An indeterminate tomato in August weighs far more than that wire was built to carry. A plant that goes over in a storm snaps stems and drops fruit onto wet soil where it rots. Damage at this stage in the season does not grow back. Fruit on the ground draws slugs besides.

A square tomato cage from Home Depot in heavy-gauge steel holds a mature plant without leaning and the wide openings make picking easier than a cone cage ever did. Fitting one over a grown plant takes patience, but still beats staking a collapsed vine after the fact. Anything already flopping can be tied to a stake driven at least 12 inches (30 cm) deep.

Another great alternative is to use modular tomato cages – Senior Editor Liz swears by this trellising method. You can easily install modular cages even when plants are large and full of heavy fruit. Just snap them together around the plant.

2. Potassium-Heavy Fertilizer

Fertilizing tomatoes in August isn't very important – or so the thinking goes. But plants still setting fruit draw hard on potassium and container tomatoes in particular have run through all their nutrients by midsummer. A plant that quits flowering in the heat needs reserves ready for September, because a second flush is usually there for anyone who feeds it.

Espoma Tomato-tone from Amazon is a 3-4-6 mix, which puts potassium ahead of nitrogen. That's important where fruit quality is concerned. This mix includes calcium, too. Blossom end rot is nearly always a watering problem rather than a soil calcium shortage. Steady moisture corrects more cases than any product would, though. Granular feeds go in around the drip line rather than against the stem, then get watered in.

3. Sharp Bypass Pruners

Harvesting tomatoes by hand can tear the vine. Twisting a stubborn one may snap the branch it grew on. An August plant is carrying too much fruit to spare the stems. Lower leaves need removing now as well, since foliage touching the soil gives early blight a route up the plant. Tomato suckers are worth pinching out too, since a plant this size gains nothing from more foliage.

A pair of bypass pruners from Lowe's makes clean cuts that seal quickly, unlike the crushed stubs left behind by anvil-style tools or bare fingers. Wipe the blades between plants to prevent spreading diseases. That takes seconds and slows whatever is already loose in the patch.

4. Harvest Basket

Shirt hems and buckets both fail when you have a hefty tomato harvest in August. A shirt holds a limited number of tomatoes before something drops and a solid bucket lets the bottom layer get crushed under whatever lands on top of it. Ripe fruit bruises easily, too. Anything bruised has to be used the same day.

The Fiskars harvesting basket from Amazon has a colander side, so a load can be rinsed with the hose and drained before it reaches the counter. The flat bottom sits rather than tips, which sounds minor until a full load goes over. Rinsing outside turns a two-trip job into one and soft spots show up under the water.

5. Water Bath Canner

A big glut of ripe tomatoes always seems to land all at once. A short row of healthy plants puts out more in two weeks than the average household can eat in a month and freezer space runs out long before the vines do. Tomatoes are acidic enough for water bath canning, which is the simplest way to preserve your vegetable harvest. New lids are single-use, though the jars themselves will last decades.

A Granite Ware water bath canner from Amazon holds seven quart jars and comes with the rack, which matters more than it sounds. Lifting hot jars out of boiling water without one is how people get burned.

USDA guidance calls for added acid in every jar, usually bottled lemon juice or citric acid, since many modern tomato varieties sit close to the safety line. This step is not optional for safe consumption of canned tomatoes.

6. Frost Cloths

Your local first frost date is an average of past years' first frosts, not a promise. One cold night in late September can end a plant still carrying thirty green tomatoes and the forecast rarely gives more than a day or two of real warning. Anything still green when it happens will ripen indoors in a paper bag, though it never quite matches vine-ripened taste.

A floating row cover from Home Depot draped over the plants ahead of a cold night traps enough warmth to carry them through the cold snap. It goes on before dusk and off in the morning, since trapped heat can do as much harm as cold. Using frost cloths can extend your tomato harvest for two or three weeks, which is enough to separate a decent growing season from a great one.

High summer is when some plants thrive and others fade away. Certain herbs like cilantro and dill tend to bolt and turn bitter as temperatures rise, but others actually reach their culinary peak in the relentless heat of late summer. It's an interesting phenomenon – heat stress triggers certain herbs to produce higher concentrations of essential oils as a natural defense against moisture loss. The plant stays healthy, yes, but it also inadvertently makes itself extra tasty!

You'll see a lot of what we call "Mediterranean herbs" on this list. That makes sense – the Mediterranean climate is hot and dry, meaning its native herbs are naturally good at making those moisture-locking oils. As such, you'll notice that they're especially common in cuisine from Italy, Greece, North Africa... all those delicious foods from the Mediterranean region.

Let's take a look at the parts of the herb garden that taste the best under the sizzling August sun, and get ready to harvest! (I find harvesting delicate herbs works best with a small pair of Fiskars snips I got on Amazon).

1. Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum)

Basil is the king of the summer herbs. It's not just frost-tender – it'll sulk around until daytime temperatures start consistently hitting the 80s (26-32 C). Then it explodes upward and outward with large, glossy leaves that taste like nothing else on earth. It will try to flower on you, but don't let it. Pinch back flower heads or, to do one better, cut it back several nodes down to encourage bushier, healthier growth.

I find I can harvest basil in early July, cutting plants way down so just a few lower leaves remain. If the summer's warm and bright, they'll bounce back fuller than ever and be ready for a second, more flavorful harvest in August. It's great in pesto, as a garnish or, as I've recently discovered, replacing the "L" in a classic BLT sandwich.

2. Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

Native to the dry, sun-drenched coast of the Mediterranean, rosemary is built to withstand extreme heat and drought. It does this by producing highly-concentrated oils that contain pinene and camphor – two things that are responsible for rosemary's unmistakable piney, woodsy scent. This means sprigs harvested in late summer will be way more intensely flavored that those harvested from the same plant in winter.

To get the best flavor, harvest entire sprigs in the late morning after the dew has dried but before the afternoon heat fully sets in. Add it to focaccia, grilled meats, oil for bread dipping or, a favorite of mine, rosemary shortbread cookies.

3. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Thyme may look delicate with its tiny little leaves, but it's one of the toughest heat-seekers out there. In cooler weather it might taste mild, but in high summer it ramps up production of thymol, the compound that gives it its unique, almost medicinal bite.

When harvesting, snip off the top few inches where the leaves are the most packed with oil. A few sprigs go well on almost anything – roast vegetables, tomato sauces, or (this one's my favorite) roasted with cherry tomatoes and a block of feta cheese.

4. Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora)

If you want the brightest, purest citrus flavor imaginable but don't have a lemon on hand, you're going to want lemon verbena. It thrives in high heat, when its leaves are bursting with citral oil. In the spring its foliage can taste a bit grassy, but late-summer plants have an almost perfume-like intensity to their citrus notes.

Harvest whole leafy stems during hot spells to infuse ice teas, cocktails, and simple syrups. Or just give it a squeeze when you walk past – your hands will carry that fresh, bright scent for a long time.

5. Greek Oregano (Origanum vulgare hirtum)

True Greek oregano is a subspecies of common oregano that's much richer in carvacrol, the compound that gives it its punch. That means it has a much more intense flavor. If your Greek oregano still tastes bland in early summer, just wait (and stop watering!) It responds beautifully to dry, harsh summers.

For maximum flavor, harvest oregano just as the tiny white flower buds begin to form at the tips of the stems. It's great fresh, but it also keeps its flavor remarkably well when dried, which means you can savor that sharp bite all winter long.

6. Summer Savory (Satureja hortensis)

Summer savory is the least-known plant on this list – it's much less famous than its cousin winter savory, and if we're being honest that one's not winning any popularity contests. It still deserves a spot here, though. It's a quick-growing annual that really comes into its own in the hottest stretch of summer, when its leaves are packed with thymol and carvacrol. If you've been reading closely, you'll recognize those as the major compounds in thyme and Greek oregano. Summer savory's flavor palette has echoes of both of those, but it stands up as its own unique taste.

For some reason it's become inextricably tied with bean dishes, but it also goes great with grilled vegetables and chicken.

August is upon us, which means that my annual panic over my green tomatoes refusing to turn red has begun in earnest. Every morning, I make my way outside and inspect them closely, searching for the slightest hint of blush. A tiny patch of pink? A warm orange glow? Any sign that my beloved tomatoes are finally ready to become the pasta sauces, salads, and summer lunches I have been imagining since I planted them.

You guessed it, folks: none whatsoever. Instead, they remain stubbornly green and completely uninterested in my plans – and nobody shares my pain, as I am far more invested in this tomato harvest than anyone else in our house. My four- and two-year-old children have already informed me (several times) that they will never, ever eat a tomato, and my husband’s taste preferences are apparently not much more adventurous.

I am the only person eagerly waiting for that perfect moment when I can finally pick my tomatoes and turn them into something delicious. This year, though, my husband (who, as well as being an avowed tomato hater, is also a professional gardener with two decades of experience under his belt) has shared his secrets with me. Finally.

Why We Shouldn't Panic Over Green Tomatoes

As it turns out, green tomatoes are not necessarily a sign that something has gone wrong. In fact, this summer’s extreme heat could be the reason they appear to have pressed pause.

Yes, while tomatoes love sunshine, they have a surprisingly specific comfort zone when it comes to ripening – specifically temperatures around 70°F to 75°F (21°C to 24°C). This is the sweet spot when it comes to efficiently producing the pigments that create their familiar red and orange colors. And so, when daytime temperatures consistently climb beyond around 85°F to 90°F (29°C to 32°C), the plant can temporarily slow down pigment production.

"That means your tomatoes might look perfectly full-sized, plump, and ready, but they will remain stuck in the 'mature green' stage until conditions become more favorable," my husband explained.

Considering he is the most zen man in the world (the joys of working outdoors), it's hardly surprising that my husband’s first piece of advice for my annual green tomatoes anxiety was to "stop panicking and give them time".

Thankfully, he knows me. He knows that, as someone who has been emotionally checking the same tomatoes every day, this is easier said than done. And so, to help soothe my torrid thoughts, he shared a few things I can do to help my tomato plants focus their energy on ripening the fruit they already have.

Shop Tomato Cooking Essentials:

1. Strip & Pinch

If you want to coax your green tomatoes into turning red, the first thing to do is to remove some of the lower leaves. By stripping away leaves near the bottom of the plant, you can improve airflow and allow more light to reach the developing fruit.

You can also pinch out the main growing tip of the plant. This stops it from putting energy into producing new flowers and encourages it to concentrate its remaining resources on ripening the tomatoes already growing.

2. Don't Let Them Bake

My instinct has always been to assume that more sun must equal faster ripening, but my husband says green tomatoes (and red ones, too) are at risk of sunscald, which appears as pale, leathery patches on the skin.

"A tomato doesn’t need to be baked to ripen," he reminds me. "If you notice a tomato showing even the faintest hint of color, pick it and bring it indoors. You can leave it ripening on a kitchen counter, where conditions are often much more suitable."

3. Water Consistently

Inconsistent watering? Apparently a cardinal sin if you're trying to shift your green tomatoes into the red zone.

Regular watering at the base of the plant helps support healthy growth and can reduce problems such as fruit splitting and blossom end rot, where the bottom of the tomato becomes dark and sunken.

"The aim is consistency," my husband says pointedly (almost as if he's been watching me and sighing when my back is turned). "Not a dramatic rescue mission every few days when the soil looks desperate."

Shop Watering Essentials:

My husband’s final piece of advice was perhaps the hardest one for me to accept: this is usually just a temporary pause, and patience (as ever) is a virtue. "Once temperatures drop and conditions become more comfortable, tomatoes often get back to the important business of ripening," he says.

I suppose I have to admit that, while my husband may not enjoy eating tomatoes, he sure does know how to grow them; reluctantly, I have to admit he might know what he’s talking about. And if a few particularly stubborn green tomatoes should still refuse to cooperate, even after all of this advice? Well, I have a backup plan. Green tomato chutney.

Wish me luck...

Late summer can be a tricky period for gardening. Temperatures may be as high as they were in July or beginning to drop. Your area might be in a drought or getting rain. This is a crucial time for most lemon trees, as the fruits are ripening. For some varieties, like Meyer lemons, they may be ready to harvest as soon as late August.

August lemon tree care depends on your region’s conditions, but often includes extra watering and keeping developing fruits safe from extreme temperatures. You could mostly leave your trees alone right now, but these few simple tasks will reduce stress, improve fruit quality, and improve overall health for this year and next.

Let's see which tasks are worth the squeeze (pun intended) in August.

1. Water Deeply But Not Frequently

Unless it’s raining regularly in your garden, your lemon tree will appreciate a deep soaking about once a week. For most gardeners, August is hot, which means the soil around your tree’s roots will dry out more quickly. A regular but not daily soaking is better for the roots and the tree than daily light watering. The exception is a potted tree, which might need water every day. We love this citrus tree planter from Vego because it is a self-watering container so you don't have to worry about a sudden dry spell or heat wave. (It also has wheels to make it easy to move indoors as the weather cools!)

The best way to tell if your lemon tree needs some water is to stick your finger in the soil. If the first couple of inches (5 cm) are dry, it’s time to water again. Give the tree a good soaking in the morning to reduce water lost to evaporation.

2. Refresh the Mulch to Keep Roots Cool

While the summer heat blazes on, your trees can easily get stressed. Late summer heat is especially risky for citrus trees, which have shallow roots. Overheated and stressed roots can affect the entire plant, including fruit development.

If you don’t have mulch around your tree, add some. If you already have mulch, now is a good time to check it for thin spots and add fresh mulch as needed. Use wood chips, shredded bark, or compost and aim for a layer about two to four inches (5 to 10 cm) deep out to the drip line. Keep the mulch a few inches away from the trunk to prevent rot. Potted trees can also benefit from mulch.

3. Fertilize, But Gently

Citrus trees are heavy feeders. They benefit from regular fertilizer application throughout the summer to support healthy growth and fruit development. Balance is important, though. Too much fertilizer can damage a tree. If you applied a slow-release fertilizer in June or July, don’t feed your tree now.

If you have been using a liquid or diluted fertilizer throughout the summer, carry on applying it now. If the weather is particularly hot and dry, hold off until temperatures cool a little, and you can ensure your tree will get enough water.

Use a balanced citrus fertilizer, and if you’re unsure if your tree really needs it, dilute to half strength before applying. This GrowScripts citrus tree care kit from Fast Growing Trees has everything you need and a care calendar to help take the guesswork out of fertilizing.

4. Check for Pests

Late summer weather can be ideal for lemon tree pests, so take the time to check leaves and fruits for them. Look for aphids, spider mites, scale, and citrus leaf miners. The latter are most commonly seen on new growth. Look at both sides of leaves, as pests often infest the undersides.

In addition to the pests themselves, some signs they are present include curling leaves, sticky honeydew with ants, webbing, and silvery trails. If you see pests or their signs, you can use organic solutions, like neem oil or insecticidal soap, to manage them. Content Editor Kathleen Walters has been using Garden Safe brand insecticidal soap from Amazon for years with great success.

A strong blast with the hose can also be effective at dislodging many pests. Early treatment is best, but also keep in mind that healthy, well-watered trees not stressed by the heat are better prepared to resist pest damage.

5. Pruning vs. Fruit Protection

A period of summer heat is not the best time to prune a citrus tree, as this can lead to additional stress. However, it’s beneficial at any time of year to remove any damaged part of the tree, including damaged fruits, which can leave the door open to disease. You can also remove water sprouts at the base of the trunk.

In addition to avoiding stress, not heavily pruning now is important because the canopy of the tree protects developing fruit from extreme heat. While lemon trees thrive in sun and warm climates, extreme temperatures can be damaging. Any fruit exposed to the sun during a heat wave can get burned, causing scorched and patchy skin. Leave your tree’s canopy in place for now.

August doesn’t require any major changes in care for your lemon trees. Mostly, you’re continuing what you’ve been doing all summer, making adjustments for extreme weather conditions or if you see pests.

Spend a little extra time providing water during dry, hot conditions, refreshing mulch, and checking for signs of pests, and your tree should continue to ripen healthy, juicy lemons, soon to be ready for harvesting.

• TIME: 10 minutes
• RATING: Easy
• REWARD: Helps lavender survive winter

There’s an old gardening memory trick that says you should prune 8 inches from lavender plants on the eighth day of the eighth month. While there’s no need to stick exactly to this rule, there’s an awful lot of growing sense stored in those three digits. By August 8th, the flowers of most lavender varieties have faded, but the soil is still plenty warm enough to encourage new growth. And by trimming those old flower spikes, along with an inch or so of the foliage below, you’ll trigger the plant to grow a dense covering of new leaves. So if you're growing lavender in your garden, this is a quick and easy weekend win.

By following the 8-8-8 rule, there’s enough time for the fresh growth to harden before temperatures plummet, and this cloak of close-knit evergreen leaves will effectively insulate the plant through winter. And that means it’ll be in better shape next year, ready for another summer of abundant blooms..

The other benefit to trimming lavender in early August is keeping the plant compact and bushy, for a denser display of flowers next year. Pruning lavender plants now means you can shape them into a neat silver-leaved dome that will look good all through fall, winter and spring. A late summer trim makes it super-simple to avoid the biggest lavender pruning mistake of all, too: cutting into old wood, from which new stems probably won’t grow back.

Oh yes, and there’s an additional treat for you as well – but we’ll get to that!

How to Prune Lavender in August

1. Pick the Perfect Time

There's no need be exact about dates or measurements when you're deciding when to prune lavender. While the 888 lavender rule is a handy reminder, lavender should be trimmed once its flower spikes have faded and started to dry out, and the exact timing will differ between varieties and growing zones. But it's very likely to be right now.

2. Find Fresh Growth

Don’t stick to trimming off exactly 8 inches either. While that’s generally the right ballpark for most lavender types, you should aim to prune the faded flower stalk with around an inch of foliage. This is going to differ between a young and a mature plant, too, so use your judgement: you want to remove some of this year’s foliage but you don’t want to cut into the older, woodier stems below, which may not resprout.

Take a closer look at your plant and you'll probably spot a layer of fresh new silvery leaves against the greener foliage, above the brown woody stems. This is the perfect place to make your cuts as the stems here are lush, healthy, and ready to regrow.

3. Cut off Faded Flower Stalks

Use a sharp pair of bypass pruning shears, such as these Fiskars Bypass Pruners from Walmart, and if you haven’t sharpened your pruners in a while, do take a moment to before you begin. Clean cuts made with sharp blades heal much faster, so your plant can get on with the important business of growing fresh foliage, and it’s a two-minute task with a sharpening tool such as this $10 blade sharpener from Amazon.

Hold a bunch of stems in one hand and cut through the centre of this layer of fresh foliage with your pruners.

4. Shape the Plant

Once you’ve removed all the flower stalks, take a moment to consider the shape of your plant. If it’s a border plant, you may want to encourage it into a dome shape; if you’re growing a low lavender hedge, then you might want the sides to be straighter. I’m shaping this lavender plant to drape over the side of this raised bed so soften this patio corner, so I'm leaving the stems on one side slightly longer than those on the top.

Just be aware that if you cut into the woody part of the stems, they may not reshoot – but you can use that to your advantage, if you want the plant to ‘travel’ in a particular direction. The color difference between the older, brown woody stems at the plant base and the newer, green soft stems higher up is very clear at this time of the year, so it’s easy to tell.

5. Water to Aid Recovery

Pruning is a stressful event for any plant, so give your lavender a good water once you’re finished to help it recover quickly, and get growing again.

And that’s it, your weekend win is done! Thanks to its quick trim, your plant will now grow a snug coat of evergreen foliage that'll keep it cosy all through winter. And there’s a quick trick that will keep you happy in the cold season, too.

Before you make your pruning cuts, tie a ribbon tightly around a handful of stems, then trim as before.

You'll be left with a bunch of dried lavender to hang up indoors and scent your home. Deciding whether or not to strip the foliage from the stems will change the lavender's scent. The leaves typically have a slightly sharper, more resinous scent, adding depth and strength to the fragrance, which would be beneficial if you wanted to hang your posy in a bathroom, perhaps. In a bedroom, however, stripping the foliage so you enjoy just the sweeter fragrance of the flowers would give a softer, more calming aroma.

Either way, the scent will remind you of the plethora of fragranced flowers you can look forward to next summer – and boy will you get plenty, thanks to your timely August weekend win. If you want to give your plant some more TLC, then treating lavender to a gravel mulch is next on my to-do list.

Before and After

I always find it really useful to see a before and after of gardening jobs, so I know exactly what I'm aiming to achieve. Here's what my lavender plant looked like before its August prune:

Here's what my lavender plant looked like after its August prune.

New Lavender Varieties That Are Better Than Ever

Now I'm using old cardboard boxes to mulch my vegetable patch this summer, my plants are flourishing despite the heat, I spend far less time watering and weeding, and I don’t have to deal with cat poop. It took an hour to do, and didn’t cost me a penny. And even though I only mulched this raised bed a week ago, I've already saved more time than it took to lay the cardboard. So from now on, I’ll be making cardboarding an essential part of growing vegetables in my garden – and yes, I do think this brilliant DIY gardening trick deserves a new word.

As a gardening editor, I get to read piles of garden articles and my feeds spill with greenery and gardening hacks. I read an article about using cardboard boxes to smother weeds and start new beds; then I read another about using cardboard as a mulch to lock moisture in the soil, and I was intrigued.

You see, my veggie bed was in dire need of help this El Niño summer. Exposed and south-facing, my garden had withstood 8 weeks with zero rainfall and was reliant on my irrigation which, 2 weeks into a hosepipe ban, had become more erratic than ever. I'd been so busy that, in my vegetable patch, weeds had grown so tall they were flowering and seeding. And the one area of bare earth? My cats had adopted it as their favorite poop spot.

I had a bunch of cardboard boxes waiting to be recycled, so I decided to give this eco-friendly, biodegradable mulching idea a go. And honestly, laying a cardboard mulch is the best thing I’ve done all summer. As well as the expected benefits, the cardboard layer means I can (literally) throw buckets of water onto the veggie bed without worrying about washing soil away, so it (literally) takes me a minute to irrigate the entire patch. Earth has already accumulated around the necks of holes cut to accommodate plants, creating pools that hold water so more gets to the roots where it's needed. My free mulch looks pretty good, too.

I'm sharing exactly how I did it, because I reckon you should, too – honestly, it's been a game-changer for growing vegetables in a hot summer.

1. Pull Out the Worst Weeds

While the cardboard will quickly smother seedling weeds, I pulled all the perennial weeds such as thistles and nettles, as well as annual weeds that had grown big. Because my garden is next to a hay field, all sorts of seeds blow in, and my bucket was soon filled with an A–Z of weeds. I even discovered a self-seeded poppy.

2. Flatten and Prep Boxes

I flattened the boxes and removed all the packaging tape and address labels from the cardboard. I didn't want chemicals from these leaching into the soil, or plastic that wouldn't break down, and removing them also made the cardboard more porous.

3. Lay the Cardboard on the Soil

I laid sections of cardboard on the soil surface, cutting holes to fit around the plants and doing my best to overlap the edges by a couple of inches. Because this is a raised bed, the cardboard didn't need weighing down to keep it in place; if my veg patch was a bed in the ground, I'd put a few stones along the edges of the cardboard stop the wind getting beneath it.

4. Water Thoroughly

I threw a fair few gallons of water onto the cardboard, both to hydrate the bed but also to wet the cardboard so it softened, molded itself closer to the soil surface and all the sections stuck together where they overlapped.

Before and After

Here’s a photo I took before I started, with the weeds out-competing my poor veggies for moisture (the shame!):

Here’s a photo I took an hour later, once I’d finished.

Is the Cardboard Mulch Working?

Definitely. The good news is that since I mulched my vegetable patch with cardboard, the plants are doing better than ever, though I'm spending far less time watering. I haven’t seen a single cat poop, either, and I can't tell you how happy I am about that.

In the week since I laid the cardboard, the corn has started fruiting.

The cucumber has thrown out several new stems.

Even the artichokes – which I thought the heat had killed off – have started shooting from their bases.

I’d really recommend using cardboard to mulch vegetable beds. In my garden, the cardboard mulch is doing a great job of suppressing weeds and it’s saving me so much time watering in this heatwave weather. Even when the top surface of the cardboard looks totally dry, when I lift a corner the soil below is still nice and moist. All the worms seem super-happy, too. The cardboard will slowly break down to improve the soil structure and next year, I won’t have to bother cutting around the plants either, as I’ll be cardboarding before I sow, leaving a criss-cross of gaps.

I already add shredded cardboard to my compost heap but using it as a mulch, too, works wonders. As I practise no-dig gardening in this bed, the cardboard doesn't cause me any issues and, in spring, I'll simply lay my usual layer of compost mulch over the top. I'll be trying this mulching method on my shrub border, too, laying cardboard before I tip over a layer of compost, to beef up its weed suppressing and water conserving abilities. As gardening tips go, laying a cardboard mulch has been a real game-changer for me.

More Biodegradable Mulches

Just in case you’re wondering, the self-seeded poppy survived the cardboarding process!

The soil is still warm. August feels like the tail end of the growing season, which is exactly why the beds get abandoned early. Six vegetables sown now mature fast enough to fill a harvest basket before frost arrives.

Midsummer gardens start looking tired around now, and it's tempting to let the beds coast into fall. Warm soil speeds up germination, though. Shortening days work in favor of anything grown for leaves or roots. Plenty of crops planted in August will still hit maturity while the weather holds.

Match days to maturity against the average first frost date, then pad that number a little. Cold weather crops handle a light freeze without complaint. Several of them taste better after one. Anything tender has to finish before cold sets in for good, so the fast growers go in first.

Fast Crops Worth Sowing Now

Seed packet advice assume decent conditions. Fall hands out shorter days plus a cooling seedbed, so adding a week or two to that number keeps expectations reasonable.

Soil that is above 85F (29C) will stall germination on a few of these. A soil thermometer from Walmart settles that question in about half a minute.

1. Bush Beans

Most gardeners file beans under summer and leave it there. Bush beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) go from seed to picking in roughly 50 days, though, so an August sowing lands comfortably ahead of frost across a lot of the country. Germination in warm ground can happen inside of three days. Beans will not tolerate freezing, at all. The countdown matters here more than it does for the hardier crops. Pick young and pick often.

2. Radishes

Three or four weeks is the whole run from sowing to pulling, which barely counts as a commitment. Radishes (Raphanus sativus) slot into gaps between slower crops. Fall roots come out milder than spring ones — the heat that turns them sharp and woody is on its way out by then. Sow a short row every couple weeks instead of the whole packet at once, or everything sizes up together and half of it splits before anyone gets around to pulling it.

3. Carrots

Timing gets tighter here, since even the quicker carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus) want 60 to 70 days. Southern gardens have room for that. Northern ones are cutting it close unless the bed gets covered later on. Germination is the fussy part — seed sits shallow and dries out fast under an August sun, so the top inch (2.5cm) has to stay damp for a good stretch. A length of shade cloth from Amazon over the row takes some pressure off the daily watering. The cover comes off once the seedlings are through.

4. Beets

Two harvests come off one planting, since the greens are worth eating long before the roots size up. Thinning plants go straight into a pan. Beets (Beta vulgaris) want 50 to 60 days for a decent root. After that they hold in the ground through several frosts, sweetening while they sit. Crowding happens no matter how carefully the sowing goes — what looks like a single seed is really a cluster. Thin to about 3 inches (8cm) once the seedlings are up.

5. Broccoli

Seed started this late will not head up in time anywhere north of the Gulf. Transplants are the practical route for broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica). Nurseries stock them for exactly that reason. Heat stress on a young plant causes buttoning — a tiny useless head, then nothing. Shade during the first week after setting out is closer to mandatory than optional. Cabbage loopers (Trichoplusia ni) are still working in late summer and can strip a young plant fast, so netting goes on early rather than after the damage shows. Side shoots keep coming after the main head is cut.

6. Kale

Frost improves kale (Brassica oleracea var. sabellica). Not much else in the garden can claim that. The flavor shifts from harsh to mild over a single cold snap — cold triggers sugar production in the leaves, a rough antifreeze. Plants set out now have time to bulk up first. Harvest from the bottom leaves upward and the same plant keeps producing into winter in milder zones. That last part is reason enough on its own.

Getting the Timing Right

Counting backward from the average first frost date is the whole method. Take the maturity number and add ten to fourteen days for the fall slowdown. Count back from there. Anything landing past the date needs either a shorter crop or some help.

Help is cheap. A floating row cover from The Home Depot thrown over the bed on a cold night holds a few degrees. A few degrees is often the difference between losing a bean planting and getting another two weeks out of it. It's a hedge against a bad week, not a season extension in itself.

Frost dates are averages anyway — the first hard freeze can turn up well ahead of schedule, so watching the forecast through October pays off. Plant a little more than seems reasonable, and the fall table tends to take care of itself.

The search for the garden's next ‘it’ plant usually leads us to something rare and unusual – but what if the answer has been hiding in plain sight all along?

Once upon a decade ago, I probably would've filled every spare corner of my borders with thirsty cottage garden favorites, never giving much thought to whether they could cope with another long summer. These days, though, I'm paying far more attention to the drought-tolerant plants that still look fresh when everything else is pleading for another drink.

Yes, I think we can all admit that our gardens are changing; summers are becoming hotter, dry spells are lasting longer, and our lives are getting busier. No wonder, then, that the flowering plants that survive hot weather are stepping into the spotlight (along with slow-watering tools like the genius Back to the Roots Self-Watering Terracotta Olla Pot, no less!).

This Fragrant Favorite Is The Next 'It' Plant

I found myself doing a double take while walking the dog recently as, house after house, I spotted the same unexpected plant taking pride of place in front gardens and designer-style borders; not a dramatic ornamental grass or the latest must-have perennial, oh no. In fact, it was (drum roll, please!) none other than rosemary.

Yes, everywhere I looked, it seemed as if I could see this fragrant favorite clipped into elegant topiary, woven through gravel gardens, spilling over retaining walls and softening the edges of contemporary planting schemes. And the more I noticed it, the more I wondered if I'd done my own rosemary a disservice by tucking it away beside the kitchen door ready for roasted potatoes.

In a bid to find out, I reached out to award-winning garden designer Zoe Claymore, who just so happens to be an RHS Chelsea medallist, an NAS Ambassador, and a member of the editorial board of The Garden Design Journal. If anyone had the answers, I reasoned to myself, it was her.

"Rosemary is a future-proof plant," Zoe tells me. "It's incredibly drought tolerant, thrives in sandy soils, copes brilliantly with high temperatures and needs very little care once established."

That's a pretty compelling list before you even get to the fact it's evergreen, wonderfully fragrant and completely at home in both traditional and contemporary gardens.

Unlike many ornamental plants that struggle through prolonged dry weather, rosemary seems to relish the conditions. Native to the Mediterranean, it's naturally adapted to bright sunshine, lean soils and periods without much rainfall – all qualities that are becoming increasingly valuable as gardeners look for resilient planting choices.

Shop Rosemary Plants:

I'll happily admit that I'd underestimated rosemary; to me, it was always something to snip for cooking, growing quietly in a terracotta pot near the back door. With Zoe's words ringing through my head, though, I can't stop noticing just how ornamental it really is; the fine evergreen foliage provides structure throughout the year, while its delicate blue flowers arrive surprisingly early in the season, offering an important source of nectar for bees and other emerging pollinators.

"It's fantastic for supporting wildlife," Zoe says. "Those early flowers provide valuable interest in the garden, both visually and for pollinators."

Then there's the scent! Brush past a rosemary plant and you're instantly greeted by that unmistakable aromatic fragrance. Zoe describes it as creating an "embodied experience" in the garden – one that engages far more than just your sense of sight – and I love that idea. Some gardens are beautiful to look at. The very best gardens invite you to touch, smell and properly experience them.

If you're after structure, upright varieties make brilliant informal hedges and respond beautifully to clipping. Zoe has even trained rosemary into topiary in her own compact garden, proving you don't need acres of space to make a statement. For something softer, prostrate rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis 'Prostratus') has an entirely different personality. Rather than growing upwards, it gently cascades over the edges of containers, raised beds and retaining walls, creating a relaxed Mediterranean look while still delivering those fragrant leaves and pollinator-friendly flowers.

"I use it regularly as a spiller in container displays for sunny spots," Zoe says. "It softens the planting while coping brilliantly with heat."

I guess when it comes to the next 'it' plant, all we really want are flowers that support pollinators, foliage that looks good year-round, and plants that can handle drought without demanding endless watering. Is that too much to ask? Not if you direct your request at rosemary, it seems! So you'd best believe that the next rosemary I buy won't be hidden away among my herbs; it's getting the best seat in the garden.

The right plant care in August has a huge impact on the flavor and appearance of tomatoes, as well as how long your harvest lasts for. We’re approaching peak tomato harvesting period this month, so how you look after your plants directly affects the quality as well as quantity of fruit. Start redirecting the plant’s energy on fruit formation and ripening, rather than needlessly growing more foliage, and you will be rewarded with tons more tastier tomatoes.

Without appropriate, targeted care in August, your tomatoes may split, develop unsightly black spots on their bases, and plants might fall prey to fungal disease and red spider mites that put an abrupt end to your harvest. With the right care, however, plants will stay happy, healthy and continue to produce plump, flavorful tomatoes for many weeks to come.

None of these 5 steps are a difficult part of growing tomatoes so get this essential August tomato care right and you can look forward to your best harvest yet. Understanding why you’re doing each task is a key part of keeping tomato plants producing all summer. Why? Because then you’ll be able to tweak each care task to perfectly suit your growing conditions and tomato varieties, whether you’re raising cherry toms or beefsteak tomatoes, outdoors or in a greenhouse, in any zone. Here’s everything you need to know for tip-top August tomato plant care so you can enjoy your best crop yet.

1. Strip Off Lower Leaves to Reduce Disease

First on the list of what to do with tomato plants in August is to strip off some of the lower leaves of indeterminate tomatoes. These plants will be dense with foliage by now, and removing some at stem bases allows better airflow, which in turn reduces the risk of disease. It also allows sunlight in to ripen fruit, and allows you to spot any developing issues faster.

This seems like a fairly drastic task but, as long as you don’t strip off leaves any higher than the halfway point of the plant, you’re doing more good than harm. I start by stripping lower leaves at soil height at the start of August, then take off another layer every week, gradually raising the leafless height to halfway as peak harvesting time is reached. This gradual strip doesn’t shock the plant, and reveals tomatoes just as they need the ripening sun.

Why bother? Well, late tomato blight, when fungus-like organism Phytophthora infestans infects plants and causes both leaves and fruit to rot, is a big risk at this time of year, particularly for outdoor toms. Indoors, leaf mold – which brings similar symptoms to the leaves, often with a grey-brown mold on the undersides – is the harvest slayer to avoid. For both, good airflow around the plants is the very best prevention, and stripping off lower leaves is the number one way to achieve it.

If you want to add another layer of protection, then make a simple, effective anti-fungal spray with baking soda for your tomato plants. Removing lower leaves from the plants also makes it much easier to irrigate without wetting the leaves, further reducing the risk of disease.

There’s no need to strip leaves from determinate tomatoes, though do remove any leaves touching the soil to reduce disease risk.

2. Prune for a Full, Flavorful Harvest

Channelling plants’ energy into growing fruit rather than foliage now is the difference between a basic crop and a bumper harvest so, if you're wondering how to get a good tomato harvest, get your hand pruners at the ready! Remember, indeterminate tomatoes are vines, and they’ll keep growing – and growing – until the frost kills them, so if you want lots of fruit you need to curtail that growth, and redirect that energy into fruit production.

Keep cutting or pinching off any shoots that grow in the junctions between the main stem and leaf stalks. This stops plants wasting energy on growing fresh stems and foliage.

In mid-August, or when a plant has around four or five trusses of tomatoes, pinch out the main growing tip of indeterminate tomatoes. All you have to do is use hand pruners to snip off the uppermost few inches of the main stem, or simply snap it off with your hands. This halts the vine’s upward growth, redirecting its energy into ensuring existing tomatoes grow.

Depending on your zone, the variety you’re growing, and whether or not you can be bothered to ripen green tomatoes off the plant, you can also snip off newly-formed flower trusses at the end of August as there’s unlikely to be enough time for them to develop fully before the season ends.

Cherry tomatoes typically take around 45-60 days to grow from flower to full-sized ripe fruit; beefsteak toms can take up to 90 days. As well as cold weather slowing growth, temperatures above 86°F can slow development, too. So, keep your eye on the thermometer and gauge whether or not it's worth remove any new flower trusses to concentrate the plant's energy into existing fruit.

3. Water Consistently for High-Quality Fruit

How consistently you water your plants now will directly impact the quality of your crop. Erratic watering can cause tomato skins to split, and lead to dark, flat patches at the base of fruit, called blossom end rot. While blossom end rot is caused by a lack of calcium, it’s very rare that soil or compost lacks this element – the problem almost always lies in a lack of consistent water which the plant needs to transport calcium to where it’s needed.

Aim for consistent, steady watering to keep a fairly even level of moisture in the soil. Shading your tomato plants from the harsh midday sun will dramatically reduce evaporation, so this is another way you can help even out soil moisture levels. If it’s easier to rig up more general shade, then using a shade cloth that blocks 30-40% of rays will still allow enough sunlight through to ripen fruit.

Once most fruits have set and are ripening, if the weather isn't too hot, slightly reducing watering will concentrate sugars and flavor. Never reduce irrigation so much that leaves wilt, and it's also important to lessen the volume of water given rather than reduce frequency, so moisture levels remain consistent.

4. Feed Weekly, But Know When to Stop

If you're wondering when you should stop feeding tomato plants, you're not alone as this is a common query. And knowing when to stop fertilizing plants is just as important as knowing when to start, and one of the most critical pro growing tips for a long-lasting tomato harvest.

Until the uppermost clusters of fruit are full-sized, you should continue feeding your tomato plants once a week with a high-potassium tomato fertilizer such as Espoma Organic Tomato! Food, available from Amazon. However, as soon as you start redirecting the plants’ energy to ripening fruit that’s already set, especially if you halt the upwards growth of indeterminate plants by pinching out the tip of the main stem, it's vital not to over-fuel. Too much food can cause fertilizer burn, excess foliage and actually slow fruit production

So, from mid-August, gradually reduce the strength of the feed, tapering off so you don’t abruptly stop this supply of nutrients.

5. Watch Out For Spider Mites

All the hot, dry air of this El Niño summer has created ideal conditions for red spider mites. These sap-sucking critters can ruin a harvest, but are easily controlled if you spot them in time and act quickly.

Don’t rely on being able to see the mites themselves as they're tiny. Instead look out for:

• Moving dots. While the mites are minute, you may spot what looks like moving specks of dust. And don't expect them to be red! At this time of year red spider mites are often a yellowish green, only turning red – and becoming more visible on leaves – in fall.
• Damaged leaves. If there’s an infestation, leaves will first become stippled, where individual cells have been sucked dry, then turn mottled, pale and eventually die and drop.
• Fine silky webs around stems or leaves.
• A build-up of white cast skins and egg shells on the undersides of leaves.

The quicker you act, the better, as high summer heat speeds egg hatching from around 55 days to 7, and a female spider mite can lay 10-20 eggs a day. Remove infected leaves and wash the plant with a jet of water. Coat all surfaces, but particularly the undersides of leaves with a neem oil spray.

Do double-check if the neem oil is already diluted: if you have raw neem oil, mix 1-2 teaspoons into a quart of warm water, before using. To help the oil and water combine, add half a teaspoon of mild liquid dish soap to the water first.

Spray plants once a week for three weeks to catch any newly-hatching mites and break the lifecycle. Sprayed leaves are more easily scorched by the sun, so consider shading if necessary.

Tomato plant care in August is all about directing energy towards producing a plentiful harvest, and keeping plants disease-free so that process can continue for as long as possible into fall. Stripping lower leaves, tactical pruning, consistent irrigation, well-timed feeding and controlling pests will all help your plants happy and healthy, so they can keep providing you with a flavorful harvest week after week. And that's more than enough reward for the time it takes to complete these simple late-summer tomato care tasks.

One indeterminate cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) in decent soil can hand over a couple of pounds (1kg) a week once it hits full stride, and two plants will bury a small family. The crop sets its own deadline, too. A cherry tomato goes from perfect to split overnight when a storm follows a run of hot, rainless days.

Most advice about growing cherry tomatoes ends at the harvest. The real work starts there. The plant has no interest in whether the kitchen has caught up, so the response has to move in two directions at once – what is already picked, and what the vine does from here.

Eight Moves for a Runaway Harvest

A few of the moves take an afternoon, and others take five minutes with a pair of snips like these from Amazon. Start with whichever side is more important that week.

1. Pick at the First Blush of Color

Tomato cracking is a plumbing problem, not a disease. The fruit pulls water in faster than its skin can stretch, so one heavy rain on the back of a dry spell splits half a crop overnight. Picking earlier sidesteps that. It works because a cherry tomato seals itself off from the vine the moment real color appears, and what happens after that happens without the plant. Then you can turn green tomatoes red by just leaving them out on the counter. If your cherry tomatoes are producing heavily, walk the rows every other morning rather than holding out for full color. If any slip past you, cracked tomatoes are perfectly fine to eat.

2. Keep Them Out of the Fridge

Refrigeration costs more than it saves. Somewhere below 55F (13C) the aroma compounds start breaking down and the texture goes mealy, which accounts for most of what is wrong with a supermarket tomato. A counter does better. Ripe ones keep several days in a single layer, stem scars down, somewhere out of direct sun. Green fruit picked ahead of a storm colors up in a paper bag with a banana tucked in for ethylene – a gas naturally emitted by bananas that speeds up ripening. Anything that doesn't turn red pickles beautifully.

3. Freeze them Whole on a Sheet Pan

Freezing tomatoes whole is the easiest way to go: no blanching, no peeling. Wash and dry a batch, then spread it in one layer across a sheet pan from Amazon. Freeze them solid before bagging so they stay loose rather than welding into a brick. The skins slip off under a warm tap later. Straight from frozen, they collapse into sauce quicker than they can fresh.

4. Roast them on a Tray

Soft ones and anything that sat a day too long belong here. Halve them and toss with olive oil and salt, then hold a low oven around 300F (150C) until they slump and go jammy at the edges – a couple of hours, unhurried. A full tray reduces to about two cups as the moisture leaves and the sugars pull together, and what comes out is far darker than what went in. Freeze it flat in portions – it thaws into sauce, or lands on bread as is.

5. Dry the Smallest Ones

Drying tomatoes is a great choice for the littlest specimens. Less moisture inside means less time on the trays, and they finish evenly instead of toughening outside while the middle stays damp. Halve them cut sides up and run a food dehydrator from Amazon at about 135F (57C) until they feel like leather rather than brittle chips. An oven set as low as it goes will manage it, at the cost of the kitchen for most of a day. Jars come next, shaken daily for a week; water beads on the glass mean another round of drying.