Although this is traditionally the holiday season, it is important to keep on top of some of the routine garden jobs, such as deadheading, weeding and watering. This could be a dry month in which case watering is essential.

Here is a list of jobs to do this month.

Flowers

• Summer prune wisteria after flowering by removing all the whippy side-shoots from the main branch framework to about five leaves from the main stem;
• Prune rambling roses after flowering;
• Trim lavender once the flowers have faded to maintain a compact, bushy shape, but avoid cutting into old wood;
• Deadhead roses, dahlias and perennials to encourage a constant display of flowers;
• Feed and regularly water plants in containers;
• Take cuttings from tender perennials such as pelargoniums, fuchsias and verbena;
• Collect ripening seed from plants such as sweet peas and love-in-a-mist that you wish to propagate;
• Plant autumn bulbs such as colchicums and nerines in pots and borders;
• Start planting early-flowering biennials such as wallflowers which were sown under cover earlier this year;

Fruit and Veg

• Lift and pot up new strawberry plants, and keep them well watered;
• Pick courgettes regularly so they don’t turn into marrows;
• Divide clumps of chives;
• Ensure that your fruit crops aren’t eaten by the birds by covering them with netting, ensuring the netting stands well clear of the fruit;

Greenhouse

• Water and feed tomatoes regularly, and remove lower leaves to allow the fruits to ripen;
• Be vigilant for signs of tomato and potato blight, removing affected plants immediately to prevent spread;
• Pinch out the tops of outdoor tomatoes, as further flowers are unlikely to produce fruits that have time to ripen;

Garden Maintenance

• Make sure birds have water in dry spells;
• Mow less frequently if the weather is hot and dry;
• Strim or mow areas of wildflower meadow, now that the plants have scattered their seeds;
• Clear weeds from cracks in paving and driveways before they get established;
• Now is the time to look at your borders and note any gaps or congested areas that you’ll want to rectify later on in the year;
• Order spring-flowering bulbs now as stock of the more popular varieties may not be available later in the season. You can start planting bulbs such as narcissi, alliums and crocus from September. Leave planting of tulips to later in November to help prevent problems such as tulip fire as soils are colder and fungal spores are less likely to spread;

Missed the Chelsea Chop? Embrace the Hampton Hack!

If you missed the window for the Chelsea Chop in May, don’t worry! That handy technique, timed with the Chelsea Flower Show, helps extend the flowering season of herbaceous plants.

But it’s not too late to give your garden a boost. You can rejuvenate tired July borders by using the Hampton Hack. This method coincides with the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival and is perfect for revitalising your plants now.

Shrubs that respond well to the Hampton hack include:

Philadelphus
Weigela
Helianthemums

These can all take quite tough mid-summer pruning, which will prolong their life and stop them from becoming unattractively untidy or too big for their boots.

Herbaceous plants:

Alchemilla mollis
Astrantias
Herbaceous Geraniums
Nepeta

The degree of cutting back is specific to each species but the closer to the flowering time you prune, the greater the delay in flowering. Doing the ‘Hampton Hack’ can delay the flowering of perennials by four to six weeks. You can either prune all the stems on a clump, which delays all the flowers, or just half of them, which spreads the plant’s flowering over a longer period. This can have some positive results:

The plants are not so tall and leggy
They need less staking
The flowers are smaller but more numerous

This happens because the removal of the top shoots enables the side shoots to branch out (the top shoots would normally inhibit the side shoots by producing hormones in a process called apical dominance). Using this method, along with regular feeding and watering, ensures beds and borders look tidy throughout summer.

After Lupins and Delphiniums have finished flowering, chop them down to about 30 cm in height, apply a mulch around their base and give them a generous drink of water. They’ll start into growth again and may produce additional smaller flowers on shorter stems later on in the year, and you’ll have new foliage to look at instead of a yellowing mess.

With the autumn-planting season just around the corner, garden centres and on-line retailers are now stocking spring-flowering bulbs. If you want to ensure that you have the variety you’re after, then now is the time to purchase them.

What to look out for
Try to get big, firm bulbs, as usually the larger they are, the better they flower. Avoid any that are soft or have mould growing on.

When to plant spring bulbs?
Autumn is the best time to plant spring bulbs as the soil is still warm. Ideally, bulbs such as daffodils, crocus, muscari and hyacinths should be planted by the end of September if you want them to flower early next year.

 

Tulips should be planted a little later in autumn, so aim to wait until November when the soil is cold and this will help to avoid any potential viruses that may be lurking in the soil.

I often plant tulips in pots as this means that after flowering, when there is just the messy foliage left, they can be replaced by something else to extend the flowering season.

 

 

You can leave planting of Alliums until early in December to ensure that they flower over summer the following year.

 

 

If planting in a border:

• Dig a hole wide and deep enough for your bulbs. Most bulbs should be planted two to three times their depth. For example, for a bulb measuring 5cm high, dig a hole 10-15cm in depth and place the bulb in the bottom of it.
• Ensure that bulbs are placed in the hole with their growing tip facing upwards. If you don’t see a pointy side, look for where the roots are coming out. Sometimes it’s not always obvious, in which case planting them on their side will ensure the shoot grows towards the surface. Space them at least twice the bulb’s own width apart.
• Cover with soil and gently firm in.
• If the ground is moist there is no need to water, otherwise water straight after planting.
• Squirrels often love to dig up freshly planted bulbs. If you think this may be a problem, weigh down some chicken wire over the area to protect the bulbs.

Planting in a container:

• Use a mix of three parts multi-purpose compost with one part grit as this will help with drainage.
• Before planting, check that the bulbs are healthy and showing no signs of rot. Plant the bulbs three times their depth and one bulb width apart.
• Water after planting, ensuring that they don’t dry out. Once you start to see active growth, ensure that they are regularly watered. It will also help at this stage that you start to feed them with a liquid tomato feed. Once they have finished flowering and the foliage begins to die back, stop feeding.

If you find that after buying your bulbs, you forget about them or haven’t had the time to plant them, don’t worry too much. Plant them as soon as you remember. I’ve planted Alliums in late January some years, they will still flower but perhaps just a little later than expected.