August jobs for the garden

August can be a warm month and a month to sit and enjoy the garden, a time to reap the rewards of your past labour, love, and attention. And while you sit in these pleasant surroundings, now is the perfect time to browse through all those bulb catalogues that keep popping through the letterbox.

And for a bigger and more varied selection, check online; there are some great new bulbs to try out. But remember, it’s best to order early as popular varieties, especially the new-for-this-year range, can run out quickly.

Although we have done all the hard work this year, the weeds have the perfect weather to romp away so keep the upper hand by weeding little and often. Hoeing on a sunny afternoon is a relaxing way to deal with them or walk around with a hand fork at the ready. Stay on top of things, don’t let the weed flower and produce seeds; remember the saying “One year’s seeds, seven years weeds”

If you get bored with relaxing, and feel the urge to ‘potter’, here are a few jobs that you could be doing around your garden during August.

Flowers

• Continue to feed your containers and hanging baskets every couple of weeks as the plants will be flowering their socks off and needing nourishment.

• Inspect all your flowering plants every day and remove any dead or dying blooms. This will encourage them to produce more flowers. Don’t deadhead roses if you want hips in winter.

• Deadheading dahlias: It’s sometimes difficult to distinguish between a new bud and dead flower head. The one to cut off is the slightly pointed one; new buds have a more rounded shape.

• If you haven’t done it already, stake any tall plants that may be damaged in high winds

• Hardy annuals can be sown into the flower border towards the end of this month for flowering next year.

• After flowering, trim hardy perennials of dead or damaged leaves and for those that have died back naturally, cut down to ground level.

• Keep on top of weeding the flower borders; hoe regularly.

• Collect seeds from your garden, place in envelopes then in a tin, and store in a dry, cool place. Remember to label.

• Take cuttings of pelargoniums and fuchsias now to stock up for next year.

Vegetables

• Plant spring cabbages this month; firm in well.

• Continue sowing salad greens, radishes and spring onions.

• Harvest courgettes while they’re small; leave them and they rapidly turn into marrows.

• Herbs can be cut and either dried or frozen to last throughout the winter months.

• As runner beans reach the top of their supports, nip out the growing tip to encourage more side shoots.

• Harvest onions when their foliage has turned yellow and has drooped over. Then dry them off before storing. Don’t bend the leaves over yourself, let them wilt naturally.

• You can take cuttings of many varieties of herbs now. Most mints root quite readily so pot up some cuttings, and place on the kitchen windowsill; you will have fresh mint all through the winter.

Lawns

• At this time of year lawns can become a little jaded, but don’t worry, when the autumn rains arrive, they will soon perk up

• Raise the cutting height of the mower slightly when grass growth slows down, as a little longer lawn length will better help it through the winter

• Edge the lawn again as this job makes such a difference to the overall picture and beauty of your garden.

• Don’t be tempted to apply high-nitrogen feed to your lawn as this will encourage lush growth which will not stand well through the winter months.

Published August 11th, 2015 by Jordan. Article ref 3864

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