Gardening tips for August
The RHS top 10 jobs for this month
1. Prune Wisteria
2. Don’t delay summer pruning restricted fruits
3. Deadhead flowering plants regularly
4. Watering! Particularly containers, and new plants - preferably
with grey recycled water or stored rainwater
5. Collect seed from favourite plants
6. Harvest sweetcorn and other vegetables as they become ready
7. Continue cutting out old fruited canes on raspberries
8. Lift and pot up rooted strawberry runners
9. Keep ponds and water features topped up
10. Feed the soil with green manures
Week 1
- Antirrhinums need their flower spikes cut down
- Carnations and pinks should be layered to provide new stock
for next year
- Clematis, honeysuckle and wisteria should be trained before
the shoots become unmanageable
- Sow Annuals like antirrhinums, pansies, violas, Iceland poppies
for flowering next Spring
- Annuals such as Clarkia, cyclamen, pelargoniums, schizanthus
and stocks for winter flowering should be sown
- Broccoli will require plenty of water when the heads are forming.
- Celery and leeks should be earthed up.
Week 2
- Dahlias for show need to be disbudded to force the energy to
the flowering buds and staking with sticks surmounted with clay
plant pots for earwig traps.
- Lavender may need trimming.
- Penstemons need their flower spikes cut down.
- Roses can still be budded to supplement next year's stock.
- Sweet peas need watering and a dose of liquid manure.
- Asparagus beds must be kept free of weeds. Cut the bearing tips
unless seed is required
- Ridge cucumbers, tomatoes and marrows need water as required
during hot weather
- Garlic and onions can be harvested this month and then ripened.
Week 3
- Tulips to be moved need to be lifted and stored on their sides
in trays.
- Viola cuttings may be taken and struck.
- Amaryllis, colchicum, cyclamen, Guernsey lily and narcissi can
be planted in pots or beds for next year
- Cuttings of carnations and picotees should be planted out and
others potted for use as replacements
- Perennial seedings should be thinned and the removed plants
put in other positions in the garden
- Primulas should be divided and repotted
- Plants, like French beans and onions can be left for next year's
seed.
- Pests like earwigs and snails should be trapped
Week 4
- All kinds of hardy plants and bedding plants can be struck
in sandy soil this month.
- Fuchsias, pelargoniums, heliotrope, hydrangeas and all half-hardy
plants and alpines such as rock plants may be used for cuttings
- Camellias that need to moved should be done now
- Chrysanthemums need potting
- Freesias and Hyacinths for Christmas should be potted
- Runner beans should be stopped when they reach the top of the
poles and the fruit harvested when formed and not left on the
vine
- Cauliflower seeds can be started in a frame
- Apples, pears and plums may need the fruit thinning out if the
crop is heavy
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