Jobs for August

General gardening jobs:

• In the greenhouse: continue to open the door/ windows and spray the floor with water to create a damp atmosphere to deter whitefly. Continue feeding Tomatoes, Peppers, Chillies and Melons with Tomato feed – always follow the instructions on the bottle. Too much fertiliser is bad for the plants!

• Continue to dead head bedding plants regularly to keep them flowering. When dead heading Roses cut back to the first or second pair of leaves.

• Continue to water pots/ hanging basket, veg and anything recently planted in the borders. Water in the morning, or at night, so that it does not evaporate in the hot weather. Give any plants planted this year a thorough watering once a week rather than daily as it encourages the roots to go deeper into the soil and cope better with hot conditions.

• Continue to keep on top of the weeding in the borders by hoeing or hand weeding.

• Continue to watch for pest damage and disease.

• Keep Camellias and Rhododendrons / Azaleas in pots watered (if you can, use rainwater) as they need moisture to help them form flowering buds for next year.

• Hedges can be trimmed but check for any nesting birds – it is illegal to disturb nesting birds.

• Prune the ‘whippy’ stems on Wisteria back to five or six leaves from the start of the stem. You may well need to do this more than once!

• Take photographs of your borders to see what’s in flower, what is coping with the hot weather. It’s a chance to look at what grew well and how to improve the garden next year.

Vegetable / Fruit growing

• When watering in these hot conditions in the morning if possible and soak the beds well if possible.

• Check courgettes regularly and harvest when 4 to 5 inches long – this ensures a longer cropping period.

• Continue to harvest any lettuce and radish.

• Start lifting early potatoes and continue sowing fast growing crops like radish, rocket and lettuce.

• Give the runner beans a good soak to ensure the beans form. Keep picking the beans – the more you pick, the more you’ll get!

• Check any sweet corn for ripeness – when the tassels have turned brown carefully peel the corn and squeeze a piece of sweet corn. If a watery liquid squirts out it is still unripe.

• If you’ve got the space, sow turnips, spring cabbage, fennel and autumn/ winter salad crops.