August Jobs

Ornamental garden:

• Continue to deadhead, especially dahlias which should be looking great by now.
• Weed – shouldn’t be too much of this but its best to keep on top of it.
• Keep the lawn mown and edges cut – raise the height of the cut in dry weather.
• Trim hedges – now the birds have finished nesting, it's time to get your hedges back in order
• Water – Especially container grown plants as these will require more regular watering.
• If you have any meadow areas, these should be cut and the hay raked asap.
• Spray and feed roses.
• Plant out autumn flowering bulbs eg colchicum.
• Remove lavender stalks and trim bush leaving some green fresh foliage.
• Order spring-flowering bulbs.
• Ensure camellias have sufficient water to ensure flowers for next year.
• Clip evergreen shrubs.
• Collect any seeds or seed pods from existing plants.
• Prune current seasons growth of wisteria back to 5-6 leaves.
• Mow summer flowering meadows.

Vegetable Garden:

• Harvest garlic and lift onions.
• Sow oriental greens such as mizuna and mibuna, pak choi etc.
• Harvest apples and pears.
• Plant new strawberry plants.
• Start lifting main crop potatoes.
• Summer prune trained fruit such as espalier apples, pears etc.
• Trim non-flowering stems of grapes cutting back to one leaf from the main branch.