AUGUST TIPS
Maintain healthy bedding plants
Remove dead flowers as they fade to keep them tidy and to encourage new blooms. Water plants daily and feed once a week.
Keep your bedding plants healthy and in bloom with regular deadheading, watering, and feeding with a high potash fertiliser.
Prevent powdery mildew
Roses growing in dry sheltered areas against walls are prone to powdery mildew. Keep roots moist by incorporating organic matter in autumn and applying mulches in spring.
Grow green manure
Give your soil a boost of nutrients with a green manure. Scatter seeds over the surface of the soil and water in well.
Control vine weevil
The weevil and its larvae can be one of the most destructive pests to garden plants. Apply biological controls around vulnerable plants before the grubs begin to hatch.
Propagate pelargoniums
Take cuttings from healthy shoots and you'll have new plants in a few weeks time.
Cut and store seed heads
Saving seeds is a great way of propagating plants from your garden. Look out for seedpods that look as if they're about to split and cut off the entire seed head.
Look out for black spot
If you notice large purple spots on the surface of your rose leaves, it's probably suffering from black spot. Remove infected leaves and burn.
Trim lavender
Give lavender a light trim as the flowers fade - it stops the plant from becoming leggy and helps trigger abundant flowering next year.