Your Garden In August

By Colin Dale, Notcutts Garden Centres.

Your local garden centre will be taking delivery of spring bulbs such as Crocus, Tulips and Daffodils this month. Visit now to look at the selection available and plan your requirements. Remember to include some varieties for container planting to brighten up those early spring days! Once purchased, store the bulbs in a dark, dry place until you are ready to plant them.

Summer containers will still give weeks of colour if watered and dead headed regularly. Feed once a week with a liquid fertiliser to keep plants in top condition and flowering through to the first frosts. Use these containers to brighten your seating areas or place where they can be seen from the house.

Perennials such as the tender Salvias and Penstemons will give colour for months with their showy flower spikes from mid summer onwards and are easily propagated by soft wood tip cuttings now. Choose non flowering shoots from near the base of the plant and dip into a rooting hormone powder. Place several cuttings in a 15cm pot and pot on individually once they have rooted. These can be protected over winter before planting out next spring.

Another easy way to increase stocks of perennials such as Hemerocallis (Day Lilies) and hardy Geraniums is to divide established plants once they have finished flowering. These popular perennials are easy to grow in most soils and situations, so it is a good idea to have them in several places in the garden! Lift existing clumps with a fork and shake off the soil. For large clumps, use two border forks back to back to prise them apart and replant in enriched soil. Keep well watered until the clumps are established. By dividing your perennials every few years, they will maintain their vigour and reward you with more flowers.

Repeat flowering Roses will require regular dead heading back to healthy new shoots and this will encourage more flowers often until well into winter. Leaves showing signs of black spot should be removed and disposed of. Do not compost infected material as this can be spread through the soil when applied as a spring mulch.

The vegetable garden will be in full production now and regular pickings of peas, beans and squashes are important to encourage a better yield. Pinch out runner beans as they reach the tops of their supports and make sure that they do not go short of water, which will cause them to drop their flowers. Continue to remove lower leaves from tomatoes to enable maximum light to get to the fruits for ripening. Check watering twice each day, especially in hot weather and for plants grown in containers and gro bags.

Continue with a liquid feed of Tomorite each week.

If your lawns are getting excessive wear this summer, raise the blades on your mower and cut the grass less often. Purchase an autumn lawn feed from your local garden centre to apply next month and build the grass up before winter.

Top Ten Tips for August

1.      Continue to dead head your summer containers and hanging baskets, to ensure plenty of fresh flowers. Feed once a week when watering with Miracle Gro or a liquid tomato feed.

2.      Your local garden centre will be taking delivery of spring flowering bulbs towards the end of this month, so pay a visit to look at the selection available and plan your requirements.

3.      Take soft wood cuttings of perennials such as Penstemon and tender Salvias to overwinter as insurance against hard winter weather. Place several cuttings in a 15cm pot and pot on individually once rooted.

4.      Divide early summer perennials, such as Hemerocallis (Day Lilies) that have out grown their space and replant some of the clumps, trimming back the leaves by half. Mulch and keep well watered until the plants begin to grow away.

5.      Continue to dead head Roses back to new shoots to ensure more flowers on many varieties. Rambling Roses, that flower only once, can be pruned now, removing some of the old, woody growths. Tie in new shoots horizontally to wires or trellis ready to produce next year's crop of flowers!

6.      Deadhead shrubs such as Buddleja as the flowers fade to encourage more scented spikes which will attract the butterflies and prevent the plants producing seed.

7.      Bring glossy leaved house plants outside to a shady area and shower them to remove dust. Allow to dry and complete the job with leaf shine. This is also a good time to pot on those that have outgrown their containers, using specialist compost available from your local garden centre. 

8.      Remove lower leaves from tomato vines to allow maximum light onto the fruit and assist ripening. Continue to remove side shoots and water each day as necessary. Feed once a week with liquid tomato feed. 

9.      Pick produce from the vegetable garden as it becomes ready and freeze or give away any excess. Hoe between crops on dry days to keep on top of weeds. Lift onions as the tops begin to die back and allow them to dry on top of the soil for a few days before storing.

10.  If your lawns are getting excessive wear this summer, raise the blades on the mower and cut less often. Purchase an autumn lawn feed to apply next month and build the grass up before winter.