August Gardening Jobs
Harvesting and maintenance are the key tasks in the garden this month. It’s also a great time to start thinking about where and what you will be planting this Autumn to ensure you have a stunning garden in Spring 2022!
See our top jobs for the month below…
Deadhead Dahlias for continued flowering
Dahlias are a firm favourite in the nation’s gardens at this time of year. To get the very best out of them, remove any spent blooms so that the plant can focus its energy on producing more flowers.
Prune apple trees to encourage good fruiting in the years to come
Certain restricted forms of apple trees will really benefit from being pruned at this time of year. Doing so allows sunlight to reach and ripen the fruit – ensuring better yields in the years to come.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) has a great guide on how to do this effectively.
Harvest potatoes
You may have been doing this already if you planted Second Early potato varieties. This month, you can also start to lift Main Crop potato varieties. The perfect addition to your roast dinners!
Keep bird baths topped up during warm weather
During hot weather, some birds may need to make a quick pit stop to cool down. Leaving fresh water – whether on a feeder stand, in a bird bath or in a dish – will mean they have somewhere to have a wash!
Cut the lower leaves off tomato plants
Pruning out some of the lower leaves on tomato plants prevents crowding, promotes airflow and ultimately prevents diseases from taking hold.
It’s the work of minutes and could save you from tomato-related heartache further down the line…
Trim hedging manually for perfect results
This advice is particularly relevant for laurel hedging. Cutting laurel using strimmers can result in half-cut leaves, which will eventually die off and turn brown.
For smaller tidy up jobs, use secateurs to avoid this and achieve the perfect finish to your hedge.
Protect Blackberries and Autumn Raspberries from birds
If you’re a bramble enthusiast, covering your emerging crops with netting is a quick, cheap and easy way to protect them from hungry birds.
Netting is available at our garden centres – either pre-cut and packaged or from our bulk rolls – for as little as £1.99.
Bulb planting and seed sowing are not far away - make a plan for your 2022 garden or allotment!
It’s not long now until gardeners will be planting Tulips, Daffodils, Crocus and more.
Go into the planting season with a plan of how you would like your garden or allotment to look in 2022! Whether you need to plan crop rotations, or what colour flowers to plant where – sitting down with a pencil and ruler is the best place to start.