August – What to do in your garden this month.

It’s the last month of summer, so seize the day and get out intoyour garden!  Keeping the show going can be a full time job, what with constant dead-heading, feeding & watering of your container bedding  plants, whilst in the borders pruning back those that have had their day, whilst supporting the top-heavy beauties just coming into flower.  Make sure you take time to rest in the garden and soak up the sun, although if that bank holiday rain is earlier than expected, you can always move indoors and decide which bulbs you want to plant for next spring!

Pinch out tomato plants.  These should now have reached the top of their canes, so pinch out the growing tip of each plant in order to redirect that energy to the developing fruits.  Keep feeding regularly with a high-potash tomato food such as Westland Big Tom.

Kill ant nests.  In lawns, as well as on your patio, ant nests can be surprisingly hard to shift!  Put out Eraza Ant Bait Stations nearby where the ants appear – they will take a piece of bait and carry it back to the nest.  After a while, the accumulated bait will kill the nest outright.  The stations are waterproof, so can be left outside in all weathers

Cut back summer Raspberries.  Fruited stems of Raspberries, Tayberries and other hybrid berries should be cut off near ground level and discarded, whilst young canes that have grown this summer can be tied in for fruiting next year, using soft twine.

Harvest peas and beans.  Keep harvesting from all types of pea and bean plants regularly so that they don’t set seed.  Allowing pods to stay on the plants and ripen will stop the production of new pods, so keep picking the pods whilst they are young and tender.

Spray perennial weeds.  Use a glyphosate based weed-killer such as Resolva Xtra Tough to spray all perennial weeds, such as Ground Elder, Bindweed, Dandelions, Nettles, Brambles and Dock.  This time of year is especially good because the weeds are leafy and as such have lots of surface area that can absorb the herbicide.

Trim summer flowering perennials and shrubs after flowering.  Shrubs such as Lavender, Hypericum and Buddleia will benefit from a light trim after flowering, whilst perennials like Campanula, Alstroemeria, Penstemon and Nepeta will look a lot tidier once their dead flowers are removed.  Always trim back to just above a leaf node.  This will keep the border from looking tired, whilst making space for late flowering perennials such as Asters and Japanese Anemones to flour