Gardening – Aug 23

Tom Strowlger

@garden_with_tom

The last month of meteorological summer is upon us so we will hopefully be enjoying some restful downtime, with the summer holidays in full swing our gardens will have their busiest month of the year. We can hopefully spend time with our family, sitting back into our garden chairs surrounded by the bright floral colour. August is like no other gardening month before or after it, we must cherish this month as early Autumn is just around the corner and colours will change as the days start to shorten

August can be a hot month of the year so our plants will need to be sufficiently watered to ensure they thrive beyond this month. It would be nice to have as much floral colour for as long as possible. To be sure that plants get moisture into the roots we should water directly into the base of the plants and ideally in the evening when the risk of evaporation is reduced and they can sit in the moisture overnight. It is very important that someone waters your garden whilst you are away, so make arrangements before you head off on holiday.

The late summer days can still bring the occasional strong winds; this is refreshing for us but can be destructive to our cherished summer flowers. We need to ensure our taller plants and flowers are protected from wind damage by using plant supports. The ideal plant support will be as tall as the plant stem and allow you to tie it in almost to the tallest flower. Dahlia will certainly need support to keep their top heavy flowers up straight, we don’t want any of our tall flowering plants to be knocked over and damaged as that will bring our floral colour to a premature end.

The lawn grass can start to turn brown in hotter weather, this isn’t something to worry about as the grass will go dormant until the rains returns. However, if we want to keep the lawn healthy, green and lush then watering it a couple of evenings per week will help it maintain a healthier look and feel. The growth of grass slows in late summer so use a high cut setting on your lawnmower to encourage healthier grass.

The warm days will make it easier for weeds, pests and diseases to thrive, meaning our gardening jobs are never quite finished. We should still be looking out for Aphids, Lily Beetles, Vine Weevils and Slugs amongst our leaves and flowers. In the first instance gently remove the pest by hand and then seek the relevant organic treatment to reduce the risk of them damaging your plant further. We should try and keep our plants as healthy as possible as it will help them to flourish for a few more weeks and maybe beyond depending on the weather going into autumn time.

We must make sure we are outside as much as possible, enjoying the garden at times when we would otherwise be distracted by life’s routine. We should take a moment to reflect on the summer gardening season and think about what we want to see in our gardens this time next year, a quick photo of the garden can be a great help when planning for summer 2024. Lastly, congratulations fellow gardeners, you can now fully enjoy the summer floral fruits of your labour.

Please do follow me on Instagram @garden_with_tom for more seasonal gardening advice and tips.