Gardening jobs you can do in August

annie123

August is a lovely time in the garden, plenty of flowers out and lots to harvest. Balmy evenings should have arrived which allow for sitting and enjoying with a glass of wine.
Still plenty to do though.

This is a good time to think about spring bulbs as many can be planted next month, so look back to your note book if you have one for any gaps that you wanted to fill in spring. Bulb catalogues are out now and on web sites to get ideas.
Get together with others to share the cost as it is much cheaper to buy in large quantities but who wants to plant 100 daffs..…I would, but only I've only got a small garden.

Grow some xmas presents Hyacinths, mini daffodils, freesias, and Hyacinth corms can be planted in bowls now to achieve flowers for Christmas. Once they have put on 2.5cm (1in) growth, they can be taken into a cool room, only to be brought into a warm room in time to flower for the festive period.

Flower garden

• Take Cuttings Continue taking summer cuttings of fuchsias, pelargoniums and tender perennials. These root quickly at this time of year, and will successfully over winter on a bedroom windowsill. Many houseplants, including coleus and African violets, can also be propagated from cuttings now.
• Collect seeds from favorite plants, store in brown paper bags or envelopes. I save envelopes posted to me for this. Good plants to try include Calendula, Nigella, Cerinthe, Papaver, Aquilegia and hardy Geranium. Allow some plants to self-seed to give a surprise to the garden.
• Towards the end of August sow hardy annuals directly into borders
• Trim hedges especially hedging conifers that can become tall and annoy neighbours. Be considerate, and cut their tops down to 3m (10ft) at a maximum.
• Lawns In hot, dry weather, keep grass longer by setting the mower blades higher. If it goes brown it will recover quickly in the autumn
• Weeds: keep that hoe moving and nasty ones like bindweed etc
• Support plants: tall perennials and lilies with bamboo canes and watch out for lily beetles and their larvae.
• Dried flowers Cut everlasting flowers, such as helichrysum and achillea, when they are at their peak. Hang them upside down in a warm, airy position to dry naturally, ready for decorative arrangements.
• Prune wisteria shortening their long wispy side shoots back to about five or six leaves from the main framework. If the plant's flowering performance was poor last spring, drench the soil with a high-potash fertiliser for an improvement
• Water container plants Pots that have dried out should be submerged in water and left to soak for a few hours Even if it rains, pots often remain dry if they are close to a wall or fence as their foliage acts as an umbrella. Holiday watering Move any baskets and containers out of full sun to a position where they are shaded at the height of the day. Stand terracotta pots on gravel trays topped up with water, so the pots can gradually absorb the reservoir of liquid.
• Keep Dead-heading
• Prune climbing and rambling roses that do not repeat flower if you do not want the hips, once the flowers have finished.
• start bulb planting for spring

Kitchen gardening

• Crops to sow now directly outside: lettuce, Chinese cabbage, spring cabbage, rocket, sorrel, fennel, endive, kohl rabi, radish, winter spinach and turnips for their green tops. Oriental vegetables and over wintering onions,
• Tomatoes Regularly pinch out any tomato side shoots and tie the leading shoot to its support. Feed weekly with a high-potash tomato fertiliser, never letting them go short of water.
• Cucumbers Pinch out the tips of side shoots to a couple of leaves beyond any developing fruits. Remember to pick any cucumbers regularly, as leaving old fruit on plants delays further flowering.
• Rasperries .Pick the last raspberries, then prune the stems of summer varieties down to soil level. Tie in new shoots, about 10cm to 15cm (4in to 6in) apart, and remove excess ones.
• Strawberries: Peg down strawberry runners from new plants into the soil or pots of compost to root. Shear off the foliage just above the crown of each plant and clear away any debris. Lift and pot up rooted strawberry runners.
• Potatoes Hot and humid conditions can encourage a rapid spread of potato blight, so you could consider spraying the crops with a chemical fungicide to prevent an attack. Extra water given to potatoes can also boost yields.
• Transplant young winter vegetable crops from their seed-bed when their stalks are about the thickness of a pencil.
• Lift onions, shallots and garlic when ready. Plants should be harvested when the necks start to turn brown and papery, and bend over naturally. Once harvested, let the tops dry until they rustle like brown paper
• Regularly pick fast-maturing vegetables such as French beans, runner beans, courgettes, cucumbers and tomatoes, to prevent stringiness or toughness, and to encourage further cropping.
• Celery earth up putting a layer of paper between the stems and the soil less mud to take off.
• Sow green manures such as crimson clover and Italian ryegrass to act as a soil improver and to cover bare areas. When dug in, they conserve nutrients and improve soil texture.
• Alternatively, after clearing old crops, place black plastic over bare areas of ground to suppress weed growth.
• Herbs Take cuttings of rosemary, bay and hyssop. Cut back flowered herbs such as marjoram to encourage a second flush.Parsley can be sown in southern parts of the UK, to crop during the winter Other herbs can be potted up and taken into the house for convenient use over the autumn and winter.

Ponds and wildlife care

• Top up the sunken water-levels in garden ponds
• Continue to remove blanket weed and duckweed using a net or rake. Pile the weed by the side of the pond for 24 hours to allow pond life to crawl back into the water and then put on the compost heap.
• Aerate the water in hot sticky weather by leaving fountains on overnight.
• Clearing out fallen leaves and debris regularly will help to keep down algal growth, as there will be fewer nutrients available from rotting organic matter. Barley straw pads or extract may also be beneficial.

Jobs for the month

• Top up bird feeders and put out food on the ground and bird tables
• Keep the bird bath topped up
• Regularly clean the bird bath and table
• Make piles of logs, twigs and/or rocks to create shelter for wildlife
• Go on an evening wildlife walk looking for bats (peak month now)
• Put out hedgehog and badger food
• Construct a hedgehog hibernation box
• Watch out for adult frogs and toads leaving the pond dont mow them down.
• Plant annuals and perennials to attract insects for next year
• Leave roses that produce hips without dead-heading
• Allow seed heads to develop on some plants as a source of food
• Summer meadows may be ready for cutting
• Make a bee box using old canes/plastic straws

A birdbath can be a vital source of drinking water for birds. In hot, dry weather, many birds delight in ‘dust-bathing’ as well as splashing in the birdbath.

Hover flies and ladybirds are in abundance this month. They are both good garden pest catchers, so are to be encouraged. Hover flies do not sting even though they look similar to wasps. Gardeners have traditionally planted marigolds around the vegetable patch to attract hover flies as pest control.

Wasps, despite their reputation as fruit blemishing, stinging pests, are good controllers of many garden pests, including flies and grubs. They are also useful pollinators of flowers.

This is flying ant season, when hundreds of winged ants emerge from their nests and fly up in the air to mate. It all happens in about a quarter of an hour. After mating, the females bite off their own wings and crawl off to start another nest. You may see crowds of winged males swarming aimlessly round the garden - a feast for birds and other predators - once mating is over.

Young litters of hedgehogs are now learning their survival skills. Feed cat and dog food, Not milk and bread please

You could think ahead and construct a hedgehog hibernation box for later in the season.

Adult frogs, toads and newts, are also leaving the pond, usually at times when the ground is damp. Later in the season, they will find places to hibernate for the winter.
Corrugated iron or plastic laid on the soil can provide warm tunnels for small reptiles, amphibians and mammals to hide in.


Just a few ideas to get us going, must be lots more, do let us know what your doing to give others ideas.
Happy gardening everyone:D

zarazara

excellent post

Jack's_mummy

Thanks Annie - reminds me I must get some cuttings doing

olly300

You've explained why I've got so many hover flies in my garden.

teedy23

What do lily beetles look like, are they red? are the larva browny cocoon like thigs, if they are I,ve gottem. How do you get rid of them. My lillies have flowered and passed, I think they are lillies, I didnt plant them. They are orange and hang like lanterns with petals curling upwards, beautiful.

KAAT_LADY

brilliant,,,,,as always,,,,,,,,, thankyou annie123

Larumbelle

teedy23 wrote: »

What do lily beetles look like, are they red? are the larva browny cocoon like thigs, if they are I,ve gottem. How do you get rid of them. My lillies have flowered and passed, I think they are lillies, I didnt plant them. They are orange and hang like lanterns with petals curling upwards, beautiful.

yep, they're red teedy, it sounds like you've got them. Try this thread for lots of advice and ideas:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=460277&highlight=lily+beetle

teedy23

Thanks for that sivercharming. What a shame, these lillies were a lovely surprize when they appeared, after I had bought this house, and started to get the garden into shape. They flower very early so only stems left now , I,m going to cut these off and bin them now but I,ll know what to look for in future.

nozzy6

annie123 wrote: »

• Strawberries: Peg down strawberry runners from new plants into the soil or pots of compost to root. Shear off the foliage just above the crown of each plant and clear away any debris. Lift and pot up rooted strawberry runners.

could I ask what you mean by "the crown of each plant" I've got about 6 strawb plants in a tower pot that is starting to look a bit out of control! Quite a few strawberries growing but loads of leaves as well and not really sure which bits I should be cutting off for best results?

Thanks

annie123

nozzy6 wrote: »

could I ask what you mean by "the crown of each plant" I've got about 6 strawb plants in a tower pot that is starting to look a bit out of control! Quite a few strawberries growing but loads of leaves as well and not really sure which bits I should be cutting off for best results?

Thanks

The crown is the main part, the bit sticking out from the earth, that part is perennial. Each year it puts down new roots, so you have to earth up around the crown, as the roots get higher and higher up it.
The leaves at the top of it or the center of the plant can get large and drain the plant so you get less strawberries and runners.

I cut away 50% of the big leaves coming out of the center of the plant. If that makes sense?!

Even better, a pdf that explains strawberries better than me :rolleyes: http://www.wiberries.org/kids/plant.pdf

nozzy6

thanks very much annie123, much appreciated!