When it comes to August, it can become easy to sit back and bask in the glory of your beautiful garden, bursting full of colours and blooms.
Especially now, as Britain enjoys yet another summer heatwave, the sun can be trusted to keep shining on your hard work.
However, plenty remains that you can still keep yourself busy with, according to gardening guru Helena Jones.
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Keeping on top of watering is essential during summer
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“Is there a more glorious month to be out in the garden? The borders are full to bursting, there’s colour everywhere you look, and the sun can be relied on to shine at least some of the time,” she said.
“Now’s the perfect moment to enjoy the fruits of your labour. Just don’t get too comfortable - there’s still plenty to be getting on with.”
From trimming hedges, keeping on top of watering, as well as a bit of pruning here and there, there is little to no time to waste.
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Pruning
Although it might be considered a tedious job to some, early pruning (that is, in the summer) can be the key to bountiful blooms next year or just keeping them looking fresh and in shape.
Helena dubbed August the “ideal time” to prune deciduous, climbing, summer-flowering shrubs, such as wisteria, jasmine, roses, lavender and your standard garden hedge.
However, each individual plant and flower requires specific care, which means that it is crucial to research whichever species you might have in your garden before cracking out the clippers.
For the best blooms, it is necessary to prune certain shrubs back several times a year
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Planting
Now, we have reached the “tail-end of the autumn flowering bulb planting season”, Helena warned, urging green thumbs to get going with planting bulbs and various other seeds in preparation for next spring.
She recommended prioritising nerine, autumn crocus, sternbergia, autumn cyclamen and colchicum.
But August is also the moment to sow hardy annuals. Although it is normally done in September, Helena said that you can “bend the rules slightly” and get started at the end of the month, getting a head start on the chore.
“This can actually lead to plants which flower ahead of schedule next spring,” she explained, adding: “The one condition is I recommend paying special attention to watering in those initial few weeks, when conditions can be very hot and dry for new seedlings.”
She advised trying out plants like ammi, nigella, honesty, cornflower, poppy and flax.
Encouraging natural predators into your garden can help deter pesky pests
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Keeping an eye out for pests
Diseases and pests can be enticed out by the warm weather, leading to potential threats running rampant in your garden.
As a result, Helena urged gardeners to watch out for a number of fungal diseases, from powdery mildew to rose black spot.
However, little creepy-crawlies could be a bigger threat, such as the miniscule vine weevil. “The little white grubs have a voracious appetite for underground growth and will often decimate entire root systems,” Helena explained.
She encouraged gardeners to welcome natural predators into the area, such as frogs, shrews, toads, birds, hedgehogs, and ground beetles.