Gardening Jobs for August

August is brilliant for the flowers that put on a show in late Summer, but often there are gaps in the borders where the Sweet Peas might have gone over, the roses have finished blooming and Spring feels like a distant memory. Although it is all about the Dahlias and that is so exciting!

Here are some jobs to keep you busy in the garden this month:

• Keep deadheading dahlias and other flowers to encourage more blooms to flower. 
• Keep camellias and rhododendrons well watered through late summer, this is important as this is the time when their flower buds are forming
• I trim my lavender in late August or early September once they have finished flowering. This helps maintain a compact and bushy shape, rather than an overgrown woody lavender bush. The main thing the remember is not to cut too far back into old wood, you only want to cut back the fresh new growth from this year. 
• Now is a good time to prune rambling roses, removing up to a third of stems that have flowered, and tie the rest to supports. It can seem scary cutting it back but it will ensure you have plenty more flowers next year.
• Keep pots and hanging baskets flowering by watering and deadheading regularly, and add feed fortnightly. At this time of year I use a tomato feed high in phosphorus which encourages the healthy establishment of flowers.
• You can take cuttings of woody herbs like lavender by choosing non-flowering shoots. 
• We can sow hardy annuals in sunny spots to provide early summer colour next year. If you're signed up to my monthly subscription box you will have plenty of these for colour next year.
• Cut back, strim or mow any areas of wildflower meadow at the end of the month, now that the plants have scattered their seeds ready for a display next year.
• Remove any spent hardy annuals if you don't want them to self-seed
• Have fun in your garden this summer. Enjoy spending time in it and continue to take photos so you can look back on all the colour in Winter.