August in the Garden

Between deciding what vegetables to plant in August and bringing in a bountiful harvest, you’re going to be spending a lot of time in your vegetable patch this month. So, it’s a good opportunity to carry out some maintenance and give your vegetable plants a little extra care to help them get through one of the hottest, driest months of the year. Here are some jobs for the vegetable patch in August:

• Asparagus - monitor your plants closely for asparagus beetle, which will weaken future crops. These can be removed by hand.
• Aubergines - remove the top growing point to allow the plant to divert its energy into the developing fruit.
• Beetroot - thin out the plants gradually so that each has about 8cm (3 inches) of growing space. Use the leaves as they are, and grate smaller roots into salads.
• Broad beans - once they have finished cropping, cut the plants to ground level. The roots will decay in the soil and provide a source of nitrogen to other plants.
• Celery - water it well, surround the stalks with newspaper and then earth up with soil.
• French and runner beans – water these well in dry weather and add a mulch of peat-free compost or grass clippings afterwards to conserve moisture.
• Peas – protect your peas from birds by covering them with netting, or dangling shiny objects nearby which will move in the wind to deter any feathery pests.
• Sweetcorn - tap the stems of each plant every week to help pollination.
• Blight can devastate tomato and potato crops at this time of year. Look out for brown patches on the plants and remove any affected plant material immediately before it has the chance to spread to the edible parts of the plant.
• Hoe the vegetable patch to reduce competition from weeds for moisture. Hand weed asparagus, carrots and beetroot as they can be easily damaged, and consider using a weed control.

Wandering around the garden picking your homegrown fruit provides a good chance to check the same plants for pests and diseases, pruning opportunities or any other general care.

Pests and diseases

Birds are particularly active at this time of year and have a sweet tooth, favouring figs, cherries, and your ripening berries, so consider protecting these with nets if you don’t want to lose them to any cheeky beaks!

Check for any damage to your apples and pears. If you find an exit hole on the fruit and further tunnelling towards the centre, this may be the result of codling moth caterpillars. These are hard to treat at this time of year but make a note to put up some pheromone traps next spring before the moths have a chance to lay their eggs.

Brown rot is a fungal disease that spreads quickly and can affect many different types of fruit. Remove any affected materials and make a note to prune the plants later in the year to improve air circulation.

If wasps are a problem in your garden, put out a wasp trap to draw them away from the fruit. You can make these yourself quite easily by piercing holes in the lid of an old jam jar, placing some jam inside, and leaving the jar nearby. Just make sure you don’t put it in a part of the garden that you or your family are likely to frequent.

Pruning

They key to effective pruning and therefore keeping your plants growing healthily is timing. Your plum trees should be approaching full growth in August, so take the opportunity to give them a prune – if you leave it until the colder months the cuts can introduce disease.

General care

Make sure you put supports in place for apple and pear trees – either cordons of espaliers – to help direct new growth in a way that retains the intended shape over the next year.

If you have summer-fruiting raspberry canes that produced fruit earlier in the year, then you can now remove the canes. Remove the ones that are brown and woody, and thin out the newer green ones so they are about 25cm (10 inches) apart.

Sever the runners from old strawberry plants and move these young plants to a new location if the bed looks crowded – try to leave about 30cm (12 inches) between the plants. You can also cut back the foliage on grape vines to expose the fruit to the sun. This will cause them to ripen faster.

There are likely to be a few dry spells this month, so make sure you water any new fruit bushes and trees so that they establish strong roots to provide you with fresh fruit for years to come.

Wisteria can be quite active in August and can cause damage to your brickwork and guttering if you’re not careful. Give it a prune and make sure it’s not growing into any crevices. You can also remove any lateral shoots at the base and any straggly growth.

August is also a good opportunity to prune Choisya, lavender, Nepeta and Weigela into a tidy shape once they have finished flowering. Alchemilla, delphinums and hardy geraniums can be cut back to remove the browning leaves.

With some of the hottest weather of the year and frequent dry spells, it’s incredibly important to keep on top of not only your watering, but your weeding in August. Weeds can quite easily take over in dry conditions.

Make sure you pay particular attention to any newly-planted container-grown perennials, keeping them well watered during dry spells. Your established perennials will be a little hardier and only need to be watered during exceptionally dry spells – they already have strong root systems that can withstand a period of drought.

You can keep on top of weeds by lightly hoeing the soil around shrubs. If you do this on a sunny day it will allow the weather to dry and shrivel the weeds. Bindweed can be a nuisance in established borders around this time of year and should be removed as soon as you see it. The flowers may be pretty but it’s an invasive species so don’t be tempted to leave it. If your invasive weeds are persistent, consider using a weed control product – light weeds can be tackled by something like Weedol, while Roundup is ideal for combatting Bindweed.

If you have container-grown roses then they can be planted out in August. You can either move them to larger, more ornate containers, or plant them into a border to provide a beautiful scent for those lazy afternoons in the garden.

There are a few simple things you can do to help a new rose settle into its home stress-free:

• Select an appropriate location for your rose. Many roses thrive in the sun, but varieties are available that are better suited to other conditions, such as particularly shady spots. Make sure you know where best suits your variety.
• Water the soil before planting your rose and add plenty of naturally derived peat-free compost specifically formulated for roses.
• Make sure that the hole or container which you will plant the rose in is several inches deeper and wider than the roots of the rose.
• Tease the roots from the container to encourage them to spread.
• Loosely tie the rose to a cane inserted into the soil, to provide it with extra support.
• Consider using a dedicated rose feed – this will help encourage growth and support your rose bush through the planting shock.
• Water the rose well in the dry heat of August, first thing in the morning or in the evening.

There are many types of rose to choose from depending on the space and location you have in mind, so make sure you choose something that will thrive in your environment.

August is a time to be vigilant in the rose garden. Both dry heat and humidity can create ideal conditions for a number of damaging pests and diseases.

A telltale sign of aphids is an unsightly black ‘soot’ on leaves. This is actually a mould that grows on the sticky excretions left by aphids which have been busy sucking sap from the rose. The aphids particularly enjoy newer growth, such as buds and young leaves. They can be managed either by removing them by hand, using a spray control, or by encouraging predators such as ladybirds and lacewings.

Another issue to look out for, which can look similar, is blackspot – a fungal disease that causes black marks on leaves and sometimes yellowing on the wider leaf. Blackspot can cause roses significant damage, sometimes prompting leaves to drop off completely and inhibiting the plant’s development. Do not compost material from any roses that you think may be infected as you can risk spreading the disease around your garden. You can treat this with a spray specially designed for roses.

The other fungal disease to keep an eye out for is powdery mildew, which causes white growth on roses. It can damage long buds meaning that the rose bush will produce fewer flowers. Make a note to keep pruning your roses throughout autumn and winter to increase airflow around the plant.

Finally, look out for large rose sawflies, their eggs and larvae. You can manage these by encouraging birds into the garden – just make sure that if you have any fruit growing you cover it with a netting.

If natural controls don’t work and your roses continue to be plagued by pests, consider using an organic pest control product to protect against infestations. Remember to use a product – such as RoseClear – that is safe for bees and household pets.

You can provide your roses with some extra resilience by using a specialist, naturally derived feed. This will also prolong the flowering period and keep the leaves looking lush and green, even under the hot summer sun.

August is a very busy time in the garden. Thankfully the weather is usually warm and dry, so maintaining flowers and bulbs can be a good excuse to spend extra time outside and get some exercise.

Prioritise watering flowers and bulbs in containers as the August heat can dry pots out quickly. Water them early in the morning or later in the evening once they are no longer in direct sunlight. Hanging baskets can be taken down in the evenings and placed into a tray of water – this will help ensure they get enough moisture during the warmest, driest parts of the month.

If you have any tall plants that are getting top heavy (such as dahlias or lilies) stake them to help keep them from snapping in strong winds. This also helps to protect the tubers, bulbs and root systems from damage caused by excessive movement.

The warm, humid days offer an ideal environment for pests and diseases to thrive in, so make sure you keep any eye out for things such as lily beetles on lilies and fritillaries. These will strip plants very quickly, so remove them as soon as you see them.

Finally, it’s time to start looking ahead to next year. Collect the seeds from any plants you want to grow again next year, such as sweet peas, poppies, love-in-a-mist and any wildflower areas. The seeds should be dry and should rattle in their pods when you shake them. Store them somewhere cool and dry.

Don’t use the summer heat as an excuse to slack off! You should maintain your regular summer mowing schedule throughout August. Mowing your lawn at least weekly when your grass is growing will encourage grass roots to regenerate themselves and swards to grow thicker, allowing your lawn to develop more resilience towards extreme weather. You should aim to cut the grass to a height of around 5cm (2 inches) or more. This will help to protect the grass in very dry weather.

Try to leave the lawn clippings on the grass for a short time after. This will encourage your lawn to retain moisture during the August heat, but also provides a useful source of nitrogen for the grass. If weeds are still proving problematic, consider using a weed control product specially formulated for lawns.

Finally, it’s time to let go of those wildflower patches and give them a strim, as they will now be past their best.

Regular, moderate watering during very dry spells will keep your lawn looking lush and green. Don’t panic if your lawn goes brown during the heat of summer. This is normal and grass is resilient. It will recover in the autumn once the rains and cooler weather return, but you may wish to aerate the lawn using a garden fork to help air and moisture reach the grass roots.

Keep an eye out for any dandelions in your lawn. They seed themselves freely and create competition for the grass, sapping the moisture and essential nutrients. You can weed them out by hand, but if they’re extensive then a selective lawn weed killer would be a better option.

It’s the small details that make a picture - after you mow your lawn, give the edges a little attention with some edging shears. This above all else will leave your garden looking noticeably tidier.

Recommendation: Sow fresh grass seed in shallow pots or trays so that if you have any bare patches in your lawn in the autumn, you have something to fill them in with.