August in the Garden

As July slips quietly away only to be replaced by gentle August rain, Ali Barwani looks at a few gardening jobs needing to be done and concludes by celebrating the arrival of some of his favourite autumn flowering perennials that offer brilliant colour for later days.

August in the Garden.

Gardens have reached the peak of summer, the floral summit before the downward slide into chilly autumn mornings. However, there is still gardening to be done – with ample time in the long dusks of evening even if you are working during the day.

Are you going on holiday? Then now is time to ask your friends and neighbours for a little gardening help while you are away. Alternatively, you can prune, deadhead, and harvest before you depart. The freezer comes into its own when the focus is on picking abundant soft fruits and vegetables.

Get Organised.

August is the month for planning ahead. The ground needs to be prepared for planting autumn vegetables. Seeds need to be sown for next year’s flowers, and soon spring bulbs will be returning to our racks and shelves.

Our Summer Sale.

The transition from July to August is also the time for the Capital Gardens Summer Sale: with reduced prices across a range of plants, garden accessories, tools, solar lighting, and stylish garden furniture. Pop in and take a look!

August Jobs.

This final month of summer is the time for garden care and maintenance. Apart for continued weeding, some jobs to be getting on with include:

• Sowing hardy annuals such as Nigella, forget-me-nots, and Calendula in the areas you want them to flower next year.
• Plant autumn flowering bulbs such as Nerines, Colchicums, saffron crocus, and Sternbergia in pots and borders.
• Keep you summer bedding going in pots, window boxes and hanging baskets. Remember to deadhead and water regularly. Liquid tomato food should be given fortnightly.
• Lavender needs to be lightly pruned once flowering has finished – this will keep bushes compact and fresh. Do not cut into old wood; lavender does not normally grow back from old wood.
• Flowering perennials such as Dahlias and Heleniums need regular deadheading to encourage a continual display of flowers.
• Rambling roses should be pruned. Up to a third of the stems that flowered this year can be removed. The remaining stems should be tied to wires.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/roses/rambler/pruning-guide

• Wisteria requires summer pruning. This involves reducing the wispy, long sideshoots to around 20 cm.
• Camellias and rhododendrons should be given plenty of water during late summer, this is because their flower buds are beginning to form now.
• Figs need plucking as soon as they ripen on the tree.
• Apple and pear trees can be given a summer prune to limit their spread, and to encourage generous fruiting next year.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/fruit/apples/summer-pruning

• Water vegetable plants regularly and apply tomato food every 7-14 days to ensure a bumper crop.
• Harvest prolific vegetables such as courgettes, tomatoes, cucumbers, and chillies regularly to encourage continued production.
• Keep removing foliage from around tomato fruit trusses to allow maximum exposure to ripening sunlight.
• Look for the first signs of potato blight on tomato plants. Infected plants cannot be saved and must be removed and placed in your green bin before the infection spreads.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/disease/tomato-blight

• Hardy winter vegetables can be sown now for autumn and winter pickings. Rocket, corn salad, and oriental greens such as Chinese cabbage, komatsuma, pak choi, and choy sum.

Late Flowering Perennials.

August is not the end of the gardening rainbow. There is lots of colour yet to come if you have the right plants in your borders.

August is the time when late summer perennials take up the floral baton and run with it. Agastache, Michaelmas daisies (I favour Aster x frikartii Mönch), Crocosmia, penstemons, Japanese anemones, echinaceas, rudbeckias, sedums (now in the genus Hylotelephium), salvias, and chrysanthemums will all brighten your garden as the days shorten and get cooler.

So, if you feel that your garden is running out of steam why not add some of these plants that flower in late summer and autumn? Keep the summer going!