insideKENT Magazine Issue 29 - August 2014 | Page 128

OUTDOORLIVING

Caring for your garden
this August
August is usually one of the hottest months of the year – making watering essential.
Try to use grey water wherever possible, especially as water butts may be running low
if it has been a dry summer. August is traditionally holiday time, so you might need to
enlist the help of friends and family to look after the garden while you’re away. When
you’re at home, take the time to prune summer-flowering shrubs.

FLOWERS
Sowing and planting
Towards the end of August sow hardy annuals
directly into borders. They will overwinter and
flower next summer.
Cutting back, pruning and dividing
Cutting back the foliage and stems of herbaceous
plants that have already died back (e.g. Dicentra)
is starting to be a priority. Don't neglect hanging
baskets – deadheading, watering and feeding
will help them last through until autumn.
Deadhead plants such as dahlia, roses and
penstemon and bedding to prolong the display
colour well into early autumn. Don't cut off the
flowerheads of ornamental grasses; these will
provide winter interest.
Hardy geraniums can be cut back a little
to remove tired leaves and encourage a new
flush of growth. Prune climbing and rambling
roses that do not repeat flower or produce
attractive hips, once the flowers have finished.
General maintenance
Feed containers, and even tired border perennials,
with a liquid tomato food each week to encourage

them to bloom into the early autumn. Keep
picking flowers from the cutting garden to
encourage more flower buds to form and open.
Alpines that have developed bare patches
of die-back, or have become weedy, can be
tidied up by in-filling the patches with gritty
compost. This will encourage new growth as
well as improving their appearance.
Planning ahead
Collect and store seed of hardy annuals and
perennials for sowing later in the autumn. Good
plants to try include calendula, nigella, cerinthe,
papaver, aquilegia and hardy geranium.
Buy or order spring-flowering bulbs. Some
bulbs can be planted now, such as colchicum,
daffodils and Madonna lilies (L. candidum).

TREES & SHRUBS
Pruning and training
Prune wisteria and shrubs such as pyracantha
after flowering. Hebes and lavenders can be
given a light prune after flowering. Rambling roses
can be pruned now, once they have finished
flowering.

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Give hedges a final trim over now. They will
only grow a little before cold weather stops
growth. Get in qualified tree surgeons to remove
large shrubs and trees that wer e casualties of
winter waterlogging and summer drought.
Remove stumps wherever possible, as rots could
spread to other plants.
General maintenance
Continue to deadhead shrubs, such as roses,
to extend flowering into early autumn. Spindly
specimens that have lost leaves can be cut back
a little further when deadheading, to encourage
new growth.
Thoroughly soak drought-stressed plants
and shrubs, especially newly planted ones. Use
grey, recycled or stored rainwater wherever
possible.
Keep early-flowering shrubs such as Camellia
and Rhododendron well watered during dry
periods to ensure good flower bud initiation.