Seasonal jobs for the month: August
| 1. |
To encourage flower bud development and control growth of wisterias prune back the current season’s whippy growth to five or six leaves. |
|
| 2. |
Grow green manures such as winter tares, grazing rye, clover and mustard on beds that would be left empty |
|
| 3. |
Complete summer pruning of cordon and espalier trained apples and pears and fan trained stone fruit such as plums, peaches, acid and sweet cherries |
|
| 4. |
Yellowing between the leaf veins of tomato foliage and the occasional development of reddish brown tints is a sign of magnesium deficiency. Avoid overfeeding with high potassium fertiliser and spray with Epsom salts. Other crops such as raspberries, vines and plums are often affected. |
|
| 5. |
Propagate tender and unreliably hardy perennials, such as Pelargonium, Argyranthemum, Osteopermum, Penstemon and Gaura for overwintering under cover |
|
Kitchen garden
- Harvest early apples and pears
- Finish removing fruited shoots of summer fruiting raspberries and tie in the new growth.
- Spring planted onions and garlic should be ready for harvesting
- Regularly harvest summer sprouting broccoli and courgettes
- Continue sowing spring cabbages such as ‘Pixie’ and ‘Durham Elf’ and spring greens such as ‘Greensleeves’
- Sow leafy greens for autumn/winter picking such as corn salad, land cress, rocket, mustard spinach and lettuce such as ‘Winter Density’, ‘Arctic King’ and ‘Valdor’
- Where bitter pit was a problem in the past spray apples with calcium nitrate
Ornamental garden
- Finish pruning of evergreen and trimming of deciduous hedges. Pruning later in the season can contribute to dieback in coniferous hedges.
- Take semi-ripe cuttings from climbers such as passion flower, Solanum and Trachelospermum, shrubs such as Artemisia, Berberis, Brachyglottis, Choisya, Hebe and Viburnum and herbs such as bay, lavender, rosemary, sage and thyme.
- Deadhead roses unless grown for their ornamental hips.
- To prolong good performance of seasonal container grown displays feed regularly with high potassium fertiliser such as tomato feed or ‘Phostrogen’ and promptly remove spent flowers
- Prune rambling roses which flower on the previous season’s growth. Aim to remove about one third of the oldest stems and shorten side shoots on the remaining growth by two-thirds
Pest and diseases
- Apply biological control – nematodes (Steinernema kraussei or Heterorhabditis megidis) to soil or containers to control vine weevil grub damage on edibles and ornamentals
- Watch out for the whitish green, caterpillar-like larvae with black spots and yellow blotches of large rose sawfly that cause extensive defoliation of roses
- Where smooth-edge semi-circles are removed from leaves of plants such as wisterias and roses this indicates the presence of leaf-cutting bee. This superficial damage by these good pollinators should be tolerated.
- White powdery coating on leaves indicates powdery mildew, keep plants well watered and apply suitable fungicide
- Maggots found in pea pods causing major damage to the crop are the caterpillar of pea moth.
|
Lawn
- Stop applying higher nitrogen summer lawn feeds. Towards the end of the month
- start applying autumn feed that will prepare the turf for the winter months
- Raise cutting height during periods of dry weather
|
Glasshouse & indoor
- Damp down greenhouse during hot days to increase humidity and discourage glasshouse red spider mite
- Ensure good ventilation to reduce heat stress and reduce diseases such as grey mould
- Water regularly to avoid fluctuating moisture levels
Ponds and water features
- Top up ponds and water features during dry spells
- In smaller ponds control algae with liquid barley straw extracts
