July and August are the main harvest months in the garden: while the harvest baskets fill up, the rows in the raised bed thin out. Fortunately, there are still a number of vegetables that can also be sown or planted for the fall harvest.

Even in August, new things can be planted in the raised bed

How to plan a favorable crop rotation

Gardeners call crop rotation the successive cultivation of different types of vegetables with different nutrient requirements on a bed over a longer period of time. On classically layered raised beds, heavy feeders such as Chinese cabbage, cabbage, leeks or celery should be grown in the first two years, and medium feeders such as endive, fennel, kohlrabi, chard, carrots, radicchio, radishes, beetroot, salsify or sugar loaf as well as in the third and fourth year in the fourth and fifth year weak consumers such as lamb's lettuce, lettuce, iceberg lettuce, picking and cut lettuce (oak leaf lettuce, batavia, rocket), radishes, spinach and onions.

Sow in August for the fall harvest

Many lettuce grow very quickly and can therefore be planted in August and often even in September. Typical autumn lettuce such as lamb's lettuce, radicchio, endive and sugar loaf are particularly suitable for late sowing, but various pick and cut lettuce and rocket will also ripen in good time before the first frost. Autumn spinach and chard are also suitable for sowing, although you can even overwinter chard after the autumn harvest: To do this, cut the plants back to about five centimeters above the ground. They will then sprout again in the spring, so that you can have fresh chard on the table as early as March or April. If you are in the mood for something other than lettuce or leafy greens, you can sow these species directly in the raised bed:

  • fennel
  • carrots
  • radish
  • salsify
  • radish
  • Mizuna (Japanese Cabbage)
  • turnips
  • Beetroot
  • winter radish
  • Chinese cabbage
  • Pak choi

The cultivation of various herbs such as parsley, chives, lovage, dill and garden cress is still worthwhile.

Sowing for the spring harvest

Otherwise, it is now time to start thinking about the next gardening season: the first plants for the coming harvest period will be planted from August. These include strawberries, for example, but also spring and autumn onions.

tips

The gardening season can easily be extended by a few weeks in raised beds: all you have to do is equip the bed box with a cold frame attachment. In any case, many plants can be cultivated longer in a raised bed than in classic garden beds, because it is nice and warm there due to the rotting process.

Category:

Vegetable garden