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.
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 time to give it a trim. This will 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.
Try to do this in warm, dry conditions to ensure weed seedlings you disturb are left on the surface to dehydrate and die.
Make plans for next year
Looking good this month….
A nice relaxing job for those hot days! Pull up a chair in a sunny spot and start planning for next Hydrangea year. Make sketches of your flower borders and vegetable plot and Why should you plant them? list what you want to plant. Hydrangeas are popular garden shrubs with delicate heads of Take photos of your garden now flowers in shades of pink, white while it is looking its best – if you or blue. They are easy to care want to rearrange in the winter its for, fully hardy and have an old much easier to do if you have a fashioned, cottage style charm. reference point. Also think about what bulbs you want to plant for How should you plant them? that early display of spring colour Hydrangeas like moist, free – bulbs are usually available to draining soil and a partially buy from the end of August ready shaded sheltered spot. for autumn planting.
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