🌕 What to Plant in August in Jamaica — the Farmers' Almanac Way
August in Jamaica is a month you plant carefully: full heat, hurricane season warming up, and this year, drought on top. But careful doesn't mean idle — our grandparents planted every August of their lives, and they did it with two tools: the right crops, and the almanac.
The August crop list
- Callaloo — up in days, cutting in a month. The August workhorse. (guide)
- Okra — loves exactly this weather.
- Pak choi & radish — 30–45 day crops; in and out before storm peak.
- Quick beans — string beans and bonavist sown now beat the worst weather.
- Sweet potato slips & cassava sticks — set-and-survive crops that ride out whatever comes.
- Gungo peas — the classic August–September planting for Christmas reaping.
- Sorrel — last call! Sow this month for December sorrel.
- Tomato & pepper — in trays only. Start seedlings now in trays somewhere storm-safe, and they'll be transplant-ready exactly when the September–October rains open the big planting window.
Planting by the moon, almanac style
The Farmers' Almanac tradition — one plenty of Jamaican farmers still swear by — splits the month by the moon's phases:
- Waxing moon (new → full): sow crops that bear above ground — callaloo, pak choi, beans, okra, tomato and pepper trays. The old logic: as the light increases, so does upward growth.
- Waning moon (full → new): sow and set crops that bear below ground — radish, sweet potato slips, cassava. Energy goes down into the root as the light decreases.
- Waning moon bonus: it's also the traditional window for weeding, clearing and turning beds — the work sticks better when growth is slow.
Check any current almanac or calendar for this month's exact new and full moon dates, split your August sowings accordingly, and you're farming the way generations here always have. Does the science fully agree? Debated. Does it build a rhythm that gets you planting consistently every two weeks? Absolutely — and that part definitely works.
The two-week rule
Whatever you sow this month, don't sow it all at once. August is peak hurricane season territory — plant a short row every two weeks instead of one big bed. A storm can only take one wave of plantings; the next wave is already coming behind it.
Everything on this list is J$400 a pack
Callaloo, okra, beans, peppers and all the Jamaican favorites — delivered island-wide.
Shop August seeds →Planning further ahead? See what Jamaica's weather has in store from now to December — or skip germination entirely with a grow-ready seed tray.