What to Plant in August Canada

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What to plant in August in Canada depends entirely on your zone — this page answers it for every band. August is harvest month and the last realistic planting month in Canada. Harvest garlic and onions and cure them properly, sow fast fall greens, and start watching the forecast — the first frost arrives in early September on the Prairies.

SoilCommander Editorial Team

Canada vegetable growing guides · Checked against Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada plant hardiness data

Every Canadian growing guide is written and maintained by our editorial team for real Canadian growing conditions, and checked against Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada hardiness and frost-date data and provincial agriculture guidance before publication.

Early Sep

First frost on the Prairies

Cure

Garlic and onions, 2-3 weeks

Fast crops

Only 30-50 day crops now

August planting by region

Band	Sow outdoors	Start indoors	Plant out	Harvest now
Long season Zones 7-9	Fall spinach, lettuce, radish, turnips and Asian greens.	Overwintering brassicas.	Fall brassica transplants early month.	Tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, zucchini, onions, garlic.
Medium season Zones 4-6	Fast greens, radish, spinach early month.	Nothing.	Nothing.	Tomatoes, beans, zucchini, cucumbers, corn, onions, garlic.
Short season Zones 2-3	Radish and fast greens in the first week only.	Nothing.	Nothing.	Peas, beans, zucchini, potatoes, carrots, early tomatoes.

August garden jobs

Lift and cure garlic and onions somewhere warm, dry and airy for two to three weeks.
Count days to maturity against your first frost before sowing anything new.
Keep harvesting to keep plants producing.
Prepare row cover and low tunnels now, before you need them in a hurry.
Order garlic for October planting.

Common August mistakes

Sowing anything that cannot mature before the first frost.
Curing garlic in full sun, which scalds the bulbs.
Being caught without row cover when the first Prairie frost arrives.
Leaving onions in the ground after the tops have fallen, which shortens storage life.

Turn August's jobs into a written plan. The Canada Vegetable Garden Planner (printable PDF) has frost-date planning pages, bed layouts, crop rotation, a sowing log and a harvest tracker — 70 printable pages.

More Canada planting guides

Frequently Asked Questions

What can I plant in August in Canada?

Only fast crops — radish, spinach, lettuce and Asian greens — and only where the season allows. In the long-season band you have until late August; on the Prairies, only the first week.

How do I cure garlic?

Hang or spread it somewhere warm, dry and well-ventilated but out of direct sun for two to three weeks, until the necks are dry and the wrappers papery.

When is the first frost in Canada?

Early to mid-September on the Prairies and in the North, late September to mid-October through Central Canada and the Maritimes, and early November on the Pacific coast.

Last updated 25 August 2026

Relevant next steps

Turn This Month's Jobs Into A Plan

Month-by-month advice works best when it becomes a written sowing list, bed plan, and follow-up task list.

Printable garden plannerRecord this month's sowing dates, crop rotation, and bed tasks. Seed starting setupChoose trays, labels, compost, and indoor sowing tools before you start. Full planting calendarCompare this month with the rest of the UK growing year.

Plan the next step

Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.

Get Planner

What to Plant in August Canada