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JOBS FOR

AUGUST

The last official month of summer & often the hottest, but what a treat it is in the garden. Take some time to appreciate your own hard work, but don’t rest on your laurels as there is plenty of summer maintenance jobs like deadheading, weeding, pest control & watering to be done. Here’s our guide for tasks to carry out this month

JOBS FOR

AUGUST

The last official month of summer & often the hottest, but what a treat it is in the garden. Take some time to appreciate your own hard work, but don’t rest on your laurels as there is plenty of summer maintenance jobs like deadheading, weeding, pest control & watering to be done.

Here’s our guide for tasks to carry out this month

– Deadhead bedding plants, shrubs, containers, perennials and shrubs every few days. This encourages more flowering. Give the plants a feed now with a Liquid Tomato Food. Cut back early summer perennials like hardy geraniums and delphiniums after flowering for a second bloom. Cut just above a leaf if possible to keep them at their best. This will help to keep your beds looking tidy too.

– Give late flowering plants like aster, echinaceas and gladioli a feed with a high potassium fertiliser such as Sulphate of Potash to encourage brighter and better blooms.

– Rambling and climbing roses can be pruned in August once they have flowered. Make sure you check before pruning whether they are a repeat flowering variety (in which case, leave them alone). Give roses a feed Fish, Blood & Bone after they have had their first bloom to help keep them healthy and to help prevent disease such as rust, black spot or mildew.

– Keep checking plants for signs of powdery mildew. This appears as white patches like talcum powder on the leaves. Remove the affected parts of the plant and either put in your household waste or burn and spray with a mixture of Bicarbonate of Soda and water with a small amount of washing up liquid to act as an emulsifier and keep checking your plants. Repeat every two weeks if need be.

– Once fruit starts to appear on aubergine, cucumber, pepper, sweetcorn and tomato plants, feed with a high-potash fertiliser such as Liquid Tomato Food and continue to do so every two weeks. Harvest all of the above often to encourage more fruits to form. Sweetcorn will be ready when you can pop a corn with your thumbnail and the juices are milk coloured.

– Protect blackberries, raspberries and loganberries from birds and squirrels by using a Bird Netting. You can also use this to protect fruit trees or sections of fruit trees with netting if required.

– Keep an eye on your cabbages and make sure there are no cabbage white butterfly eggs under them. Squash any that you find and consider using Cabbage Collars or Butterfly Netting to help prevent them from laying eggs going forward.

– Fend off slugs and snails by either using Gravel or Course Grit around your plants or a targeted Slug Killer.

– If you are going on holiday, consider setting up a Capillary Matting or Drip Irrigation system to ensure plants have enough water while you are away.

– Continue watering the greenhouse floor every morning when the weather is hot to help increase humidity and open vents and doors. Shade Netting will help keep plants cool too. Close doors and vents at night to keep in the warms but remember to re-open in the morning so your plants don’t overheat!

– Be vigilant about aphids, mealybugs, mites, psyllid and scale. Treat with Pesticide if you find any. Sticky Traps hung around your greenhouse can help catch flying pests and help you determine if further action is required.

– If you are suffering with perennial weeds such as ground elder or bindweed on your patio or driveway, spray them with Weedkiller. Glyphosate is most effective in summer as the weeds have a larger surface area to absorb it. Do not trim the weeds first, but make sure you are applying on a dry day to prevent killing plants you wish to keep.

– Turn your compost heap every month to improve aeration and speed up decomposition. A Compost Activator can help speed up the process and improve the quality of your compost.

– Do you have weeds or moss all over your lawn? Tackle them with a selective Lawn Weedkiller. Fill any holes left with Grass Seed to repair it.

What to Grow & Sow in July

Greenhouse

  • Chevril
  • Coriander
  • Parsley
  • Potatoes
  • Spring Onion

Outdoors

  • Baby Beetroot
  • Cabbage
  • Calendula
  • California Poppy
  • Chard
  • Chicory
  • Cornflower
  • Corn Salad
  • Fennel
  • Forget-Me-Not
  • Kale
  • Kohlrabi
  • Leek
  • Oriental Leaves
  • Radish
  • Rocket
  • Spinach
  • Turnips
  • Viola
  • Wild Carrot
  • Winter Purslane
  • Winter Pansy

Greenhouse

  • Chevril
  • Coriander
  • Parsley
  • Potatoes
  • Spring Onion

Outdoors

  • Baby Beetroot
  • Cabbage
  • Calendula
  • California Poppy
  • Chard
  • Chicory
  • Cornflower
  • Corn Salad
  • Fennel
  • Forget-Me-Not
  • Kale
  • Kohlrabi
  • Leek
  • Oriental Leaves
  • Radish
  • Rocket
  • Spinach
  • Turnips
  • Viola
  • Wild Carrot
  • Winter Purslane
  • Winter Pansy

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About Elixir Gardens

With over 35 years’ experience in Gardening and Horticulture here at Elixir Garden Supplies we pride ourselves on offering quality gardening essentials with the knowledge of how to use them and sold at the best possible prices.

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