The height of summer. Along with basking in the sun there are one or two jobs you can get on with in the garden to help extend the flowering season and keep things looking neat and tidy. It’s also a good time to plan for next year.
- Collect seed as they ripen from plants you want to propagate.
- The tempting ‘sweet shop’ catalog will have arrived on your doorstep, make yourself a cuppa, sit down and peruse all the wonderful bulbs. Just remember whatever you order you have to have a home for!
- Deadheading is still important during this month to extend the flowering period for as long as you can.
- Cut back lavender as soon as the flowers have gone over. The easiest way is to take the shears to it but make sure you don’t cut back into the old wood, just remove the flowers and the tips off the new growth.
- Now is also a good time to cut back Alchemilla, you don’t have to be careful with this one, in fact shear everything off down to the ground. It will soon grow new leaves that will form a nice tidy clump.
- Trim back conifer hedges.
- Continue to prune back the long whippy side shoots of Wisteria to about 5 or 6 leaves.
- Keep up the weeding, especially on warm dry days, it doesn’t take long to hoe over a border.
- Talking of warm dry weather don’t forget the watering, give all pots a thorough soaking. Also make plans for your pots if you are off on holiday, perhaps your neighbours could water them or if not, put them into a shady spot and give them a really good soaking before you go.
- Guarantee yourself a fresh supply of lavender & rosemary plants by taking cuttings.