Your Garden In August

After the heat of July, the weather usually continues to be very nice giving us time to simply enjoy our gardens and all the hard work we’ve put into them. Don’t worry too much about doing endless jobs – just remember to keep everything watered. If you are going away, you may need to enlist the help of friends and family to look after the garden. If you are at home and feeling energetic, there are still a few gardening tasks for August that will keep your gardens going longer, as well as opportunities to get a head start on next year’s garden plans. Try to do this in warm, dry

Take herb cutting

August is the ideal month to take cuttings woody herbs such as Rosemary and Lavender. To do this, simply take new growth that hasn’t flowered this year cut a piece 10cm long just below a leaf joint, remove the lower leaves and dip the end in a rooting hormone before planting in a gritty compost. If you have lavender in the garden, now is also the ideal encourage new bushy growth in the spring and will prevent it becoming bare and woody.

Pruning and tidying

Most long flowering perennials will finish flowering this month so cut them down to the ground. Don’t forget about them though – continue to water them, as this will encourage a second flush of foliage and generally prevent the garden looking frazzled and messy. Although weeds will be growing more slowly now than in the spring it’s a good idea to continue to hoe the soil to keep them down. 10

time to give it a trim. This will conditions to ensure weed seedlings you disturb are left on the surface to dehydrate and die.

Make plans for next year

A nice relaxing job for those hot days! Pull up a chair in a sunny spot and start planning for next year. Make sketches of your flower borders and vegetable plot and list what you want to plant.

Take photos of your garden now while it is looking its best – if you want to rearrange in the winter its much easier to do if you have a reference point. Also think about what bulbs you want to plant for that early display of spring colour – bulbs are usually available to buy from the end of August ready for autumn planting.

Looking good this month….

Hydrangea

Why should you plant them? Hydrangeas are popular garden shrubs with delicate heads of flowers in shades of pink, white or blue. They are easy to care for, fully hardy and have an old fashioned, cottage style charm.

How should you plant them? Hydrangeas like moist, free draining soil and a partially shaded sheltered spot.

FUNERAL VENUE OFFERS PICNIC OPTION SO FAMILIES CAN CELEBRATE FOR LONGER

A South West funeral venue has adapted its catering options to allow for families to enjoy a leisurely picnic while remembering the life of their loved one.

Bristol Memorial Woodlands, a nature reserve which hosts funeral services and burials within 100-acres of woodland and meadows, was forced to stop the usual buffet-style catering it offered to mourners due to coronavirus restrictions.

Now, with the help of hospitality manager Kat Brown, the venue has launched a new picnic bag option which allows families to enjoy homemade treats on the grounds while spending time with family and friends after a service.

“One of our biggest selling points, other than the stunning setting, is that families are given the opportunity here to mourn, remember and celebrate their loved ones life for longer than the set time you get given at a crematorium,” said Kat. With the space available at Bristol Memorial Woodlands, up to 30 guests can gather in the chapel (a few more outside) at any one time while following social distancing guidelines.

Kat continued: “There has been a really good take up with most families choosing to enjoy our picnic bags over the last few weeks. We’ve now also got a marquee set up so that if the weather isn’t great people can still enjoy the views of our pond and woodlands.

“Our customers have really appreciated the effort we have put in to the new catering options so it’s something we’re proud of. After the service they can congregate in the ground and share memories, all while keeping to social distancing rules. “When we were unable to provide any catering for our guests, as our buffet-style with people helping themselves was prohibited under the new government guidelines, we really felt we were missing something and that guests weren’t able to get the full benefit of our beautiful facilities here.

“One of our funeral directors Scott noticed that families were bringing their own picnics to enjoy on the grounds, something we encourage all year round. We realised that we could offer a picnic bag option meaning one less thing for families to worry about.”

Kat and the team developed the idea from there and now offer visitors an individual picnic bag filled with a homemade sandwich, a homemade sausage roll, a homemade cake, a packet of crisps and a variety of hot and cold refreshments. There are vegetarian and vegan options available as well as gluten free and dairy free adaptations.

“We really try to provide a bespoke service to each occasion so if a family requests a certain type of sandwich which reminds them of their loved one, or if they want us to set up a table of glasses for some bring your own fizz, we’ll happily accommodate them. We want to be known, not for a conveyor-belt service, but for an unhurried experience to remember fondly.”

Bristol Memorial Woodlands is a 100-acre burial ground which is being transformed into a beautiful woodland with trees and wild flowers planted around the plots where loved ones are laid to rest. The area is managed by a charitable trust and will be open forever for future generations to visit.

Bristol Memorial Woodlands has its own chapel, Georgian reception rooms and dedicated burial grounds for the Muslim and Jewish communities. For more information visit www.memorialwoodlands.com, call 01454 414999 or email admin@ memorialwoodlands.com