Join our garden activities for August as we get busy planting seeds for our ‘second spring’.
Garden activities for August
Welcome to our garden classroom! This post is part of our Kids Gardening Activities. You can use our month-by-month garden guides for your school gardening club, community garden or at home with your family and I’ll show you what to plant, harvest, do, make and learn each month of the year. You will also find more ideas and inspiration in my book, The Garden Classroom.
Here’s my guide for what to do in the garden in August.
#1 What to plant in August
Keep planting more of your summer seeds so you can harvest salad crops through into the autumn: lettuces, bok choi, corn salad, winter purslane, turnip, giant winter spinach, radish and rocket.
#2 Start autumn planting
Some people call this time of year ‘second spring’ as you can get another round of seed planting going, focused on varieties that will grow over the winter. Choose from oriental salads such as mizuna, kale, rocket, winter lettuce, beetroot, fennel, winter purslane, corn salad, turnips, spring onions, spring greens, kohlrabi, chard, and chicories.
#3 Make a bee house
Start to think about the animals that will be hibernating over winter in your garden and make a Mason bee house.
#4 What to harvest in August
The garden is in full flow with plenty to harvest this month. Enjoy beans, peas, salad, courgettes, aubergines, beetroot, carrots, cucumbers, celery, lettuces, peppers, summer squash, sweetcorn and more.
#5 Cloud gazing
Take some time to relax in the garden this month. Lay out blankets, invite your children to lie down, and enjoy cloud gazing. Ask them what animals and objects they can see in the shape of the clouds, and then use our Cloud ID cards to learn their names.
#6 Blackberry study
Use blackberries this month as a plant to focus on. If you’re not growing in them in your own garden, they are a good plant to go foraging for. Here’s a simple blackberry picking guide for children, along with a blackberry nature journal printable you can use to learn all about these delicious, seasonal fruits.
#7 Ice play
And keep cool with ice play. Set up this ice excavation activity and invite your children to explore sensory play and see what treasures they can find!
#8 Get The Garden Classroom guide
My book The Garden Classroom is bursting with ideas you can use to make the most of the math, science, literacy, art and play waiting for you outdoors. This is your go-to book to give your children a connection with nature, and is full of creative ways to use the garden to inspire learning. See more and get your copy here.
Leave a Reply