Gardening in August: This is absolutely everything you need to do

It's time to plant Christmas potatoes.





HABARI1GETTY IMAGES

Gardening in August: Water, harvest and deadhead to keep your garden blooming throughout this dry sunny month

Shrubs

Prune summer-flowering shrubs such as buddleia, fuchsia, caryopteris and wisteria as soon as they've finished blooming. This means there will be plenty of time for new growth that will carry the flowers next year. When you're pruning, give the plant a good shape and remove any diseased and damaged branches.

Perennials

• Try to keep them looking fresh. The difference between a garden that's watered and fed and one that isn't is never more obvious than in August.

• Deadhead lilies, annuals, roses and dahlias to encourage further blooming. Many plants in the garden will produce more flowers if you deadhead, but even if they don't, removing decaying stems will make the garden look better. Plants that don't need deadheading tend to be the ones that have very small flowers, such as lobelia, oxalis and gaura.

• If you want to add to your garden at this time of year, visit your local garden centre and see which late-summer perennials are looking good. It's fine to plant them now, as long as you can keep them well watered. They tend to be the ones with bright colours such as red hot pokers (pictured above), rudbeckias and achilleas. These are coming into their own now and will continue through to autumn. If you'd prefer late-flowering plants in cooler colours, opt for white and pink Japanese anemones and gauras and purple Verbena bonariensis, Russian sage and nepeta.



Rudbeckias


• Collecting seeds is easy and rewarding. It's worth trying with any flowering plant and you can find details of how to treat specific seeds online or in books. Make sure the seed is ripe before you gather it and do it on a dry day. Store in paper bags so any moisture can escape. Write the name of the seed and the date on the bag and then store in a cool, dry place. Some seeds may need to be kept very cold for a number of weeks so it's worth putting these in the bottom of the fridge for winter.

'The difference between a garden that's watered and fed and one that isn't is never more obvious than in August.'

Fruit and vegetables

• Keep watering and keep picking. Try to harvest courgettes regularly so they produce more flowers and fruits.

• Blackberries, raspberries, early apples and pears will all be ready now. If a gentle twist will remove them, then they're ready to pick.

• Harvest sweetcorn as it becomes ripe – this is when the juices inside the corns are milky. If there's no liquid, it's too late.

• Tomatoes ought to be reddening up now and ripe for harvesting.



SOLOLOSGETTY IMAGES

• Remember to swap, freeze and dry any fruit or vegetables that you have a glut of.

• Carrots and beetroot can be harvested as needed.

• Lift and store potatoes. Dry onions, shallots and garlic when the leaves are yellow. Hang them or store in hessian sacks.



CORAMUELLERGETTY IMAGES

• Keep picking beans or they'll stop producing fruit.

• It's the last hurrah for sowing lettuce and other salad leaves, spinach, chard and beetroot, and don't forget to make sure tomatoes are watered and fed.

• There's still time to transplant the runners of strawberry plants, either into their new positions or into containers.

• Plant Christmas potatoes now. These are tubers that have been cold stored by suppliers and if planted now should be ready in three months. Put some in over the next few weeks for Christmas lunch. The idea is that the tubers form before the first frosts. Once the tops have died down you can lift the potatoes, but leave it as long as possible so the flavour and texture isn't compromised.




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Gardening in August: This is absolutely everything you need to do

It's time to plant Christmas potatoes.

BY THE HOUSE BEAUTIFUL TEAM

AUG 6, 2019



HABARI1GETTY IMAGES

Gardening in August: Water, harvest and deadhead to keep your garden blooming throughout this dry sunny month

Shrubs

Prune summer-flowering shrubs such as buddleia, fuchsia, caryopteris and wisteria as soon as they've finished blooming. This means there will be plenty of time for new growth that will carry the flowers next year. When you're pruning, give the plant a good shape and remove any diseased and damaged branches.

Perennials

• Try to keep them looking fresh. The difference between a garden that's watered and fed and one that isn't is never more obvious than in August.

• Deadhead lilies, annuals, roses and dahlias to encourage further blooming. Many plants in the garden will produce more flowers if you deadhead, but even if they don't, removing decaying stems will make the garden look better. Plants that don't need deadheading tend to be the ones that have very small flowers, such as lobelia, oxalis and gaura.

• If you want to add to your garden at this time of year, visit your local garden centre and see which late-summer perennials are looking good. It's fine to plant them now, as long as you can keep them well watered. They tend to be the ones with bright colours such as red hot pokers (pictured above), rudbeckias and achilleas. These are coming into their own now and will continue through to autumn. If you'd prefer late-flowering plants in cooler colours, opt for white and pink Japanese anemones and gauras and purple Verbena bonariensis, Russian sage and nepeta.



Rudbeckias

ATWAGGETTY IMAGES



• Collecting seeds is easy and rewarding. It's worth trying with any flowering plant and you can find details of how to treat specific seeds online or in books. Make sure the seed is ripe before you gather it and do it on a dry day. Store in paper bags so any moisture can escape. Write the name of the seed and the date on the bag and then store in a cool, dry place. Some seeds may need to be kept very cold for a number of weeks so it's worth putting these in the bottom of the fridge for winter.

'The difference between a garden that's watered and fed and one that isn't is never more obvious than in August.'

Fruit and vegetables

• Keep watering and keep picking. Try to harvest courgettes regularly so they produce more flowers and fruits.

• Blackberries, raspberries, early apples and pears will all be ready now. If a gentle twist will remove them, then they're ready to pick.

• Harvest sweetcorn as it becomes ripe – this is when the juices inside the corns are milky. If there's no liquid, it's too late.

• Tomatoes ought to be reddening up now and ripe for harvesting.



SOLOLOSGETTY IMAGES

• Remember to swap, freeze and dry any fruit or vegetables that you have a glut of.

• Carrots and beetroot can be harvested as needed.

• Lift and store potatoes. Dry onions, shallots and garlic when the leaves are yellow. Hang them or store in hessian sacks.



CORAMUELLERGETTY IMAGES

• Keep picking beans or they'll stop producing fruit.

• It's the last hurrah for sowing lettuce and other salad leaves, spinach, chard and beetroot, and don't forget to make sure tomatoes are watered and fed.

• There's still time to transplant the runners of strawberry plants, either into their new positions or into containers.

• Plant Christmas potatoes now. These are tubers that have been cold stored by suppliers and if planted now should be ready in three months. Put some in over the next few weeks for Christmas lunch. The idea is that the tubers form before the first frosts. Once the tops have died down you can lift the potatoes, but leave it as long as possible so the flavour and texture isn't compromised.

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Hedges

If the weather isn't too hot and dry it's time to cut hedges of yew, beech and hornbeam. Many of the great gardens have miles and miles of hedges to cut – hopefully your task will be easier! However it's worth thinking about cutting to a line, as the professionals do, if you want a really straight top to your hedge. Simply use long poles with lengths of string between them to mark the shape. Sometimes the hedge trimmer will cut into thin air or just catch thin growth, but where the hedge has grown strongly you may be cutting inches back.



SMEDEREVACGETTY IMAGES

Indoor bulbs/plants

• Houseplants might like a trip outside at this time of year and you can use them to fill in any gaps left by early summer flowers that have gone over.

• Think about what to do if you're going on holiday. What will happen to your grass while you're away? Is there a danger you'll come back to a meadow? If it's possible, the easiest thing to do is to get someone to cut the lawn for you, and they may need to water it too if the weather is particularly hot.

• With other plants, a timed leaky hose system is the most efficient way to keep them watered. The best advice is to experiment in the weeks before you go so you can be sure you're not over or under-watering.



SCHULZIEGETTY IMAGES