Gardener's Diary is a regular feature of Age-Net run by our Deputy Editor

Rosemary Martin

 

It's a long time since I have seen such marvellous display of flowers as there have been this year; roses and lavender have never looked so abundant and colourful which must be due to the month long heatwave we had recently..

The problem with heatwaves of course is that gardens wilt under the strain and lawns go brown which tends to worry people. But a few showers soon green the grass up again and it is only necessary to water the annuals - perennials will look after themselves.

Do you remember when, several years ago, we were all told to plant up our gardens with Mediterranean plants which would survive the heatwaves we could expect with global warming? It's hardly stopped raining since!

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Jobs for the month - August

The Kitchen Garden

The Kitchen Garden section has moved to a separate page, here...

House plants

Keep house plants well watered and misted with a spray to help keep aphids and red spider mite at bay. If you are going on holiday ask someone to look after your plants, but if that is not possible, move them to a shady part of your home, making sure they have ample water. There are self-watering systems available from most good garden centres and DIY stores.

Lawns

Lawns will still need frequent mowings during August, especially if there has been a lot of rain. If you are going away on holiday, allow the grass cuttings to stay on the lawn for a couple of weeks prior to your trip, which will help keep the lawn moist.

Herbaceous borders

Continue dead-heading, weeding and hoeing to keep the borders looking neat. You can sow many biennials straight into the ground this month; Cornflowers, Californian Poppies, Foxgloves and Sweet Williams, are all good examples and they will get away to an early start next year. Collect seeds from the various hardy annuals you want, jumble them all up and throw them into the borders. The result will be great and you can always thin out those you don't want.

Ponds

More maintenance this month to keep the pond free of algae and aphids. I always enjoyed blasting aphids from foliage with the hose pipe and then watching the fish eat them. Don't leave the fish to their own devices if you are going away - get a neighbour to feed them and keep an eye on them. If we have a dry spell, (anything is possible!) the water level in your pond can quickly drop and it is essential to top it up slowly, not introducing too much tap water too quickly. The temperature should not fluctuate either.

Wildlife

Animals of all kinds are already beginning to prepare for the long winter ahead, so be vigilant about feeding the birds, making sure they always have sufficient food and water available. The chaffinch on the left has been a resident in our garden for months now, usually on sentry duty and singing his colourful tune whenever we pass by.

I have noticed some early wasps about in the garden. They seem smaller than usual, but are certainly not the Euro wasp we have been told to watch out for.. Last year there seemed to be more wasps than ever before and I'd rather hoped the last cold winter saw most of them off. Time to make another wasp trap..