Gardening Tips for August
THE VILLAGE GARDENER
Must Do Gardening Tips for August
Grow your own experts Shirley & Graham Hammond, tips for August:
- Dry harvested onions thoroughly, or they will rot when stored.
- Pinch off the tops of runner beans to encourage side shoots.
- Take cuttings of mint, rosemary and sage.
- Spray ground elder when it is growing strongly. Very hard to get rid of.
- Sow a green manure when space becomes available.
Betty Facey, who has a lovely garden and a lawn like Wimbledon, has some good advice.
- Cut back faded perennials to keep the garden neat and tidy.
- Prune climbing roses, unless repeat flowering.
- Water camellias and rhododendrons to ensure buds develop.
- Trim lavender plants to preserve shape.
- Do not attempt to water the lawns as you will never have enough time to do it justice.
Hope your tomatoes are in good shape; you need to pinch out the tops so that plants can use their energy to produce fruit. Watering constantly will stop blossom end rot and reduce splitting. With broad beans having been harvested, you can cut the stalk down to the base and on a good year they will have time to produce a lighter crop. There is still plenty of time to sow lettuce that will be available to crop before it gets too cold. After 4 years or so strawberry plants weaken and produce less, so now is the time to root the runners being produced to fill in for the older plants.
A lot of lawns can look straw coloured in prolonged dry spells. Grass is so tough and can withstand a lot of abuse. By attempting to water it you may well be doing more harm than good, unless you’re prepared to water for hours at a time. By not watering enough you will encourage roots to come to the surface. then at the next dry spell the grass will really suffer.
Prolong the flower displays by constant deadheading and regular feeding especially the hanging baskets, which should last well into the Autumn. Aphids were quite a problem this year, made worse by the late arrival of ladybirds and their larvae. They can be controlled by just wiping them off with your fingers or by making up a solution of water and white vinegar and spray on both sides of leaves. Dahlias are coming into their own at this time of year but be sure to tie them to strong stakes as the wind and rain can play havoc with them. Cut back all the whippy side shoots of wisteria to about 20cms; if you don’t do this you will have less flowers year on year.
Going wild is being promoted a lot in the media and some Wenvoe residents have thrown themselves into it to differing degrees. Jill & Ryland have been turning over part of their front garden to wild flowers and it looks lovely. On the other hand, Pete Ferris has created a wilderness garden at the rear of his abode. Wild animals flourish in the dense foliage. Pete has a rope tied to the handle of the patio door and when he ventures into the undergrowth, he has to tie the other end to himself or he would never find his way back.
Take care and happy gardening