- GARDEN - PATIO/CONTAINER GARDENING - FRUIT & VEG -GREENHOUSE -LAWN -
Summer holidays are in full swing and the garden is in full leaf and flower. To keep everything in tip top condition you will need to keep the flowering and fruiting plants well fed and ensure garden insect pests and diseases are kept at bay. Deep rooted weeds such as bindweed, ground elder and docks need to be treated with Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong or Roundup GC now while the leaves are actively moving sap and will get these systemic weedkillers right down to the roots.
 THE GARDEN
Take every opportunity to sit back and admire your handiwork. The flowers and shrubs in your garden should be blooming their heads off and relatively self-sufficient although you will need to dead-head them regularly. Picking off faded flowers prevents plants from setting seed and will encourage the plant to produce new shoots and blooms during the rest of the summer. If you are a seed-saver, leave one or two out-of-the-way plants to run to seed and harvest when they are fully ripe on a dry sunny day.
Keep the open ground around flowers and vegetables weed-free so that your wanted plants do not have to fight for light, moisture and space. If you have time to hoe the weeds pick a dry day when the surface is powdery. If the weather is not on your side rely on the power of Weedol or ready-to-use Weedol Gun! to kill these annual weeds within days.
To ensure plants bloom right through until the autumn, feed flowering plants in borders, pots and hanging baskets once a week with Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food. Watered over the leaves and around the roots your plants will surprise you with many more beautiful flowers.
You may have a collection of tender perennials such as osteospermum, diascia and argyranthum which will only survive if you take cuttings now to overwinter in frost-free conditions. Take shoots about 10 cm (4 inches) long and remove any flower buds. Cut cleanly just below a leaf and remove the bottom leaves before inserting around the edge of pots containing Levington Seed & Cutting Compost. This light and fluffy organic compost contains just the right level of nutrients to encourage strong rooting at this time of the year. Water the compost and cover with a polythene bag to maintain a moist atmosphere around the cuttings. You can use the same system for root cuttings of geraniums and pelargoniums, although because the leaves are hairy they prefer not to be covered with a polythene bag as this encourages rotting rather than rooting.
Plant out winter flowering pansies as soon as they are available. In poor soils improve the structure of the soil with a dressing of Levington Farmyard Manure or Levington Soil Improver & Mulch. A handful or two dug in at the bottom of each planting hole will ensure the roots get a good moist run that will ensure large plants by the end of autumn that will flower their heads off during mild winter periods.
topical tipDuring dry spells of weather clematis foliage can show signs of powdery mildew. Spray the leaves as soon as the disease is noticed with FungusClear or ready-to-use FungusClear Gun! to help control the infection and retain the vigour of the plant.
ON THE PATIO AND CONTAINERS
Spend some time dead-heading all the flowering plants in hanging baskets and patio containers. By preventing these plants from setting seed you will ensure they continue to flower until the first frosts. To keep producing new shoots and flower buds these plants need plenty of energy and you can provide this with weekly feeds with Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Plant Food. Don't forget that bedding plants in hanging baskets and patio pots will always benefit from regular feeding.
While you are dead-heading the plants in hanging baskets and patio pots, keep an eye out for pests. Blackfly and greenfly have had good breeding conditions and British gardens must be home to millions of them. If you see a breeding colony on new shoots treat them immediately with a BugClear Gun! or Nature's Answer Natural Pest Control.
Ants and wasps are regular late summer pests that can ruin the pleasure offered by your patio. Dust the runs and nest entrances of ants with Ant Stop! Powder to get them under control. If you prefer not to sprinkle powders around then use an Ant Stop! Bait Station. It contains and attractant that encourages visits by worker ants who will take the material back to the nest so that the whole colony is eventually wiped out. Indoors, especially in kitchens, dusts are unsightly, but a ready-for-use clear liquid ant killer such as Ant Stop! can be sprayed on to skirting boards or plinths to not only kill the ones you spray but also the ants that walk over the treated areas for the next three months.
Summer rains may have encouraged weeds to emerge on gravel drives, paths and between patio slabs and will need treatment before they grow into an eyesore. An application of Pathclear or Pathclear Gun! will clear existing weeds and leave a residual layer that prevents the growth of new seedlings for months. topical tip
Roses grown in pots can go short of water occasionally during the summer and the foliage is then prone to develop powdery mildew. Not only is this disease unsightly, but it stops the leaves producing the energy for the plant to continue blooming. Watch out for the first signs of white powdery deposits on the leaves and spray your plants immediately with a rose treatment such as RoseClear 3 or the ready-to-use RoseClear Gun! This will fight the existing infection and protect the plant against further disease attack from powdery mildew and blackspot and rust diseases too.
 FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
Get ready to harvest onions, garlic and shallots as the tops begin to wither. Dig under each group of bulbs to sever the roots and leave to dry in the sun for a week or more. Finally lift when fully dry and store in a dry place free from frost. Making strings or plaits of garlic and onions will help them to last all winter or you can space them out in trays or hang in net bags where there is good air circulation.
Continue to harvest French and runner beans as soon as they are ready. Runner beans can be temperamental at this time of the year and flowers can drop without setting pods. Some people swear by misting the plants in the evening, although scientists have now declared that this is a waste of time. The truth is runner beans don't set seeds easily in hot weather, but if you keep them well watered and fed at least once a week with Miracle-Gro Plant Food then they will crop again once it cools down. If non-set of runner beans is a regular problem in your garden try growing a pink or white flowered variety of bean such as Desiree, Sunset or Royal Standard and growing sweat peas alongside them to attract pollinating insects.
Continue to harvest carrots, peas and cabbage. Your first pickings of summer broccoli should be ready soon so keep watch for caterpillar damage and if necessary spray with BugClear or BugClear Gun! at the first signs.
Harvest herbs in August to dry the foliage for use in the kitchen this winter.
Sow seed of spring cabbage Spring Hero, April or Offenham Flower of Spring ready to plant out in cropping position towards the end of September.
Transplant seedlings of Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage and other brassicas to their final positions. Before planting out enrich the soil with a dressing of Miracle-Gro Shake & Feed. This controlled release plant food will feed your plants slowly but surely for the next three months while they are actively growing. A physical barrier, called a planting mat, positioned around the new stems at soil height will help to deter damage from the larvae of the cabbage root fly.
August is a good time to sow seeds of various plants that can be used for winter salads. Corn salad or lamb's lettuce have mild tasting leaves while land cress is soil grown and has similar taste to water cress. For something different Black Spanish Round is a winter radish with black skin covering white crisp flesh.
Strawberries should have finished fruiting and new runners should be well rooted to provide fresh plants to replace those that are not cropping to maximum. Tidy up parent plants that you wish to keep with a pair of shears, cutting off all this year's foliage.
Continue to pick ripening plums keeping a wary eye open for wasp attack.
topical tip
Cut out the old canes of raspberries that have finished fruiting so as to allow new canes space to grow. Feed the new canes with Miracle-Gro Ericaceous Plant Food every couple of weeks to provide plenty of nutrients together with a good dose of sequestered iron that will keep the foliage dark green for the rest of the season.
 IN THE GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY
To taste their juiciest best, tomatoes need regular, even watering and a good supply of plant food. If grown in the border soil the roots will be able to reach deep for moisture, but even so, watering at least two or three times a week will be necessary to keep the soil evenly moist. For continued vigour to the end of the season feed every week with Tomorite to ensure quality tomatoes that are full of flavour.
A tomato plant which has reached the roof will have plenty of leaf area and on a warm sunny day will use 8-9 litres (14 pints) of water. If they are growing in a Levington Gro-Bag then you will need to water at least every day and perhaps more frequently to keep up with this requirement. A similar watering and feeding plan is also needed for other fruits growing in the greenhouse including sweet peppers, chillies and aubergine.
topical tipDon't pick off tomato leaves unless they have turned yellow and are dying naturally. Healthy green leaves are the plant's food factories which are all needed to swell and sweeten the tomato fruits and give the maximum flavour.
 THE LAWN
Grass cutting can usually be reduced to once a week as the growth starts to slow down. See that the lawn is well fed at this time of the year so that the root system remains strong. For a quick green up for summer parties apply a soluble lawn food a week before you need to see the results. Evergreen Lawn Food Liquid can be diluted in a watering can and applied to soak the area. For the larger lawn use Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Lawn Food which is designed to be applied through the Miracle-Gro Feeder. The average sized lawn can be fed and watered in minutes and you can expect to see a richer, greener lawn in less than a week.
This is probably the last month for really successful clearance of lawn weeds using combined lawn treatments. It's worth getting rid of clover and other creeping weeds that can spread throughout the autumn and winter to ruin an otherwise good looking lawn. Treat the lawn this month with Evergreen Complete, an all-purpose lawn dressing that will kill the weeds, control any moss and green up the grass in one quick application. The 100m size comes complete with a ready-for-use applicator that distributes the granules evenly as you walk up and down the lawn. This handy dispenser will treat 100 square metres of grass and you can buy refills to re-charge the spreader if your lawn is any larger.
Apply the lawn treatment when the soil is moist and pick a dry day half way between weekly mowings for best weed control. Follow the instructions on the pack, watering in the treatment if rain doesn't fall in the three days after application. This will ensure the nutrients get to work quickly to build a thicker, greener lawn that will be the envy of your neighbours.
topical tip
Clean sharp edges to the lawn really smarten up the garden and are vital if you are inviting guests. Trim the sideways growing grass with a strimmer or pair of shears and see that the border is weed free. To clear weeds in the border quickly use Weedol to kill the weeds in just a few days. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL. USE PESTICIDES SAFELY
BugClear™ and BugClear Gun!™ contain bifenthrin. FungusClear™ and FungusClear Gun!™ contain penconazole. RoundupGC, Roundup Ultra 3000, Roundup Tough Weedkiller Ready to Use and Tumbleweed Original Extra Strong Gel contain glyphosate. Roseclear® 2 contains bupirimate, pirimicarb and triforine. RoseClear® Gun!™ contains bifenthrin and flutriafol. SlugClear™ Mini Pellets contain metaldehyde. Spotless® contains carbendazim. Verdone® Extra contains fluroxypyr, clopyralid and MCPA. Weedol® contains diquat and paraquat. Weedol® Gun!™ contains diquat.
®, ™, Miracle-Gro, and Scotts are trade marks of The Scotts Company or its affiliates. Roundup is the registered Trade Mark of Monsanto Company.
GARDENING INFORMATION FROM The Scotts Company (UK) Limited
WRITTEN BY JOHN CLOWES MAIN INDEX - GO SHOPPING
| 
