UK Gardeners Urged To Start These Key August Tasks Now
While this can feel like a bittersweet time of year as we see the closing out of our sunnier seasons, there is still plenty of planting and growing opportunity in the months ahead to look forward to.
Now, for the gardening jobs in the month ahead...
Deadheading, pruning and final plant feedings in August
Deadhead dahlias and perennials
Horticulture Magazine explains: 'Deadheading dahlias can keep them blooming from mid-summer right up until the first frosts, often as late as November here in the United Kingdom.'
Flowers still brightening in the garden as late as November? Sign me up. This also applies for perennials such as hollyhock, iris and milkweed.
Prune lavender and rambling roses
Speaking to Ideal Home Magazine, Morris Hankinson, the founder of Hopes Grove Nurseries, advised gardeners to prune lavender after flowering to 'maintain shape and encourage bushier growth'.
He said: 'Unpruned lavender plants can quickly become straggly and leggy, liable to sprawl and open up to reveal unsightly gnarled-looking branches that bear few flowers, once this stage is reached, they can be very difficult to rejuvenate as they seldom respond to very hard pruning.'
Eek! Don't leave this job too late.
Additionally, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) advises that rambling roses should be routinely pruned in late summer, after their show of flowers and hips.
Final tomato feedings before harvest
'Tomatoes start to ripen from mid-summer onwards, although timing depends on the variety, weather conditions and fruit size,' the RHS advises.
'Smaller cherry tomatoes ripen more quickly than larger fruits, and greenhouse plants usually start cropping earlier than those outdoors, and continue for longer, well into autumn.'
The society's advice is to check plants every few days and pick tomatoes individually, 'with the stalk still attached' as soon as they're ripe.
If they're in containers, feed every 10-14 days with an organic high potassium liquid fertiliser 'once the first fruits start to swell'. If they're in the ground, they might not need regular feeding – although a fortnightly feed probably wouldn't hurt.
Vegetables to plant in August
Spring onions
What is a warming ramen dinner without some finely-sliced spring onion sprinkled on it? Spring onion is surprisingly very easy to grow. You can regrow spring onion from scraps right in your kitchen and then plant once it's sprouted roots or you can sow spring onion seeds in rows outdoors, covered in 2cm of soil, for a healthy harvest next spring.
Lettuce
Gardeners World advises: 'Sowing lettuce in August will provide you with an early winter harvest. Protect crops with a cloche from late September when temperatures begin to cool. Lettuces can also be overwintered in greenhouses and beneath cloches, for picking leaves from April through to June.'
Spinach
BBC Gardener's World Magazine says if sown in late August, spinach 'can provide a crop of young leaves in October and then enter dormancy in winter, ready to provide a fresh crop of leaves in early spring'.
It advises to sow into well-prepared, fertile soil: 'Water during hot weather to prevent bolting, and then cover with a low cloche when temperatures start to fall.'
Turnip
Turnip is a hardly, delicious delight and actually doesn't go dormant over the winter. It can be harvested right before your Christmas dinner!
The RHS advises: 'In prepared ground make a shallow drill, 1cm (½in) deep, and water along the base if dry. Scatter the seeds thinly along the drill, then cover with soil, firm gently and water lightly. Space any additional rows 23–30cm (9–12in) apart.'
Simple ways to keep your garden thriving
While autumn is just around the corner, we still have some scorching, dry summer days ahead of us and if we're not careful, our gardens could suffer as a result.
Alan Titchmarsh recommends the following:
Water your plants in the evening, so that they have all night to take up the water
In hot, dry weather, make watering your containers the priority, as they dry out the quickest
Look out for and weaken perennial weeds like bindweed and ground elder by pulling off the tops at ground level
If you spot annual weeds, pull them up before they have a chance to set seed
Don't water the lawn – you'll encourage lusher growth that requires more and more water. Instead, leave it to recover in autumn
When mowing, don't go for a close, stubbly crop – leave a few inches on, which will keep it looking greener
Avoid watering plants that are past their best, focus instead on what is or has yet to flower
Happy gardening!
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