August Gardening Advice
August is the time to enjoy the garden and hopefully with the hot weather, we hope that many of you have taken the opportunity to relax in the garden. There are less jobs to do, relaxing and enjoying your efforts being the main one!
Think about pruning wisteria. Cut back any whippy shoots from this year’s growth to five or six leaves after the flower. This will stop the plant expanding into parts of the house you don't want them and keep the plant strong for next season.
Deadhead flowers as they finish. This will encourage new growth and will keep the plant neat and tidy. Or cut earlier and enjoy the flowers indoors. Perennials can be cut back as they finish. Trim lavender plants - if you are going to save the flowers to dry, cut them early in the morning for best results.
Keep an eye out for pests and diseases. While slugs are not such a problem this year, cabbage white fly, green and black fly have thrived along with other bugs. Remove any diseased leaves from plants and do not put the leaves on your compost heap. Cover plants to keep bugs off, or squash as many of them as you can - a messy business!
Keep feeding container plants, hanging baskets, tomatoes, and cucumbers at least fortnightly with tomato food or an all-purpose plant food such as liquafeed.
Harvest your garden's bounty - flowers, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, and many others are in abundance now. Picking regularly encourages more fruit, so do this regularly. If your tomatoes are slow to ripen, remove any leaves that are shading them to let in the light, but make sure you leave a few on the plant!
If your lawn is growing it can be fed with aftercut after you have cut it to keep it in top notch form.
Relax with a glass of something cold and enjoy the fabulous summer in the garden.
